How many swimming styles are there?
It depends on how you look at it.There are strokes you swim on your back, one stroke you swim on your side, strokes you swim on your front and underwater strokes.There are continuous motion strokes -front crawl and backstroke are good examples - and pulsing or as I was taught, resting strokes -breaststroke, sidestroke, elementary backstroke and maybe butterfly (the latter is definitely not resting).There are lifeguarding strokes - head-up front crawl, back kick tows and pia maneuver swimming (I only watched the first thirty seconds of this video so I don’t know what follows):Water polo has its own styles of front crawl and backstroke - the big difference is the legs are highly bent to provide acceleration for a fast start from treading.We could probably add SCUBA and snorkeling styles or styles with fins or wetsuits but those add gear. There are lots of different ways to swim with stuff.
What swimming strokes should everyone know?
At the least, for survival purposes, you should know how to float on your back and side. If you have to swim, side stroke for me saves the most energy even if I didn't really learn it until way into my swimming career. In terms of does, speed and efficiency, freestyle can't be beat. Some would argue back store or elementary backstroke, but you really can't see where you are going with those. Breast stroke is just an overly structured version of side stroke and butterfly only exists to show off... People were bored doing breaststroke so they started doing an out of the water recovery.
Are there many different (basic) swimming styles around the world? If a child is taught to swim, will it be the same all over the planet?
Traditionally there are 5 Types of Swimming Styles, but there are many more deviations. 4 out of these 5 are practiced in competitions. Sidestroke, the 5th style, you would use to rescue someone or to simply enjoy swimming in the sea/ocean.It is not clear to me what is your reasoning behind the second question "If a child is taught to swim, will it be the same all over the planet?"It could be: a. If a child learns how to swim in country X, will it allow him to compete in country Y?b. if a child know how to swim in country X, will he be able to swim in country Y?c. Is there a superior swimming styleAnswers:a. Yes, swimming styles are universalb. Once you know how to swim, you gain a lifetime skill. It is like riding a bikec. There is no superior swimming style - usually you practice them all and some of them require a higher effort level than other.
Tips for freestyle swimming?
To start with you should be kicking constantly in freestyle swimming but for practice some of us prefer to kick when we breathe out of our side. It helps you balance a little in the water they say and people who've been swimming for a decently long time will likely be doing this. Also for your hand motion, don't drag your hand all the way back through the water if you are. Creating more of a distance to travel can put more stress on your hand and it'll also create more distance for your hand to travel in competitive swimming which in turn will slow you down which is exactly what you don't want to do. Next, you can also try longer breaths. I've seen a lot of people breathe every 2 strokes (every time your left or right hand comes up you always breathe with that same arm coming up). You can try doing 3 strokes per breath (adding one arm's rotation until you breathe) to try and help out this problem. Lastly, you can try getting more of a pull on your hand motion going through the water. Your breathing arm should come to just about above your belly button and your non-breathing arm(s) should come to just about above your hip. If your hand pulling is the problem this will likely fix it.
What is the easiest swimming stroke to learn for beginners?
Greg Sanford is right. It is indeed a matter of opinion. After having seen a lot of people learning to swim all over the years, following is what I have observed:People typically find breaststroke easiest to learn. But if breaststroke is the first stroke one learns then he/she finds is more difficult to learn any other stroke than in the case if he/she had learned the other stroke first. For example, you need to roll your body to breathe in freestyle and it seems more difficult to do if you have settled your self in the comfort zone of the simple breathing technique of breaststroke.
Has anyone taken the army swim test?
Start swimming laps. Laps, laps, laps. Work on treading water in the deep end of the pool with your hands out of the water. Work on holding your breath for long periods of time. Run, run, run, cardio, cardio, cardio. I've survived combat water survival in the Marines and combat dive school in the Army. You better be an excellent swimmer before you get to 88K school.
In swimming what is the easiest stroke to swim?
The easiest real stroke to learn is the breast stroke it a simple kick (In, Out, Together) with almost a doggy paddle like arm movement. The breathing is simple to its just stroke bring your head straight up take a breath and go back down. You could also choose not to put your head under the water and just do the stroke with your head above the water. The only challenging part of this stroke is keeping your head near the surface of the water while your swimming. This allows for an easier cleaner stroke. The easiest of all strokes though is the elementary back stroke. It is not used competitively or for anything other than relaxation. Just get on your back and do the breast stroke backwards pretty much. I teach the arms with the saying chicken, airplane solider, by doing those arm movements underwater. Bring the arms in like a chicken than out like an airplane than in like a solider.
Does swimming require talent or no talent?
A number of swimming styles have been developed based on the implementation of some or all of the following principles: The torso and the legs should be kept as parallel as possible to the surface of the water. Dropped legs or a slanted torso dramatically increase drag. The hand should be extended forward of the head as much as possible. This increases the average length at the water-line, substantially increasing speed. The time spent on the side should be maximized because the torso is narrower front-to-back than side-to-side on most swimmers. This reduces the frontal cross-section, reducing drag further, and also increasing the ratio between the body's water-line-length and width. Similar improvements are possible by orienting the narrowest direction of head, hands, legs and arms into the water. The torso is by far the most critical. The motion of the hand, arm, and leg from the back to the front should be in the air for as much as possible, and in the water, oriented as perfectly as possible, because the returning appendage has to move at least twice as fast as the swimmer, and in the water generates eight times the drag (which increases with the cube of the speed) of an equal amount of torso frontal area. The basic "catch" of the water is not nearly as critical as the above items. Most swimmers simply grab water with their hand flat, or the fingers slightly spread, and then draw it smoothly down their body. None of the above techniques require improved strength. With strength training, the hands and feet can be extended further into the water, gaining more propulsion. For beginners, increased strength brings only small improvements if the above strategies (minimising drag and lengthening water-line) are not optimal.