Classic swimming styles are crawl, breaststroke, backstroke, and butterfly. All of them require a good mastery of the technique, so it is best to learn them under the supervision of an experienced instructor. Self-study can bring results, but just as often it perpetuates bad habits that harm the spine in the long run rather than make it stronger. An example is the director's frog, which is a wrong variant of the classic style. Discover the 5 most popular swimming styles.

Among the classicswimming stylesthe easiest way to learn to swim on the back is. It is also the variant most often recommended by physiotherapists to treat defects and overloads of the spine.

The crawl is a bit more complicated, but at the same time it has two unquestionable advantages: it is the fastest and involves almost all muscle groups. Classic and butterfly styles require more technical skills, so it's better not to start with them if you are just getting used to the water.

There are also styles that are not classified as classical - incl. director's frog and a dog. They are easy to learn but not suitable for long distances.

Find out about the characteristics of each of the swimming styles and choose the one that suits you best.

1. Swimming styles: crawl

The crawl is the fastest of all swimming styles. While crawling, the silhouette takes on the most streamlined shape, thanks to which, while moving, we do not have to waste additional energy to resist the water.

Unfortunately, this style is not easy to learn - it requires a very thorough mastery of the technique, in which the most important thing is the work of the arms and flat body position. A great difficulty for beginner swimmers is immersing their hands in the water at the right angle. The way in which the arm enters the surface of the water and then emerges from it determines the speed of swimming (for comparison - footwork is only responsible for 30% of the speed obtained, the remaining 70% depends only on the hands).

Synchronizing your body movements with your breathing is also not an easy task, especially since the style requires you to partially hide your head underwater. In less experienced swimmers, the lack of eye contact with the environment can cause muscles to tense and, consequently, difficulties in maintaining balance. Of thisTherefore, before learning the crawl, it is worth learning to dive - this way we will improve our sense of orientation and get used to being underwater.

2. Swimming styles: Classic (froggy style)

Żabka is the most popular swimming style among amateurs. Unfortunately, the way of swimming most often seen in swimming pools has little to do with the classic version of this style.

In classic style swimming, we rise up and hide our head under the water, and do not keep it constantly tilted up. The hand movements are also not that sweeping - when we ascend, we approach the elbows to the body, but only to the height of the shoulders, which makes it easier to bounce above the water surface to get some air.

Another move - quickly extending the arms causes the whole body to submerge again. The work of the legs is also quite specific - we do not extend the knees to the sides as much as possible, but just gently step back, pulling the feet towards the buttocks and directing them slightly upwards, less to the sides.

The frog is the right style for those who want to strengthen the muscles of the whole body by swimming, but only on the condition that it is proper swimming with a covered frog, not straining the cervical and lumbar spine. Żabka develops the muscles of the chest very well, and to a lesser extent engages the muscles of the back.

Important

Avoid the headmaster's frog

The director's frog (also called the sightseeing or observer's frog) is a wrong variant of the classic frog, in which the head is constantly above the water surface.

Frequent swimming in this way is a simple way to strain the cervical vertebrae, and consequently degeneration in this part of the spine, which may have serious consequences (neck pain, migraines, hand numbness, dizziness). The director's frog does not have a good effect on the lumbar spine, causing the lower back to remain in an unnatural curve and constant tension.

Instead of the director's frog, it is better to choose the backstroke - it is easy to learn, and at the same time the he althiest for the spine.

3. Swim Styles: Backstroke

Swimming with the backstroke stresses your back the least, and at the same time is a good exercise to strengthen the entire muscular corset of the spine. For this reason, this technique is recommended for people with back pain. The person swimming is lying flat in the water with their face upwards, which facilitates breathing. The main driving force are the arms - the swimmer waves them alternately, carrying his right hand and then his left hand over his head over the surface of the water. When entering the water, the arm should be maximally straightened in the elbow joint, while under water it should bend at an angle of approx.90-110 outward. The legs also work alternately - when you move up, one leg bends slightly, while the other, making a downward movement, straightens up to the maximum (even hyperextension is recommended). Feet are tight and the head is flat in the water, giving the body a hydrodynamic shape.

When swimming in the backstroke, remember to keep your hips pushed up (then the footwork becomes more effective). The torso should twist slightly when putting your hand into the water - e.g. when submerging the right arm, it is advisable to slightly rotate the body to the right.

See also: Aqua fitness - benefits, effects and examples of exercises

4. Swimming styles: butterfly style

The butterfly style, also known as a dolphin, requires perfect technique, great strength and coordination. For this reason, it is very rarely used by amateurs, but for advanced swimmers it is an attractive challenge. Compared to other styles that have been known to mankind for hundreds of years, the butterfly was discovered relatively recently, in 1935. This was done by the physicist Volney Wilson, who invented a dolphin based on the analysis of the movement of fish. Three years later, using this style, he won the Olympic qualification (the butterfly is the fastest swimming style after the crawl), but was disqualified due to the technique unknown at that time. It was not until 1956 that the butterfly-style competition became official competition for the Summer Olympics.

Learning the dolphin begins with mastering the "undulating" movement of the body - it consists in the fact that the head, chest, hips and legs move up and down separately (e.g. when the head is down, the movement goes up) hips), but together they create a harmonious movement that brings the whole body forward. Only after that, the work of arms and legs, as well as the ability to breathe properly, are improved. Perfect mastery of the butterfly style is not possible without the guidance of an experienced instructor. The learning itself takes place in several stages - it is impossible, as in the case of a crawl, to teach a butterfly during two or three training sessions. Therefore, this style is reserved for experienced, ambitious swimmers.

5. Swimming styles: doggy

The so-called doggie is the simplest swimming style, popular especially among children who are just learning to swim. At the same time, it is the oldest swimming technique known to mankind - it is believed that this way of moving in water was known already in ancient times. Our ancestors probably learned it from observing swimming animals.

The doggy technique is easy to learn and largely intuitive. The swimmer is lying on the water with a cagechest down and moves his arms up and down in small circles. The legs alternate with a vertical scissor movement. Although the doggy style is not very practical and quite slow, its advantage is its fluidity and no need to protrude the limbs above the water surface. For this reason, it is often used in the military as a quiet swimming style ideal for sneaking in.

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Free and variable style

Freestyle and floating are not names of specific swimming techniques, but terms used in sports swimming competitions.

Freestyledenotes the competition in which the competitor can swim in any style except breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly style. In practice, race participants most often choose the crawl as the fastest style. In theory, however, it can be any swimming technique in which the competitor does not walk on the bottom, does not dive to a distance of more than 15 meters, does not use additional devices that help increase speed, endurance, etc.

Alternating styleis a term for a competition in which the competitors swim in turn in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle (this order applies to individual races, but is slightly different for competitions). relay races). Cross-style events take place at distances of 100, 200 and 400 m.

The effect of swimming on the spine - research

Finns in 2002 surveyed a group of 46 people1- recreational swimmers. They divided them into 3 groups (age 13; 25-25; age 70 + -6). In each group, the parameters of thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis were examined in three positions - during frog swimming, back swimming and while standing. Importantly - while swimming, the maximum and minimum setting moments are measured during the entire cycle of movements.

Here are the results of their research:

  • lumbar lordosis: the greatest increase parameters occurred while standing, while much smaller parameters of increasing flexion occurred while swimming with the back and then the frog.
  • thoracic kyphosis - the greatest reduction in kyphosis occurred while swimming with a frog, then with the back, and the greatest value was noted in standing.

So, according to Finnish research, standing does much more "harm" to the curvature of the spine than swimming with both the frog and the back.

You should pay special attention to two things: first of all - the research group consisted of recreational, not competitive, swimmers. Perhaps the players' data would be completely different. Secondly - the study did not discuss the setting of the cervical segment during swimming positions.

Position of the segmentcervical in swimming with an open frog (director's frog) - the position unnaturally forces the cervical segment to straighten, compresses the upper cervical segment and structures in this area. However, when swimming with a covered frog (recommended by us), this problem is eliminated by a different position of the body while inhaling.

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