2010-04-21

Unusual swimming strokes

Why do we stick with the current swimming strokes when there are other interesting strokes. I can think of several that I use and one at least I've seen other people do.

My favourite swimming stroke is what I call rolling breast stroke. It's a very relaxed style. You have to change the direction of roll every so often so you don't get dizzy.
I also like alternating between freestyle and backstroke.
Another nice stroke is back breast stroke. (The name is a vague description but is not very good).
Also I sometimes do side-to-side breast-stroke: the arms and legs do normal breast stroke but left and right are 180 degrees out of sync ie when the left hand is going forward the right is moving back.

The other day I saw someone doing butterfly on their back.

Update: I was just reading the wikipedia article on this. Alternating between freestyle (crawl) and backstroke is called Corkscrew swimming. What I called back breast stroke is possibly related to "inverted breast stroke".

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Could you give a description of these other strokes and/or other information? I too am tired of doing the same ones and I want to explore different types.

Unknown said...

Could you give a description of the ones you mentioned and/or give information on where to find different types of strokes? I am trying to get back into swimming, but I find doing these same strokes over and over again quite boring.

Kim said...

The wikipedia article I mentioned in the post has a number of strokes and descriptions.

1. Corkscrew is a stroke where you change from freestyle to backstroke rotating your body in the same direction. I find after about three complete rotations I need to reverse direction.

2. Rolling breaststroke is my favourite stroke. Start off as in the breaststroke with your hands lined up above your head but instead of bringing each hand apart and to each side you keep the hands reasonably close together and take them to one side. (ie one hand does a normal breaststroke movement and the other hand follows it.) You let your body turn to that side until you are face up in the water with your hands just above your chest or stomach. Then you continue the roll bringing your hands back to the front and end in the position you started in with your hands in front of your body as though you were about to start a breaststroke.

3. Side to side breaststroke is just like the breast stroke only the left and right sides are out of sync. The right hand goes out in front and the right leg comes in and then your bring your right hand round to the right in the power stroke and the right leg kicks. As you are doing this the left hand moves to the front and the left leg cocks ready for the kick. Then the same but on the opposite side, the left hand comes down the left side in the poser stroke and the left leg kicks. Like breast stroke this can be done underwater too.

Kim said...

For 2. Rolling breaststroke there's a kick involved too. I can't describe it very well. Try it and do a breaststroke when the time is right.

The other really nice thing about rolling breaststroke is that you can use it to turn quite easily in the width of a swimming lane. I find this hard to describe but as you roll you curve while doing the same stroke. It takes a couple of strokes to get around to face the opposite direction. It feels pretty amazing.

Kim said...

Sorry can't edit. I meant:
Try it and do a breaststroke kick when the time is right.

Anonymous said...

good website but some more info should make it really good and also make me a regular visitor of this website. u should also add some more colour and style to the website as this one looks too plain. Hope u don't mind me telling u all this :)(:
- JUST YOUR WELL WISHER

Anonymous said...

By all means mix strokes and try something new. Corkscrew using a double-hand propulsion is great for shoreline swimming. There are so many variations using double-hands in so-called "combat" Seal techniques. I also think striving to implement Total Immersion (checkout Shinji Takeuchi on YouTube)makes swimming more enjoyable. Also, employ some of the techniques used by Scuba Divers which they have copied from dolphins, sea lions, and fish. Finally, try webbed gloves to build strength and slow down the hands to perfect your strokes. You can use both traditional and S-curve stroke doing freestyle. Use your imagination: try something and see if it works. It's no different than gymnasts who develop new moves with their body. Most of all, relax and have fun.

Unknown said...

I do a version of the side stroke that reminds me of sewing like a needle going up and down through fabric in that I use my upward facing arm when I'm on my side as sort of a sideways butterfly while I'm doing the sidekick of a side stroke. So I go up and down up and down as I'm moving forward. I alternate sides each lap ( which means I'm facing the same direction, relative to the pool, the whole time.