Have you ever watched Olympic swimmers glide through the water and wondered, “How do they do that?” It looks so effortless. Well, learning the proper techniques can help you reach your goals, too! Swimming is an amazing sport that offers so many benefits both physically and mentally. Whether it is just something you enjoy doing for exercise, you love being surrounded by a team, or the actual competing side of it, being able to swim and swim well, has so many benefits. But to really enjoy it, you need to understand the four main strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Let’s dive in and learn how to improve your swimming strokes so you can swim your fastest!

Butterfly

The butterfly stroke might look tough, and trust me, it can be! But don’t worry, you can learn it. This stroke is definitely the most demanding on the body, and exerts the most strength, but is surprisingly not the hardest when it comes to technique. This stroke is the one I personally struggle with the most. Although this stroke can be challenging, it is important, especially if you’re swimming the IM. Going out strong in this event will set the tone for your race. In fly, it’s essentially a freestyle stroke, but with both arms. With your body moving in a dolphin motion, arms outstretched in front of you, pull both arms towards your chest, then simply push out and back around. Improving this stroke can strengthen your diversity as a swimmer. 

  • The Wave: This should be the motion of your body. In constant movement, your body should resemble a wave. 
  • The Kick: You’ll use a dolphin kick, where both legs move together. It is important to take two kicks for every one stroke that is taken. One kick is at the beginning of your pull, and the second kick is as you pick your head up to breathe and push your arms out and back.
swimmer doing butterfly

Backstroke

Now, let’s flip over! Backstroke is great because you can breathe easily since your face is out of the water. Or that’s what most people think! In freestyle and butterfly events, it’s important to have a breathing pattern. Surprisingly, backstroke isn’t any different. While it may sound silly, having a breathing pattern while doing back will significantly improve swimming strokes and help avoid cramping and losing stamina mid-race. Speaking from experience, last year at my conference championship meet, while swimming the 100 backstroke, I nearly passed out right after. I assumed since I was on my back, I was breathing, but I was hardly breathing the whole race. This caused me to swim slower as I had a lack of oxygen, and my muscles cramped. I now practice one breath for every two to three strokes. Consciously doing this in practice allows it to come naturally whilst racing.

  • Body Position: You’ll float on your back, making sure to keep your head back too. This step is very important because if your neck is tucked, it’ll cause your hips to sink. 
  • Arm Movement: Your arms will move in opposite directions, like windmills. One arm should be entering the water as the other is exiting. Having a fast rotation of your arms will increase the speed of your stroke. 
  • Leg Movement: You’ll kick your legs in a flutter kick, keeping them straight and kicking from your hips. One of the most important parts of the backstroke kick is making sure your knees do not come out of the water. If this is something you’re struggling with, try holding a kickboard over your knees while practicing backstroke kick. The board will hit your knees if they’re coming out of the water, and train your kick to succeed. 
  • Looking Up: Like previously mentioned above, keep your head back and your eyes up to get the best aerodynamics out of your stroke. If this is something you struggle with, I suggest wearing a nose plug. This eliminates the fear of water getting in your nose and allows you to get further underwater. 
swimmer doing backstroke

Breaststroke

Breaststroke is like a frog’s movement. This is the stroke that most people struggle with. Breaststroke is ALL about technique. While it is easy to learn backstroke, freestyle, and even butterfly, breaststroke is unique. Many people cannot master this stroke because of the kick. Many butterfly swimmers struggle to separate the dolphin kick from their breaststroke kick, leading to disqualifications if swimming competitively. Breaststroke is also different because of the different breakout it has. Instead of doing streamline and dolfin kick underwater, breaststroke has a pullout. This motion, if done well, can give you a huge advantage over other swimmers. 

  • The Pullout: Off of every breaststroke start and turn, you do a pullout rather than underwater dolphin kicks. The pullout consists of five easy steps. In a streamlined position, do one big dolphin kick, pull both arms down under your body, slowly and tight to your body, pull them back up in front of you, do one breaststroke kick, and then pop up ready to swim. Dolphin, pull, slide, kick, pop. This article https://blog.myswimpro.com/2023/05/02/how-to-do-a-perfect-breaststroke-pullout/ breaks the pullout down further. 
  • Arm Movement: Your arms start in front of your body, just like butterfly. The arms come back at an angle, scoop in near your chest, and then, pressing your hands together, shoot them back in front again. It is important not to drop your elbows down near your sides while pulling your arms back. This will result in pulling less water and making your stroke inefficient. 
  • Leg Movement: Your legs will do a frog kick. Pull your knees up towards your chest, position your feet pointing outward, kick your legs out, and then around, where you will squeeze them together. 
  • Breathing: Breaststroke is the one stroke where you get to breathe every stroke. This happens when you are pulling your arms back. Your head comes straight up and then goes back in as you shoot your hands forward. 
  • Timing is Key: The most important part of breaststroke is timing. Make sure your arms and legs work together. Do not rush your stroke. A common mistake people make is starting their next pull before their kick is finished. Separation drill can help fix this mistake. This drill is simple: separate your pull and your kick. I like to do this with a two-second pause in between. 

Freestyle

Freestyle, the easiest and fastest stroke, is probably the one you first learned how to do. This stroke has so much variation on how to swim it, depending on the distance, and to really improve swimming strokes within freestyle, you need to understand those variations. This stroke has the most distances, ranging from the 50 all the way to the 1650 (the mile). Sprint free looks very different from distance free, but the basics of the stroke are the same.

  • Arm Movement: Your arms will move in a windmill motion, one arm pulling through the water while the other recovers. Much like backstroke, one arm should be entering the water as the other is exiting. It is important to rotate your hips and shoulders to get the most out of every pull. 
  • Leg Movement: You’ll use a flutter kick, kicking your legs up and down at different speeds depending on the distance you’re swimming. For sprint events, use a 6-8 beat kick, and for longer events, use a 2-4 beat kick. 
  • Breathing: In freestyle, your head turns to the side to breathe. Do not overextend your breath to the point where your whole face is out of the water. You want one goggle in and the other goggle out. This allows your breath to be quick. 

You Can Do It!

Learning these strokes and mastering the technique, which is essential to improve swimming strokes, takes time and lots of practice. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see time drop right away. Remember, every swimmer started somewhere. The key is to listen to your coaches and have fun through it all, or it won’t be worth it. If you get stuck, try some of the drills listed above! 

Don’t be afraid to get out there and try your best. Nothing bad can come of hard work and dedication! You never know what the future holds, so keep your dreams big!