Backstroke hand movement

Hey guys, and welcome back to my swimming blog. As most of you may know (especially the people who have been consistently reading my posts), this week we're discussing about the backstroke. Last week I made a post about my history with the backstroke (which was not a very good one, I can tell you that). Now today, we're going to discuss about the correct hand movement in the backstroke. I'm pretty skilled in this backstroke business now that I've already mastered it(like I said a few posts ago for those of you who read them), so I'm pretty confident that you guys can trust me on this.

However, how can I guarantee you guys a (almost) foolproof guide to execute the backstroke hand movement without a good video to help support these facts? As usual, you can find the link of the video used for this post here. This video will prove quite useful for the post, and most of this post's information will rely on it, so you may want to watch it. If you don't, well, heed my infamous saying: “good luck on making sense of the rest of this post starting from the next paragraph”. So anyway, enough talk, let's just get straight into it!

Before we start, let me give you a very important tip about the backstroke that will help you immensely; the backstroke (especially the hand movement) is pretty much just the freestyle executed backwards. In other words, pretty much the whole meaning of backstroke is to just turn your body 180 degrees from your original position when you're swimming freestyle. That means the hand movement is reversed; instead of lifting your hands from the water starting from your hip and back into the water with your hands near your head (like you'd do in freestyle), you would instead do the same thing, but upside down (I know it doesn't sound that different, but believe me, it really is) along with a few modifications (as you're about to see in the next paragraph).

Anyway, here's how the video explains it; when lifting your hands out of the water in backstroke, lift your hands up to the surface, with your thumb being the first to be lifted up from the surface of the water. In midair, spin your hand (that's right, only one hand at a time while swimming backstroke, for those of you who didn't know) 180 degrees from its original position in the air, resulting in your pinkie being the first to enter the water as your hand falls back down into the water. After doing this, simply push your arm back into its original position way before you lifted your hands in the air and repeat the procedure again over and over until you reach the end of the pool/ until your coach/trainer tells you to stop.

So that's the basic method for executing the backstroke hand movement. I hope that I had made a significant improvement over my recent posts a few days back, where I either didn't relate the video with the post at all/related the post with the video, but only a fraction of it. When I return, I will be back with some more tips about how to maximize your backstroke skills. But for now, it's time to say farewell. Goodbye people, and see you until the next post!

The Backstroke

Hey guys, and welcome back to my blog. Today we're no longer discussing about the butterfly style, that week is over. With every new week comes a new style, and this week, it's the backstroke. I know that your first impression about this style is, “Jason, what the #^&% is the backstroke? Is it a style that we have to swim backwards instead of forwards or something?” I know that you guys (or at least most of you) have some strange ideas about how the style goes. So, in this post, I'm going to brief you on some stuff about this style. So without further ado, let's get straight to it!

First of all, let me give you a little background about my history with backstroke. One thing I've learned about the backstroke is that it is one of the styles I've grown up despising (although, fortunately, not as much as the butterfly style). Why? Well, the backstroke is no longer the pain in the @$$ it used to be, but when I hadn't mastered it yet, it sure as hell was. In the backstroke, you have to face backward while swimming. May times I found myself smashing my head on the wall of the end of the pool, because like every normal human being, I don't have eyes at the back of my head.

Next was the fact that your head had to stay on the surface of the water swimming backstroke (and this is not just because it's a basic rule while swimming backstroke, but also crucial for you to apply this to yourself if you're going to survive swimming the backstroke. If you swim backstroke with your head submerged underwater, other than going slower than if your head is on the surface, you'll also be gasping for air as the water comes streaming down your nose (come to think of it, this also happens if you keep your head at the surface. It must be because your breathing is unsteady, causing the water around you to fly into your nose and choke you. I don't know, I've never been the backstroke expert).

So basically (at least for me), backstroke is more like a struggle for survival than a swimming style (at least before I mastered it). At least now I'm more skilled at it, so you can trust me on the teachings that I have just taught you guys (at least more than I did when teaching you about the butterfly style). However, nowadays I am still pretty troubled by how to do the style correctly, because I still haven't mastered it 100% correctly. I still sometimes (accidentally/intentionally) submerge my head underwater either by accident or to see how much longer the finish line is.

Anyway, here's something I probably should have told you long ago. I was just so caught up in my history with the backstroke (that's probably what this post's all about), so here's the link of the “swimming backstroke” video you were probably looking for since the beginning of the post. It doesn't really have much to do with this post, but I hope it might relate.

So that should be all for today. I'll be back with more about backstroke this week. But for now, goodbye and see you until the next post!

Butterfly tips on how to be faster

Hey people, and welcome to the very last post about the butterfly style. This time on the butterfly style, we're going to discuss about how to maximize your swimming speed when in a competition, swimming the butterfly style. This is basically a “reflection” (in a way), as all the techniques we have discussed about butterfly over the past few days will all come in handy in this last post, which is how to use all these techniques we have learned to swim faster in an actual competition.

Once again, this is one part in  butterfly where I have much to improve. All of these techniques that we have learn, all of it, will come in handy for this final post. And to be truthful, the only parts of the butterfly style that I've already mastered are the “glide” (for those of you who have read my previous post, this can also be called “recovery”) and “leg movement” phases. Hand movement? As I've said, I've got no hope for that. So hopefully, my inadequate knowledge of this style will be enough to get you through this post.

Fortunately, other than your reliance on an unreliable source (me), I've also got a trustful source (an official video about swimming tips) with me on this post, like all the others. So you can count on the video (and me) to help explain the tips on how to swim the butterfly stroke faster. For this video, it is highly advisable that you watch it, because me, being the clueless idiot I am at this swimming style, you're going to really need the professional help from the pros. Here's the link. And by the way, if you don't/cannot watch the video, well, all I can say is this; good luck on using this as a reliable post for swimming tips. Anyway, enough talking, let's just get straight to it!

As you have seen in the video (for the people who have watched it, that is), the first tip you might want to apply to maximizing your swimming speed in the butterfly is your “underwater pull” and “recovery” phase of the style. First, let's talk about the underwater pull. In order to reduce the amount of drag you produce, imagine swimming in freestyle, but this time, your hands are pulling with a high elbow. Double that (double the hands, I mean) and you will get the proper hand movement for the butterfly style.

The reason I told you guys to take the hand movement for the freestyle is because when you're swimming freestyle, both your hands exert a powerful force. You see, the freestyle hand movement is more powerful the deeper in you push, and you will want the same for your butterfly hand movement, only with both of your hands this time. Also realize that when swimming butterfly, you shouldn't pull your hands TOO far under your body as you perform a hand strike. This will cause your hands to be much harder to pull out when you're at the phase of making your hands “soar through the air”.

Honestly, that's all the advice I have for you. Forgive me if the tips may be lacking of some vital information, because the video applies to the post mostly for the hand movement, which, in my opinion, is the most important part of swimming the butterfly style at your optimum. Next week, I'll be moving on to backstroke. Once again, I hope that enough help has been given to you in this post, and see you until the next one! Goodbye!

Butterfly gliding technique

Hey people, and welcome back to my swimming blog. As most of you may know, we're still discussing about the butterfly style. This time in studying the butterfly style, we're going to study the gliding technique. This is probably the simplest (if that's the right word) component of the butterfly style, since it needs pretty much zero effort. And once again, this is actually a component in the butterfly style I've actually mastered, being so simple to perform, so I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to fill you guys in with the details about the butterfly glide. Anyway, enough chitchat, let's just get straight to it then!

However, as usual, I cannot possibly make this post trustworthy of a post that provides swimming tips unless accompanied by a video to help assist you on how to swim. Official or otherwise, at least there's a video. Anyway, feel free to check out the video if you desire. This time, however, my “infamous policy” about the videos (you know, “if you don't watch this video you're going to not understand the rest of this blog, if you watch it then you'll understand, blah blah blah”) has changed. This time, since the video is not going to be very helpful for you guys, there's going to be a few new rules...

As usual, you might want to watch the video (especially the part about the gliding) to help understand the blog, but it isn't filled with the helpful tips you'd usually find in my videos in my other swimming posts. This one's just pure swimming, with very little advice given to the watcher. So watching it won't make much difference, feel free to just read the post, the video's not really important to watch. If you want to watch it, well, good for you. Not saying that it'd really help with understanding the post. Oh yeah, and by the way, here's the link for the video...

Anyway, back to the main topic; the “gliding” phase of the butterfly style. After you move your hands and feet in butterfly, you only have a few milliseconds worth of gliding before you unleash the power of your feet and hands again. However (at least as far as I know judging from search results from the Internet), swimmers (or at least me) don't usually call the brief milliseconds' worth of cool-down from the hand and leg strike a “glide”. We usually call this the “recovery phase”.

In the recovery phase of the butterfly, it is merely just a period of time when in that precious milliseconds worth of cool-down I told you about, you take a few short moments to relax your feet and hands before starting them up again. And that's pretty much it, really; just a cool-down period for your body so it can be ready for the next hand and leg strike.

Anyway, that should be all for today's post. Forgive me for the inadequacy of content in the post, it was just so hard to find videos and tips on the “glide” phase of the butterfly style. However, I do hope that it will be of some use for you guys. I'll (probably) be back with the final post on the butterfly by tomorrow, but until then, goodbye and see you until the next post!

Butterfly leg movement

Hey people, and welcome back to my swimming blog! As usual, this week we're going to continue with the “butterfly style”. This time in learning about the butterfly style, we are studying the kick components of the style; in other words, how to make your feet go as fast as possible when swimming this style.

As I may have reminded you in my previous posts, I had a REALLY BAD history with the butterfly style, ESPECIALLY the hands. But fortunately, the hands are the main problem when swimming butterfly, and here's some good news about this style at last: You can count on me to fill you in with the details of the leg movement, since I've already got that mastered.

But then again, what's a teacher without his teaching equipment? (or, in simpler language, what's my blog about teaching without any proof that what I teach is true?) As usual, you'll find the link to the video here. Remember, you're free NOT to watch the video, but I'd advise you to watch it if you want to understand the rest of the post starting from the next paragraph more. If you DON'T watch it, however, you'll have a harder time understanding this post. OK, enough talk, let's get straight to it!

As we have seen in the video (for those of you who've watched it, that is), The kick in the butterfly style is also known as the “dolphin kick”. The reason for this is that the kick in the butterfly style is a very powerful one, one that exerts a great deal of momentum, just like a dolphin, which also exerts a powerful “kick” through the water, suggesting the great power of the animal's swimming.

Also note that the kick in the butterfly style has a great influence over your body while swimming butterfly (therefore also affecting your swimming performance or record if you're in a competition). The kick is what will boost your body upward from the water, giving time for you to perform your hand strike in the time window when your body is boosted upward. It also makes up about 45% of your overall speed while swimming butterfly.

When performing the butterfly kick, it is vital to have proper timing between your kicks. The preferred kicking rhythm is two kicks per hand “strike” (that's what a turn of hand movement is called in swimming) as shown in the video. When moving your feet, also remember to make it stay close together, as if they were one. This way, there's more flexibility in the feet (mostly the ankle area). If you kick like this, your feet will create a large amount of force, therefore also generating a large amount of momentum for moving forwards.

Well, sorry guys, but that's about all I've got for leg movement for the butterfly style. Fortunately, we've still got a few more days to discuss about this style and more of its tips and tricks that you can use in order to maximize your skills in butterfly (despite my deep hatred of this style, I'll try my best to help you). So goodbye for now, and see you until the next post guys!

Butterfly hand movement

Hey people, and welcome back to another one of my swimming blogs. As usual, we're going to continue on this week's topic; the butterfly style. But this time, we're going to talk about the hand movement in butterfly. Now even though I personally had a rough history with the butterfly style (as mentioned in my previous post, if you read it), ESPECIALLY with the hands, I'm going to try my best to teach you how to perform the hand movement.

As usual, here's the link for the swimming tutorial video. And, as usual, I suggest you to watch it if you want to make sense of the rest of the blog starting from the next paragraph, but then again, you're also free to just read the post without watching the video beforehand/while reading this post, but you may not understand the post as well as those other people out there who DO watch the video, since the video is to be used in combination with the post. Just saying.

And so, as shown in the video, imagine your body as a boat. Now, imagine your arms as the paddles that row the boat and propel it forward. That's just how important your hands are to the butterfly style. It's your main source of propulsion through the water (of course, there's the feet, but they don't push you forward with as much strength as the hands do).

When swimming butterfly, here's a basic step-by-step guide to moving your hands through the water (note: this is how I TRY to perform the hand movement according to instructions from my trainer, and you know that my skill in butterfly is as skillful as a cat trying to scuba dive. Then again, it's better than nothing, but don't count on it too much)

JASON'S (AS FAR AS HE UNDERSTANDS) BASIC GUIDE TO PERFORMING THE HAND MOVEMENT IN THE BUTTERFLY STYLE

1. “Pull” your hands in such a way that makes a “keyhole” shape (at least that's what the coach told me) into your chest area.
2. Straighten your arms from its bended position on your chest and pull it to the back until it reaches the water's surface.
3. Now, with your arms straightened out and on the surface of the water, make your arms soar through the air back to its original position (AKA the hand position in step 1). Note that this step was the most difficult for me to attempt, and probably will be for you too. Then again, maybe it's just me. Basically, I hope that you didn't have the same hardships as I did while attempting this step.
4. Go back to step 1 and repeat over and over until you are prompted to stop either by the trainer (in swimming practice) or the finish line (in competitions).

And voilà! You now officially know how to perform the hand movement for the butterfly style! I probably should have told you this earlier, but remember when I said that my “guide to performing the butterfly hand movement” wasn't very reliable? You can take the trust in the guide up a notch or two, because it's supported by the video that is about the same topic.

So that's another post about swimming done. Join me next time for more tips on how to swim. But until then, goodbye and see you until the next post!

Butterfly overall summary

Hey people, and welcome back to my blog. As I have said in the previous post, we're going to start with a brand new style of swimming; the “butterfly”. As usual, we're going to talk about breathing techniques, hand and leg movement, etc, etc. But before we plunge into this new style, I'll first give you a bit of background about my history with this style as well as an “interlude” to the style. So without further ado, let's get straight to it!

My history with the butterfly, to be honest, was NOT a good one. In fact, I grew up despising this style the most out of all the four styles in swimming (the other three being freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke). The first reason is because it is the hardest to do (which I will explain to you later in the post). Starting from a few years ago until this day, I've never managed to get the hand movement correct.

The hand movement itself takes so much energy to muster (at least it takes up a lot of energy after you've already done it a few ten times in a row), and get this: You cannot position your arms TOO high, or your head will soar above the water, and this is illegal in practice (I don't know whether it's legal in competitions, but I never cared to pay attention. But in practice, the coach keeps on flying off the handle looking at my chaotic arm movement).

This simple (actually, not that simple when looking from the trainer's perspective) mistake has caused me to be humiliated by some people in the pool. Others can do the butterfly just fine, so it's just ME. And to add insult to injury, I'm the oldest one in my area (my parents, brother and (occasionally) friends never hesitate to remind me about this) that can't do the butterfly correctly. So basically I'm the “black sheep” when it comes to this style, therefore making it an incredible pain in the @$$.

So anyway, here's the link for the video that will really help you with this post. As usual, you're free NOT to watch it, but I highly recommend you to if you want to make some sense of the rest of the post starting from the next paragraph.

As you can see in the video, the man is moving his feet in a way unique from other styles: He's keeping his feet firm and straight and kicking them in and out of the water, up and down. Then the hands; when swimming butterfly, you move your hands in a way that each hand goes to the back (as shown in the video) then flying across the air (OK, that may have been a big exaggerating) back to its original position. Congratulations! You officially now know how to swim butterfly (at least the basic version, before we get into the breathing, hand movement and all that stuff).

I would've loved to tell you guys some more about butterfly, but unfortunately, this is an overall summary, and not much could be put in it about the style itself. However, join me next time on my blog and I'll fill you in on more details about swimming butterfly. But for now, goodbye and see you until the next post!

How to swim faster in breaststroke

Hey people, and welcome back to my swimming blog. Today, we're going to continue with breaststroke. This time, we're going to discuss about how to go faster when swimming breaststroke. I know that we've discussed a bit on the overall swimming technique, but if you really want to maximize your skill in swimming breaststroke, you will need these tips.

As usual, here's the link to the video that you will need to watch in order to use in conjunction with the post and the tips inside it. Of course, you're free to not use it, but you will understand the post a lot more if you watched the video. So without further ado, let's get straight to it!

According to the video, the first mistake most breaststroke swimmers do in competitions is that they think that the leg pattern for the breaststroke is a “squeeze” pattern. By this they mean that the swimmers drops their knees out, then “squeeze” the water behind them as their legs kick. This technique will only make you expend too much energy in both the kicking and pulling actions on their legs. Although they may get longer glide, it's not worth the energy wasted.

The correct way to do this is to bring your legs up gently (at least that's how I think you do it) and when you are about to unleash the kick, do it in such a way that uses the water as a “booster” that you could boost your feet off of to make your feet a) make your body glide a good distance and b) doesn't expend as much energy as the method from the previous paragraph. This way you can be much more efficient with your stamina throughout the entire event, since the energy is divided equally throughout the whole event.

The next thing is the combination of both flexibility and strength. Note that you cannot have one without the other, because for example, if you only have flexibility without strength, you will only be able to perform smooth kicks, but little power. With only strength, you will easily waste your stamina. In conclusion, using only one without the other will result in bad swimming time. In order to achieve maximum kicking power, you need to maximize your ankle flexibility (you'll need a bit of time to practice this before going for top breaststroke swimming time) and your knee flexibility (you'll also need to practice this as well). After mastering these, you will be able to swim with effectiveness and achieve higher records for your breaststroke.

Finally, here's how you boost your speed with your ankles: “Pull” the water in as hard as you can with your ankles back within your feet, creating maximum ankle flexibility. According to the video (don't worry, I also got confused in this part), these will result in a chain reaction of movements that will eventually result in making your heels move, making your feet move faster. Had enough already? OK, we'll stop here. Next I will be moving on to the butterfly style, but that's another day. For now, goodbye and see you until the next post!

Breaststroke: Overall swimming technique

Hey guys, and welcome back to my swimming blog. Today's topic has now changed, and it is no longer freestyle, but breaststroke (do remember, according to the “law” of my blog, the style will change every week). As usual, in these posts about breaststroke we will discuss about breathing techniques, arm movement, leg movement, etc. In this post, we will discuss about the overall discussion about swimming breaststroke (you know, so you get the hang of it before we start “diving” into the more “specific” techniques of breaststroke) before going into all that little movement in breaststroke that will help you in competitions. OK, enough chit-chat, let's get straight to it!

As usual, here's a link to the video that you will want to watch in order to make sense of about 85% of this post. Feel free to read the post without watching it, because all I'm saying is that you might want to watch it in order to use it in combination with this post.

As said in the video, the breaststroke style is made up of two components: the kick (of your feet) and the pull (of your hands). First, let's talk about the kick. Kicking in breaststroke only requires you to bend your knees (this way, part of your feet will be on the surface of the water) and after a few milliseconds (sorry if I may be a bit inaccurate), kick both feet in an arc (basically both legs will bend, making a sort of “circle” shape for a brief second) back to its original position. This will give you a short “glide” through the water.

Here's my advice: Kicking is one component that requires good control: don't kick it too hard, as it will shave off precious milliseconds off of your time and can be tiring (even though it WILL propel you farther with every kick, it's not worth the energy and time). Yet don't kick too fast, since that will ALSO waste your precious energy and not get you very far. Try a “medium” level of kicking. Repeat the breaststroke technique over and over until you reach the finish line (in a race) or when the trainer tells you to stop swimming (practice). Anyway, enough discussion about the feet, let's move on to the hands.

As stated in the video, the hands consist of four phases: The outward sweep, the inward sweep, the recovery, and the “glide”. Here are the instructions on how to do these effectively:
1. First, the outward sweep. Bend your arms 180 degrees from its original straight position.
2. The inward sweep requires you to just “connect” your hands from the “outward sweep” stance onto your chest. This is possibly the shortest stage of the arms.
3. The recovery is basically a short “break” of your hands on your chest. This takes a few miliseconds (yes, I realize that I used that word a lot in this post) at most before you propel your hands back to its original position.
4. The glide? Well, you basically just have to wait for your body to “glide” for a few milliseconds before going back to step 1.
(NOTE: these are all just the BASIC techniques of your hands during breaststroke. I'll fill you in the details about them in later posts)

So that's it for the overall summary of how breaststroke should be swam. I will be back with more insight about how to make your breaststroke faster, more efficient and more effective. But for now, goodbye and see you in the next blog!

Freestyle breathing technique

Hey guys, and I'm back with more of my posts on swimming. I bring (potentially) sad news about the swimming blog. My dad said I should “focus on one style a week”, which basically meant that I'm going to be rambling on and on through the whole week about freestyle techniques (don't worry though, because even if we're only focusing on one style, I'll try to keep the posts as interesting as possible). I'll focus on other styles next week, but for now, it's just plain old freestyle.

On this post, we're going to focus on the freestyle breathing. Understand that, in swimming, one small fault in your style can decrease your time by seconds (and in swimming, every millisecond makes the difference between victory and defeat), and the breathing is one of the factors that counts toward your final result. So without further ado, let's get straight to it!

In this post, as usual, there will be a video to assist you with my tips. Here's the link. You will need to watch this video if you want to make some sense of the rest of this post starting from the next paragraph (of course, feel free to blindly study this post and its tips without the video, but a word of warning: all these tips revolve around what happens in the video, so it's your funeral).

One of the many fatal errors a lot of people do while breathing is “over-rolling”. This is when the swimmer pulls his hands forward in a too-wide arc, making him/her bend his/her body to the side of the turning hand. This will reduce the speed of your hand's acceleration and obviously, make your final results worse than it could actually be.

Additionally, “over-rolling” also tilts the swimmer's whole body to one side. This also gives a disadvantage to your feet. Usually, your feet is steady on the water, providing power by kicking both feet on the water. When your body is tilted to the side, that also means that your feet are also tilting to the side. This will result in one foot being above the water (therefore kicking nothing and wasting energy), leaving only the other foot propelling you through the water.

To counter this, try only turning your HEAD while your hands move forward. This will keep your arms moving forward steadily while keeping your body straight and moving forward at maximum speed. Swimmers also have to consider their head position while breathing. Most of the time, people (including me, who's still having some difficulty adjusting to the breathing sequence) practically throw their heads up to the sky when they take a breath. This is wrong. Here's how to remedy that hard-to-correct mistake:

When breathing, it's best to only tilt your head to the side approximately 90 degrees to the direction of your moving hand. This will make you conserve your energy longer. Finally, make you sure you get enough breath when swimming freestyle. If you hold your breath for too long, you will end up gasping for breath a few seconds later (trust me, I've been there before).

That's all for today. Next time, I will make more posts about freestyle (the topic is indefinite), but that's another day. For now, goodbye and see you until later!

Swimming

Hey guys, and welcome back to my blog. As for those of you who have been a reader of my blogs, you may have known that I have just completed the We Are Anonymous summaries. I was sitting there wondering, “what shall I do next for my blog?”. Then my parents gave me an idea for my next blog: Swimming. Now, you may be thinking, “Jason, why in the name of Dog would you want to write about SWIMMING? You're a blogger, for God's sake. What do you know about swimming?”

Well, let me give you a little background information about myself: I may be a blogger/gaming addict, but I'm also a swimmer (and a reluctant one at that). For years now I have practiced the art of swimming (albeit unwillingly), and I have mastered a fairly good deal of styles in swimming. So yeah, it makes sense if my parents are asking me to share some information about my swimming knowledge. So anyway, enough talking, let's get straight to it!

The first style I want to introduce to you in swimming is freestyle (and NO, “freestyle” is not a swimming style that lets you swim however you want, despite the name). This is the second style I learned as a swimming newbie (the first one being the “breaststroke”) and in my opinion, the second-easiest swimming style to master and do, and probably also one of the most well-known styles. I saw a video on YouTube about swimming freestyle and some tips to master it. Here it is...

As you have seen in the video, one thing you must know about freestyle is that out of the four primary strokes in swimming (freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke), freestyle is the fastest. When swimming freestyle, it's essential to keep your body aligned. How? Well, usually when the average Joe swims freestyle, his/her head would face forward so he could see how much farther the finish line was. Well, to anyone who swims freestyle that way, you're doing it wrong. In order to keep yourself aligned while swimming freestyle, make sure your head faces down, focusing at the bottom line of the pool. This will make your body more dynamic when traveling through the water, therefore making your body move smoother and swifter through the water.

You also must time your breathing correctly. The preferred breathing pattern is one breath every three strokes. This way, you will be able to administer enough arm strokes/breath (increasing your speed) without running out of breath (for future arm strokes) quickly. Finally, the kicking technique. For maximum kicking speed, it is best to keep your legs straight (as shown in the video, think of it as an “extended flipper”). This way, you will be able to perform small, fast kicks with your feet, which are faster than those large, wide kicks that most people perform while swimming freestyle. Small and fast kicks can be quickly executed and administer more propulsion than large, wide kicks which, although administers more propulsion per kick, takes a longer time to execute (the kick, that is).

So those are the basic tips for the freestyle stroke. I hope that it will be useful for you to-be swimmers (or want-to-be-better swimmers) out there. Next time, I will show you the basics of the “breaststroke” style, my personal favorite. Until next time! Goodbye for now!