Swimming is an excellent way to burn a lot of calories without having to pound away at the pavement. It’s also one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your entire body — and it can be done almost anywhere, with no need to lug around heavy gym equipment. But it’s important to remember that, just like any other sport, swimming requires the right technique to get the most out of your workout. Failure to do so will rob you of your hard-earned results, leaving you with an ineffective and sloppy workout that may be more frustrating than helpful.
A swimmer begins a race by getting off of a starting block on the side of the pool and then diving in. The goal of the race is to swim a specific distance in a certain amount of time. Both men and women compete in different strokes — freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke — and each requires a different skill set.
The freestyle stroke is a great option for beginners because it doesn’t require you to push off from the wall as you would with other strokes. This allows you to focus more on your form and less on gaining speed in the water. In addition, the freestyle stroke is one of the most effective for improving your stroke length and overall endurance.
Many beginners swim with their arms too far out to the sides, which can actually be more harmful than not extending your arm at all. This will cause you to use more energy and can lead to achy shoulders. Ideally, your hand should be close to your hips and only slightly out of the water when you reach the surface.
Another common mistake is not exhaling underwater during your freestyle stroke. While it may seem counterintuitive to exhale while your mouth is underwater, this is the most efficient way to breathe in a swim. You can practice this on dry land by breathing out through your nose and humming as you do it.
A lot of swimmers forget to move their hips during their stroke, which can greatly reduce the efficiency and power of your kick. To improve your kick, try to keep your feet closer together when you’re in the water and concentrate on using a scissor kick, which involves kicking alternately with each leg.
A lot of people also tend to hold their breath at the end of their stroke, which robs them of the full benefit of their effort. To avoid this, try to swim without holding your breath at the end of each stroke and make sure that you’re keeping a tight streamline when recovering from each arm pull. Then, as you’re completing your recovery, drag your fingertips across the top of the water to get the most out of your catch. This will also help you to become more aware of your arm position in the water.