Basic Swimming Strokes

Unlock Your Swimming Technique Today

Want to master the basic swimming strokes, avoid common mistakes, or improve your technique? This guide covers all the essentials of front crawl, breaststroke, backstroke, and butterfly, from the basics to expert tips, along with the most common swimming mistakes for beginners.

Have you always wanted to swim better front crawl? Would you like to swim smooth breaststroke? Are you looking to improve your swimming stroke efficiency? You've come to the right page!

Breaking down the basics of swimming into their component parts can make them easy to understand. Read on to discover all four basic swimming techniques for beginners and details on their component parts.

Basic Front Crawl Technique

Front crawl is the swimming stroke that most people want to master.  It's the fastest of the four basic strokes, yet it has that elegant and smooth efficiency as it cuts through the water.  

Do you need some tips on the front crawl breathing technique?  Do your legs keep sinking no matter how hard you kick?  Maybe you are making one of the most common mistakes. 

You can check out an overview of the full stroke or click on a stroke part below for more in-depth details.

Body Position

Legs

Arms

Breathing

Timing

Using a 'push and glide' from the poolside is a great way to improve your front crawl body position, and using a float to practice kicking is the perfect way to develop your leg kick technique.  For these front crawl drills and more, click here.

Basic Breaststroke Technique

Breaststroke is one of the most popular swimming strokes because it can be swum with the head above the water surface, making the breathing technique easier. It is also the most common stroke used recreationally. 

However, it is also the stroke that most people get wrong! 

Common mistakes include using your arms too much and making them do all the work, leg kicks lacking power, and getting tired and out of breath after only a short distance. Sound familiar? 

Check out the basic steps for the whole stroke, or click on a stroke part below for a more in-depth analysis.

Body Position

Legs

Arms

Breathing

Timing

Using floats is a great way to practice and perfect your breaststroke leg kick technique slowly, and using a woggle is another very effective way to learn arm pull and breathing techniques.  Check out these drills and more by clicking here.

Basic Backstroke Technique

For some, swimming on your back can be a relaxing and enjoyable experience, but for others, it can be a constant battle with that sinking feeling. 

For some swimmers, actually performing the backstroke can be a coordination nightmare. Once mastered, however, it can be powerful, fast, and very efficient. 

The most common mistake in backstroke swimmers is a lack of an effective leg kick. This causes the legs to sink, which then compromises the overall body position.

If this sounds like you, try looking at the full stroke, or click on a stroke part below for a more detailed look.

Body Position

Legs

Arms

Breathing

Timing

Using floats, held either under your arms or across your chest, is a great way to practice and perfect the leg kick technique for backstroke. This will improve your body position in the backstroke. Click here to try out these backstroke drills.

Basic Butterfly Stroke Technique

Rarely swum recreationally, the basic butterfly stroke is powerful, explosive and, when performed correctly, very impressive.  

The powerful arm technique pulls the body above the surface of the water as the dolphin-like leg kick snaps down.  The arms are thrown over the water as the dolphin-like body movement causes the whole action to start again. 

Are you up for learning this?  You will need the basic steps to learn butterfly stroke or click on a stroke part below for a more in-depth, detailed look.

Body Position

Legs

Arms

Breathing

Timing

Many effective drills help you learn, develop, and enhance all parts of your butterfly stroke technique. Click here to try out these butterfly stroke drills.

The Basic Swimming Strokes Book

Time to polish up and fine-tune your basic swimming techniques?  Download  'The Swimming Strokes Book', which I designed to take your strokes apart and take a closer look at what each part of your body should be doing.  Click here for an instant preview.

Practising drills focusing on specific areas, such as body position, breathing, leg kick, or arm action, can help fine-tune those areas and create a smoother and more efficient swimming technique.

Click below to download now, or click here for more information. 

The Swimming Strokes Book

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