How to Swim Freestyle.

For the past four summers I have worked at a summer camp teaching kids to swim properly. In this instructable we will break down what you needed to do with your head, torso and legs in order to swim efficiently.

Keep in mind that this is for anyone who is learning to swim, If you are looking to improve your stroke check out some of the comments, they will get you well on your way.

p.s. Keep the comments coming, I'll try to use as many as I can to make this instructable the best it can be.

Step 1 What you'll need to get started.

- A body of water. (Start out some where that is bellybutton to chest level, so that if you start to feel uncomfortable you can just stand up.)
- A trained lifeguard on duty. (You should never swim without someone keeping an eye on you, especially if you aren't comfortable with water above your head.)

Optional:
- a kick board or a pull float. (I'm not sure if these are the cheapest out there, this is just the first thing a Google search turned up.)
- Swim peripherals (goggles, nose plugs, fins ect. Sometimes these tools make people feel more comfortable in the water but they are by no means necessary.)
- A friend (for encouragement, and possible aid during certain steps. Your friend can take the place of your floats if you are particularly light.)
- Bathing suit. (really depends on how close you are to the friend.)

Comments

[droo1966]

Only one comment. The stroke taught here is called the Australian Crawl. "Freestyle" in a swim meet means any style you choose. Most swimmers use the Australian Crawl simply because it is the fastest for the least effort and hence can be maintained easily.

[Templarix47]

I think swimming is one of the most hardest sports and the most muscle making. You really need a lot of endurance for swimming but after you do it for some time you really start feeling stronger. Just keep your fingers together and lift your elbows high and start breathing every 2 or 3 strokes and then start breathing around 5 strokes. It puts oxygen in your blood if you breathe less frequently. Just practice!

[Musicman41]

Being a past runner, and having swam several times for excersize, i feel 5 minutes of swimming = 20 minutes of hard running. Maybe I am just weak, but this is an excellent way to boost oxygen consumption excersize your oxygen debt (a term for when muscles move without oxygen)

[CrudeBuster]

I hate salt water in my nostrils... It fills my brain with salt... And pool water fills my head with chlorine. Argh.

I'll be better developing a clever floating device for myself. But it is a good instructable, maybe I'll try next time I go to the beach.

[GraduallyGreener]

 Try freshwater, such as a lake, river, or stream!

[Musicman41]

and then you have junk from little fishies in the water (not to mention the waste some people dump in the water). It will never be ideal, just live with it. The body is amazingly resilient.

[cinalimaster]

I'm trying to learn swimming to and still can't :)

but here is a tip from me:

at the learning process leaning back at the water without doing any movement except just breathing will give encourage you from drowning and usefull in deep water when you get tired.

[spylock]

If you can float you can swim,and if youve got your lungs full of air,youre not going to sink,dont say you cant swim you can you just dont know it yet.Try floating on you back controlling your breathing,when you let out your air youll start to sink,so when that happens take another breath.If I was with you for an hour you d be swimming.

[Cheezpaper]

Michael Phelps is showing off his manly armpit hair while drinking water at the same time.

[cs272]

Thanks...I'm learning as an adult. I've got breast stroke down, but struggle with freestyle. I'll try your tips next time in in the pool. Very helpful.

[blazzer]

y do thay call it the brest stroke....XD

[dudejetfighter]

 because your hands are by your breasts.... 

[GraduallyGreener]

 Because you use your pectoral muscles. We aren't all still in 3rd grade.

[Saturn V]

Unfortuantly, some people will always be in the 3rd grade.

[swim right]

No swimmers swim with tight fingers, you should have your fingers straight and relaxed. Nor should your thumb be pressed against the side of your hand, just watch any underwater video of a world class freestyler and you'll see the thumb is away from the hand (you can watch a snippet of Kara Lynn Joyce at the GoSwim site to see some great underwater shots). And third, no one is "cupping" their hand anymore like in the photo, that went out in the '40's

[sokamiwohali]

Give Him/Her a break please...swimming is a personal thing. you swim the way YOU want to swim...if this is the way that they prefer to swim, dont cut them down about it. swimming is a science...EVERYONE has their own way of doing it. I actually swim underwater with my fingers "feathered" and then i stremline them closed to each other as they streamline with my body. i also just so happen to dolfin kick while doing this. i get more speed out i of my body when i use my technique.

[coolpal007]

How much time we can make out inside the water ideally?

[alia27]

thanks so much. I grew up not allowed to swim and then lost all confidence to do adult classes. That was extremely helpful!!! :) Thanks again

[Khun Aung Thura Soe]

it really helps me to swim technically and you shows me the basic facts to swim thank you

[catprog]

Freestyle is not a single stroke but is any stroke. Swimmers generally use the front crawl as it is the faster stroke found.

[Tobita]

funny, backstroke is my fastest... oh well, to each his (or her) own

[Weissensteinburg]

If you make a list of what pictures you would like...I may be able to take some for you.

[SurferGeek]

More underwater pictures of cute girls in bikinis! ;)

[rockendrumer]

PLEASE!

[mwwdesign]

Amen!

[AustralLord]

YES, PLEASE!!!!! Sites need these kind of things to survive!

[KentsOkay]

Agreed!

[wompastompa]

hahaha, I'm pretty sure we were all thinking it.

[Weissensteinburg]

haha..unless you want me in a bikini (which I very much doubt you do) I can't help you there. For some reasons, girls aren't to fond of people taking pictures of them underwater. Go figure.

[JuCo]

yup, yup... that's how 17.4% of swimming "accidents" happen.* *warning: may or may not be true.

[lawizeg]

I hate pictures on the beach.

[Gbutton]

Someone in every part of the stroke, someone's face coming out the breath, swimming with the face in the water. Just whatever you can get of a freestyle swimmer would be awesome!

[wi-fi astronomer]

If you can't swim as an adult, it gets incredibly difficult to learn. It's best learned young but not TOO young. If you can't swim as an adult, make sure to wear a life vest while on any boat! I tried it, and no success. You must try it to ever learn it, with or without an instructable.

[rupamagic]

The younger the better, from my personal experience. My mom taught us to swim as infants. I mean before we could walk. I remember when she was teaching my younger sister to swim, I was four and she was a few months old. My mom just took her in the pool and let go. She started to sink and then instinctively began to dog-paddle her way to the surface and just held her head above water. It was something amazing to see. I don't know where my mom got the courage and security to know it would work, most young moms would sooner take a carpenter's plane to their shins than drop their new babies under water! My sister doesn't even like it when I pour water over her 16-month old son's head when I bathe him.

[lawizeg]

It's actually just natural. It happens in the wild too. But say that im...12. Can i still learn to swim with ease?

[Chris Goodwin]

I'm 38 years old, and I had my first swim lesson in January of this year. I can now swim front crawl and back crawl. I'm not great at it -- I'm still trying to learn side breathing, and coordinating kicking with arm strokes is still a little difficult. But I can move in the water under my own power and float. Before September of last year I couldn't even float. So, my answer to you is, yes you can! :)

[hydrnium.h2]

HA, my mom just threw me in the water when I didn't want me to learn. Ahhh, my earliest memory of the pool is my mom picking me up and chucking em in, nostalgic, isn't it?

[_soapy_]

Uh, wear a life jacket on *any* boat!

If you are knocked out and fall in, if you are winded or tired, or if you are wearing clothes, if you have a heavy pair of shoes or boots on, you get tangled slightly in a weed, or if it is cold, you will be rapidly in trouble, even if a strong swimmer.

Even in ideal conditions, could you swim for 5 minutes while people stopped and turned about to pick you back up? Bet your life on that?

Most people in the UK who drown are "strong swimmers"!

[wi-fi astronomer]

In severe cold water like The North Atlantic (like The Titanic) no swimmer can survive after a short while. But in warm water a person with life jacket gets a chance... or in REALLY cold and undergoes unintended suspended animation. Still, if you go in a boat it's a good idea to have a life jacket whether you can swim or not. Just don't panic as you set off the CO2 cartridge to inflate it. Fun note: Ocean saltwater is easier to float in than in freshwater like a pool. The buoyancy/density of a person is around 1.02 that of freshwater but ocean water is 1.03. That is, if you had a hot tub of ocean water, you'd float like in an "Altered States" style isolation tank but not if it's salt-free. That's why in the X-Treme case anyone can float in the Dead Sea or The Great Salt Lake in Utah. Those sensory deprivation tanks are loaded with epson salt.

[Tobita]

i used to call the saltwater floating thing "the floating terd effect"