Swimming style: crawl and breaststroke. Swimming styles. Development of the sense of water: rhythm, sliding, application of force, breathing

As in every sport, in swimming There are different styles and techniques. Today we will talk about breaststroke, crawl and butterfly.

The quietest and slowest (and, by the way, the most ancient) style of swimming is considered breaststroke.

Breaststroke differs from others styles the fact that with it all movements of the hands occur in the water, and the main driving force is the legs. It is less energy consuming swimming style, so it is used in cases where you need to swim a long distance (competitions do not count). Breaststroke technique, unlike others, makes it possible to view the space in front of you, and is often used when swimming underwater.

For breaststroke characterized by simultaneous and symmetrical movements of the arms and legs under water: one stroke with the arms, one push with the legs, one inhalation and one exhalation into the water. The movements are performed in a horizontal position lying on the chest.

In order to learn how to swim breaststroke, you need to remember that the movements of the arms and legs must not only be simultaneous, symmetrical, but also smooth. All movements must be coordinated. This makes it possible to maximize movement speed while spending a minimum of energy.

Swimming style crawl more popular than breaststroke, because it makes it possible to quickly cover a long distance, but it costs money to perform it accordingly more strength. Crawl style technique looks like this: alternating strokes with half-bent arms, which are accompanied by continuous movements outstretched legs up and down + turn your head to the side, inhale above the water, exhale into the water. And the most important thing in this style is not to forget to exhale into the water.

Many beginners involuntarily hold their breath when their face hits the water, this happens instinctively. In this case, swimming is more difficult. If you want it right swim crawl style, you must remember that the exhalation must be completely done in the water, so that when you turn your head, you only need to inhale air, and not waste time trying to empty your lungs of accumulated carbon dioxide.

Butterfly– (“butterfly”, better known as “dolphin”) one of the most difficult and tiring swimming styles. It requires maximum endurance and excellent technique.

This style swimming is improved breaststroke(at the time of its appearance in 1953, many people considered it just a type of breaststroke), since the movements of the arms are made above the water, which speeds up the progress, but greatly increases the energy expenditure. The legs make simultaneous wave-like movements.

Butterfly style technique: simultaneously with both hands a powerful stroke as wide as possible is made, which lifts top part the body is above the water, and the legs perform symmetrical wave-like blows “from the pelvis”.

Swimming is one of those types of exercises that burn a lot of calories, increase muscular endurance and strength, develop coordination of movements, improve work of cardio-vascular system, help strengthen nervous system, improve metabolism and do not have a negative effect on joints.

This article describes the four main swimming strokes: crawl (freestyle), breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke.

Breaststroke and butterfly strokes are considered more difficult than freestyle and backstroke.

Crawl (freestyle)

In accordance with its name, it is not limited to any specific technique, the swimmer is allowed to swim in any way, changing them arbitrarily along the distance. The style, which today is called freestyle, and is also known as front crawl or Australian crawl, has been used since the beginning of the last century. Some believe that freestyle was invented by Australian Richmond Cavill, who combined the over-arm style with alternating arm strokes.

Freestyle is the most popular and fastest of all styles. The technique of this style is quite simple; the arms create the main moving force when swimming freestyle. The athlete swims on his chest, alternating long powerful strokes with his arms along the body (windmill movements) and at the same time performing up and down kicks in the vertical plane. The legs should be slightly bent at the knees and relaxed, because Tension in the legs can lead to cramps.

The most difficult part of this style is coordinating the breathing when performing the strokes, since the face remains in the water almost the entire time. During one of the strokes, the athlete turns his head towards the hand that goes up out of the water to inhale. The head should not be raised above the water, as this slows down the speed of movement, but should be turned so that the mouth is above the water. After a quick take a deep breath through the mouth, the head is turned into the water and exhaled through the mouth, and then through the nose. Along with the blow of the hand, you need to turn your head in the opposite direction and repeat the same process. Improper breathing can affect your endurance and speed.

When swimming freestyle, you can swim only 15 meters underwater (after the start and after each turn); the rest of the time, some part of the athlete’s body must always be above the water.

- a style of swimming on the chest, where swimmers must adhere to certain rules - the implementation of simultaneous and symmetrical strokes with their arms with simultaneous and symmetrical pushes with their legs (frog kick) in the horizontal plane, without taking them out of the water. The legs are the main driving force in breaststroke. The most important element when swimming breaststroke is sliding after the kick; without sliding, the speed slows down and the expenditure of energy increases. With coordination of movements, the swimmer continuously moves forward with the greatest speed and the least energy expenditure.

After completing the arm stroke, while lifting the legs and moving the arms, the swimmer raises his head to inhale. The inhalation is completed until the legs are pulled up. The swimmer begins to exhale at the beginning of the kick, when the head is lowered face down into the water.

When turning and at the end of the distance, both hands must simultaneously touch the wall at the same level. At the start, during the first stroke and push after the turn, swimmers are allowed to perform one full stroke with their arms to the hips and one push with their legs. At all other times, the swimmer's head should be above the surface of the water. Dolphin-like, scissor-like and vibrating leg movements, as well as somersault turns are not permitted.

Breaststroke is considered the slowest swimming style, but it also has some advantages over other styles - the ability to see the space in front of you, swim almost silently, swim long distances and swim underwater.

Breaststroke is a swimming style with complex technique and should not be chosen for swimming training.

(dolphin) - belly swimming style, is one of the most technically complex swimming styles. When swimming butterfly style, the right and left parts of the body synchronously make symmetrical movements: the arms perform a powerful wide stroke, which lifts the swimmer's upper body above the water, and the legs and pelvis perform wave-like movements. When swimming butterfly, the torso actively participates in the movement of the legs, its movements help carry the arms above the water and inhale.

Athletes must not swim underwater except for the first stroke after the start and each turn. You can only swim 15 meters underwater at the start and after the turn, and you must touch the wall with both hands at the same time.

Butterfly is considered the most energy-consuming swimming style; it requires the athlete to have extreme endurance and impeccable technique. In terms of swimming speed, this style is in second place after freestyle.

Butterfly is a young swimming style. He was born out of experiments in breaststroke swimming. Perhaps this technique was invented by the German E. Rademacher in 1926 and improved by the American Henry Meyer, after which it began to be used in competitions in 1933. Only in 1953 was butterfly officially recognized as an independent swimming style and included in the program of the Olympic Games (in 1956).

The backstroke style is similar to the reverse crawl style. The swimmer makes alternating strokes with his arms, but above the water the arm is extended straight, and not bent, as in the freestyle, and at the same time alternating kicks are made up and down in the vertical plane. The athlete's face is constantly above the water, except for the start and turns.

It is not one of the fastest styles, but it can be swam faster than breaststroke. The start in backstroke is done from the water.

Just like freestyle, only 15 meters can be swum underwater after the start and each turn. When turning, swimmers do not have to touch the wall with their hand, which allows them to turn much faster.

Medley swimming

Complex swimming is a type of swimming that includes all four styles and the swimmer changes the technique of swimming methods, depending on the length of the distance, every 50-100 meters.

The distance is covered in the following order:

• butterfly
• backstroke
• breaststroke
• crawl

It is obvious that athletes taking part in medley swimming, must have comprehensive technical training.

Over its long history, humanity has developed many different swimming styles. Currently, the main swimming styles are: freestyle (crawl), backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Below we will talk about the main features of each of them.

The content of the article :

Freestyle

Ian James Thorpe - five times Olympic champion, specializing in this style of swimming.

The All-Russian Swimming Federation defines freestyle swimming as follows: “Freestyle means that a swimmer is allowed to swim in any way, randomly changing them over the course.” Previously, breaststroke, side swimming and trudgeon style were used as freestyle. In the 1920s, all these swimming styles were replaced by the more advanced and faster crawl.

The rabbit has been known to mankind since ancient times. Despite this, European and American athletes for a long time knew nothing about crawl, giving all their preferences to another swimming style - breaststroke. Western civilization was able to “get acquainted” with the crawl again in 1844 at a competition in London, where the American Indians who used the crawl easily beat the famous English athletes who swam breaststroke. For a long time, Europeans could not overcome prejudices and refused to swim in such a “barbaric” way, in their opinion. But soon (in the 1870s), the Englishman John Tregen, who was traveling in Argentina, learned the crawl technique from the indigenous local population and a few years later presented his new style at competitions in Britain (however, John adopted only hand movements from the Indians - he used his legs to still worked in the horizontal plane). His technique was then refined by brothers Dick and Toomes Cavill from Australia (who were hugely influenced by the swimming style of the Solomon Islanders). The so-called “Australian crawl” that arose in this way was modified a little later by the American Charles Daniels, who also included six-beat leg strokes. Thus, Daniels created the “American crawl”, from which the modern style develops.

Crawl (from the English crawl - “crawl”) is a style of swimming on the chest, in which the swimmer makes wide strokes along the body alternately with the left and right hand, while simultaneously continuously and alternately raising and lowering the legs. The athlete's face is in the water, and only periodically during one of the strokes the swimmer turns his head in order to take a breath.

Freestyle swimming lesson

Backstroke

Kliment Kolesnikov - six-time champion Olympic Games , specializing in this style of swimming.

Backstroke is a style of backstroke swimming that is visually similar to the "inverted crawl". Just as in the freestyle, the swimmer here makes alternating strokes with his arms (though the swing is performed with a straight arm, not a bent one), while at the same time continuously and alternately raising and lowering his legs. Since the athlete’s face is almost constantly (except for starts and turns) above the water, there is no need to exhale into the water. Interestingly, initially, for backstroke, athletes used a technique that looked like an “inverted” breaststroke, rather than crawl. It was in this form that backstroke swimming was first included in the program of the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris. But already in 1912, the American Harry Hebner, using the “inverted” crawl for swimming on his back, was able to become a gold medalist at the Stockholm Olympics. After that, the back crawl very quickly replaced the breaststroke. Backstroke is the 3rd fastest swimming style and the only one that starts directly from the water.

Backstroke lesson

Breaststroke

Yulia Efimova - five-time Olympic champion, specializing in this style of swimming.

Breaststroke (from the French brass - “hand”) is a style of swimming on the chest, in which the swimmer makes simultaneous and symmetrical movements of the arms, as well as simultaneous and symmetrical movements of the legs in a horizontal plane under the surface of the water. Among all swimming styles, breaststroke is the most ancient and, at the same time, the slowest.

The cave paintings of the Egyptian "Cave of Swimmers" (ca. 9000 BC) depict people swimming, whose body positions resemble the positions of the human body during the movement of modern breaststroke. Descriptions of this style of swimming are found in some medieval authors: for example, the Dane Nicolas Vinman (1538) wrote about breaststroke, as well as the Frenchman Melkisedek Thévenot in his work “The Art of Swimming” (1699). It is interesting that for a long time, right up to the 20th century, breaststroke continued to be called simply “frog swimming.”

Initially, athletes swam breaststroke, constantly keeping their heads above the water. But in the 1930s. many swimmers, including representatives Soviet school swimming, they began to lower their head into the water while moving their arms forward. Since then, this style of swimming has included several more changes and continues to change to this day.

Despite the low speed of movement, breaststroke is distinguished by many characteristics that are indispensable in applied swimming: the ability to swim silently, have a good view of the surface area, and cover long distances.

Breaststroke lesson

Butterfly

Michael Phelps is a famous 23-time Olympic champion who specializes in this style of swimming.

Butterfly (from the English butterfly - “butterfly”, alternative name “dolphin”) is a style of swimming on the chest, in which the swimmer makes simultaneous and symmetrical movements with the left and right parts of the body. With his hands, the athlete performs a powerful stroke along a wide trajectory, due to which the front part of his body rises above the water, while at the same time making symmetrical wave-like movements with his legs and pelvis. Among all swimming styles, butterfly is the most energy-consuming, requiring maximum endurance, as well as precision execution.

Butterfly appeared in 1935, and was then considered a new type of breaststroke, approved for use in competitions. But in 1953, due to the huge speed advantage over the classic breaststroke, butterfly was singled out as a separate swimming style.

Butterfly swimming lesson

Swimming, as such, originated a very long time ago. This is evidenced by ancient drawings and pictures that date back to periods before our era. At the end of the 19th century, this sport entered into Olympic program and still occupies an important place there.

Swimming styles

• Butterfly, aka dolphin. This method of swimming is considered the most technically difficult and tiring. This is due to the fact that the swimmer needs to synchronously coordinate the movements of the arms and legs, while breathing correctly. Due to a strong stroke with the arms, the athlete’s body rises above the water, while the pelvis needs to make wave-like movements. This swimming style is very fast and takes second place after front crawl;

• The back crawl is technically similar to the front crawl. The athlete must alternately make strokes with his arms, while simultaneously moving his legs up and down. At the same time, the swimmer’s body glides along the surface of the water. The back of the head is submerged in water. The main feature of this style is low start, straight out of the water. Swimming on the back is inferior in speed to crawl and butterfly;

• Freestyle - swimming style (or front crawl); This means that an athlete can cover the distance in any style convenient for him and even change it during the distance. Behind long years holding competitions, American athletes were able to improve their technique in such a way crawl swimming, that it was this style that supplanted the others during freestyle swimming;

• Breaststroke is one of the main swimming styles, in which symmetrical movements of the arms and legs are performed parallel to the surface of the water. When this style first appeared, the head was always on the surface of the water. It was later noted that if you immerse your head in the water during strokes, the speed increases significantly. Thus, in a modern brace, you only need to raise your head to inhale.

There are no easy or hard strokes in swimming. In order to achieve results in each swimming style, you need to master the technique. Only in this case the speed will become high. For production correct technique swimming and breathing takes on average two to three years of active training with a trainer, then work begins on the result. You need to develop endurance, hone your movements until they become automatic, and work on your speed.

Basic swimming methods

• Crawl on chest
• Back crawl
• Breaststroke
• Butterfly (dolphin)

The four styles listed are the main swimming methods that are included in the Olympic competition program, as well as the World and European Championships.

Swimming is very useful look sports, since with any style almost all muscle groups are involved. Swimmers-athletes have beautiful figures.

You can start swimming from childhood, but it is better to start serious training in the pool no earlier than 6.5-7 years. This is due to the fact that a smaller child is distracted by the water, cannot concentrate on the learning process, and also, he cannot stay in the cool water in the pool for a long time.

A person who follows the instructions of a coach, practices conscientiously and has natural swimming abilities can repeat and break the records of such famous swimmers as Michael Phelps, Ian Thorpe, Yana Klochkova, Alexander Popov and many others.