List of swimming styles: Encyclopedia II - List of swimming styles - Recreational Styles

List of swimming styles - Recreational Styles

There are a large number of different recreational swimming styles, commonly known among swimmers as strokes. Some of them are swum on the breast, some on the back, and some on the side. Of course, all the competition strokes can be swum recreationally.

List of swimming styles - On the Breast

• Front Crawl is the fastest swimming style.
  • Trudgen (also known as Trudgeon): The trudgen is similar to the front crawl, except it is swum with a scissor kick
  • Trudgen Crawl: Similar to the trudgen, but with a flutter kick between the scissor kicks
  • Double Trudgen: Similar to the trudgen, but the sides of the scissor kick alternate
  • Double Trudgen Crawl: Similar to the double trudgen, but with a flutter kick between the scissor kicks
  • Dolphin Crawl: Similar to front crawl, but with a dolphin kick. One kick per arm or two kicks per cycle. This style is often used in training.
  • Catch up stroke: A variation of the front crawl where one arm always rests at the front while the other arm performs one cycle.
  • Total Immersion is a version of front crawl in which body rotation is emphasised to increase the propulsive effect of the arms.
• Breaststroke
• Heads-Up Breaststroke: Similar to the breaststroke, but the head stays out of the water. This style is very popular for recreational swimmers and also for rescue swimmers approaching a victim.
• Butterfly
• Slow Butterfly (also known as Moth stroke): Similar to butterfly, but with an extended gliding phase, Breathing during the pull/push phase, return head into water during recovery. This style uses four kicks or more per cycle.
• Dog Paddle: face over water and paddling alternatingly with the hands, often with the nose and mouth above the water.
• Human Stroke: Similar to the dog paddle, but the arms reach out more and pull farther down.
• Survival Travel Stroke: Alternating underwater arm stroke, one cycle for propulsion, one for lift to stay on the surface. This style is slow but sustainable.
• Snorkeling: Swimming on the breast using a snorkel, usually in combination with masks and fins. Any stroke on the breast can be used, and there is no need to lift or turn the head for breathing.

List of swimming styles - On the Back

• Backstroke (also known as Back Crawl)
• Elementary Backstroke: Both arms move synchronized with a small synchronized kick. This is also sometimes known as the Lifesaving Kick
• Inverted Breaststroke: Similar to Elementary Backstroke, but with a breaststroke kick.
• Inverted Butterfly: Similar to Elementary backstroke, but with a dolphin kick. This is often used for training.
• Back Double Trudgen: Similar to the Backstroke, but with a scissor kick to alternating sides.
• Flutter Back Finning: Symmetrically underwater arm recovery with flutter kick.
• Feet First Swimming: A very slow stroke on the back where a breaststroke movement with the arms propels the body forward feet first. This is often used for training.

List of swimming styles - On the Side

• Side Stroke: Lying on the side with alternating underwater recovery and a scissor kick
• Overarm Sidestroke: Similar to the side stroke, but with a over water recovery of the top arm

List of swimming styles - Other

• Corkscrew Swimming: Alternating between Front crawl and backstroke every arm. This leads to a constant rotation of the swimmer. The stroke is used mainly for training purposes
• Underwater Swimming: any style with underwater recovery can be swum under water for certain distances depending on the need for air. Underwater swimming on the back has the additional possibility of water entering the nose. The swimmer can breathe out through the nose or wear a nose clip. Some swimmers can close their nostrils with the upper lip.
• Gliding: The swimmer is stretched with the arms to the front, the head between the arms and the feet to the back. This streamlined shape minimizes resistance and allows the swimmer to glide, for example after a start, a push off from a wall, or to rest between strokes.
• Turtle stroke: on the breast, extend right arm then pull, after pushing with the left leg (while opposite limbs are recovering), then opposite limbs repeat this process, i.e. left arm pulls after right leg pushes. Uses muscles of the waist. Head can easily be above or below water: this is a slow but very sustainable stroke, popular with turtles and newts.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Recreational Styles", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki