The Different Swimming Strokes / Styles

The most common swimming strokes or styles are the freestyle stroke, the breaststroke, the backstroke, and the butterfly stroke.

They are well-known because they are used in swimming competitions.

Besides these common strokes, other styles of swim strokes exist like the sidestroke, the trudgen, the combat swimmer stroke, etc.

They are used less often but can also be fun to learn.

Let’s have a quick overview of these popular swimming strokes now.

The Freestyle Stroke

The Freestyle Stroke or front crawl is often the preferred stroke of seasoned swimmers.

It uses alternating arm movements with an above water recovery. The legs execute a flutter kick.

Freestyle is fast and efficient. In fact, it is the fastest of all swimming strokes. That’s why it is used in freestyle competitions and in the swimming leg of triathlons.

Here a short video that demonstrates the freestyle stroke:

More information about the freestyle stroke:

• Detailed explanation of freestyle technique.
• Start learning the freestyle stroke.

Breaststroke

Breaststroke is the most popular swim stroke of all.

In breaststroke, both arms execute half-circular arm movements at the same time underwater in front of the swimmer. The arm recovery also occurs under water.

The legs simultaneously perform a whip kick.

Breaststroke is often the first swimming stroke taught to beginners. In fact, many casual swimmers can only swim this stroke.

The advantage of breaststroke is that beginners can keep their head above the water. This avoids breathing and orientation issues.

More experienced swimmers, however, submerge their head during the stroke cycle to improve efficiency.

Breaststroke is the slowest of the competitive strokes.

Here a short video that demonstrates breaststroke:

More information about the breaststroke:

• Detailed explanation of breaststroke technique.
• Start learning breaststroke.

Butterfly Stroke

The butterfly stroke stands out among the competitive strokes because of it’s unique and spectacular technique.

It uses a symmetrical arm stroke with an above water recovery. It also uses a wave-like body undulation and a dolphin kick.

The butterfly is the second fastest swim stroke after freestyle.

It has a reputation of being hard to learn and is quickly exhausting. But once you have mastered it, swimming a few lengths of butterfly can be a lot of fun!

Here a short video that demonstrates the butterfly stroke:

More information about the butterfly stroke:

• Detailed explanation of butterfly stroke technique.
• Start learning the butterfly stroke.

Backstroke

As its name suggests, backstroke is swum on the back.

It uses alternating circular arm movements and an above water recovery. The legs execute a flutter kick similar to the one used in freestyle.

In competition, backstroke is faster than breaststroke but slower than butterfly.

Physicians often prescribe backstroke swimming to people experiencing back problems because it gives the back an excellent workout.

Here a short video that demonstrates backstroke:

More information about backstroke:

• Detailed explanation of backstroke technique.
• Start learning the backstroke.

Sidestroke

The sidestroke is an old swim stroke swum on the side that uses a scissor kick and asymmetrical underwater arm movements.

Sidestroke is not used in swimming competitions and is therefore swum less often nowadays.

Nevertheless, it is easy to learn and can be an interesting alternative to the popular swim strokes. It is also used by lifeguards to rescue victims.

Here a short animation of the sidestroke:

More information about the Sidestroke:

• Detailed explanation of sidestroke technique.
• Start learning the sidestroke.

Elementary Backstroke

Elementary backstroke is a swimming stroke where you swim on the back, using a reversed breaststroke kick and simple synchronized underwater arm stroke movements.

Elementary backstroke can be used as a first swim stroke with children (or adults) that learn how to swim because its technique is very simple.

Here a video that demonstrates elementary backstroke:

More information about elementary backstroke:

• Detailed explanation of elementary backstroke.