What is the most efficient underwater swimming stroke?
Asked by
shilolo (
18075
)
August 30th, 2010
I’ve always used a version of the breast stroke/frog kick while swimming underwater. Recently, I saw the movie The Guardian about rescue swimmers (don’t ask why) and noticed that they were using a dolphin kick while swimming in a pool, even without their swim fins. I tried the dolphin kick in the pool, and while it “works”, somehow it didn’t seem as good as the frog kick. Is either of these “better”, or is there another more powerful stroke? For the purposes of this question, assume no use of fins.
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6 Answers
I love freediving, hence got my eyes peeled at this question. I just use the breast stroke with leg collapse-whatever you call it. It seems to be the most energy efficient, so I can explore around and go pretty far without burning up more oxygen. I can last about 3 minutes or over with some training. You need to re-train to up your tolerance every summer. Unless of course you continue on in pools. Which makes me wonder how long I’d last if I kept doing it…
Lots of free divers go over 10 minutes. Something too strive for :)
The stroke that i would think is (most) efficient, is the one that The Man From Atlantis used to use.
It is also being used i believe by the swim athletes whom i watched some weeks ago when the European Championships were being held (after they turn at the 50 meter point they swim some meters under water in back crawl) .
The dolphin kick is so effective, so fast, its use is regulated in Olympic swimming competitions.
Really, whatever you do best. Dolphin is the fastest and most powerful, but most people have a hard time doing it correctly, and it takes over 4 times the energy of all the others. Breast stroke is the easiest for hauling ass, while side stroke is the easiest total – that’s why it’s so big at old folk’s homes. If you are hauling someone in, you’re supposed to do side stroke so that you don’t exert yourself with the first 3 strokes and then drown the both of you. So the movie wasn’t true to reality.
Breast stroke. (or frog style I suppose you could call it) that’s what I have always found to be fastest for me. Dolphin kick is fast, but its a matter of getting used to putting a different armstroke with it
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