Basic swimming question...does keeping your legs straight help you go faster than bending them?
959553
Yes, keeping your legs straight will make you go faster.  You need to think of yourself as a needle or torpedo in the water.  You want the least resistance as possible so staying straight will make you go faster.  You want to kick from your hips and point your toes.  I used to have a large sissors kick and it only slowed me down.  Other swimmers kept pointing this out to me and I concetrated on keeping my legs together.  You can feel your thighs rub together and let your big toes touch each other each time you kick.  Now that I don't have a big sissors kick and I'm more streamlined I can swim 20 seconds faster for 250 yards.
316347
Swimming is a technique to move unaided through water. This article concentrates on human swimming, a popular recreational activity and a competitive sport. There are many health benefits of swimming, but it also entails risks.\n\nSwimming has been known since prehistoric times. Drawings from the stone age were found in "the cave of swimmers" near Wadi Sora (or Sura) in the southwestern part of Egypt. Written references date back up to 2000 B.C., including Gilgamesh, the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible (Ezekiel 47:5, Acts 27:42, Isaiah 25:11), Beowulf, and other sagas. In 1538 Nicolas Wynman, German professor of languages, wrote the first swimming book "Colymbetes". Competitive swimming in Europe started around 1800, mostly using breaststroke. The front crawl, then called the trudgen was introduced in 1873 by John Arthur Trudgen, copying it from Native Americans.\n\nSwimming was part of the first modern Olympic games in 1896 in Athens. In 1902 the trudgen was improved by Richard Cavill, using the flutter kick. In 1908, the world swimming association Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) was formed. Butterfly was first a variant of Breaststroke, until it was accepted as a separate style in 1952.\n\nTechnique\nThe human body is composed primarily of water, and thus has a very similar density. But since only roughly 70% of the body is water, it is slightly less dense than the surrounding water, which exerts a buoyant force on it. Thus, staying afloat requires only a slight propelling of water downward relative to the body, and transverse motion only a slight propelling of water in a direction opposite to the direction of intended motion, due to generally low hydrodynamic drag. This propelling is typically accomplished by cupping the hands and using them as paddles, and by kicking the legs to push water away from the body.\n\nWith practice, technique can convert a slow or average swimmer to at least a moderately fast swimmer. Since speed converts directly into distance, the same techniques that improve speed also aid one to move farther with the same effort. The torso and the legs should be kept as much as possible parallel to the surface of the water. Dropped legs or a slanted torso dramatically increase drag. The hand should be extended forward of the head as much as possible. This increases the average length at the water-line, substantially increasing speed. This is an effect long used by boat designers, and unconsciously used by "naturally good swimmers."\n\nThe time spent on the side should be maximized because the torso is narrower front-to-back than side-to-side on most swimmers. This reduces the frontal cross-section, reducing drag further, and also increasing the ratio between the body's water-line-length and width. Similar improvements are possible by orienting the narrowest direction of head, hands, legs and arms into the water. The torso is by far the most critical. The motion of the hand, arm, and leg from the back to the front should be in the air for as much as possible, and in the water, oriented as perfectly as possible, because the returning appendage has to move at least twice as fast as the swimmer, and in the water generates eight times the drag (which increases with the cube of the speed) of an equal amount of torso frontal area.\n\nThe basic "catch" of the water is not nearly as critical as the above items. Most swimmers simply grab water with their hand flat, or the fingers slightly spread, and then draw it smoothly down their body. None of the above techniques require improved strength. With strength training, the hands and feet can be extended further into the water, gaining more propulsion. For beginners, increased strength brings only small improvements if the above strategies (minimising drag and lengthening water-line) are not optimal. A number of swimming styles have been developed based on the implementation of some or all of these principles.
114384
There is the pike surface dive, in which you bend at the hips but keep your legs straight. You will go down head first. Also, the tuck surface dive which you tuck your knees into your chest and dive down. Last is the feet first surface dive which is precisely what it says, a feet first surface dive
1109553
I don't know why, but USUALLY it slows enough while you are in water that it virtually stops. However, it doesn't always stop (trust me, been there). Your best bet if you are going swimming is to use a tampon. Better safe than sorry.
796109
Being flexible has nothing to do with your speed. To get faster you need to work and tone your body more. Push it a little harder after you get comfortable with one pace and after a week or so once you get comfortable with that pace push it just a bit more and continue until you've reached a speed you want, but remember there is going to be some point at which you are at your maximum speed. As far as flexibility that's going to help you prevent injury. Stretching before and after exercise helps keep muscles loose. Flexibility enables your body to move better as well, but has nothing to do with speed. As a rugby player flexibility is great for reducing chance of injury.
1142725
Yes...more dryland, stretching exercises, and hollow out slightly before entry. Do line ups and get body control. Diving can torque backs either by entries not lined up, or the board's rebound itself.
210263
Well you should do all strecthing like everything else, ur legs, ur arms especially. i like to go to the gym and life some light waits and work on my legs, there is a machin that is like rowing a boat that really helps ur arms get the motion of swimming. Just go to a gym and try their different machines. it will work wonders!!! good luck!
577121
Swimming works for me very fast. If you know swimming and have access to a pool, just 30 minutes of swimming daily can do wonders.
781705
When your swimming your foot is at a pointed position. Your most likely feeling a cramp. This happened to me when I was younger and did gymnastcs. Take a break from swim and and roll your foot around
761354
It's about practice.  The only things that can make you faster are getting stronger, getting better, and being more comfortable in the water.  Thats what practice is for.  When you talk about being a good runner that's great.  But it doesn't really match with being a good swimmer.  The cardio is going to be similar, but swimming is about full body strength, a lot of which is going to be in arms, shoulders, and your core.  I'm not a runner so I don't have that much knowledge about what that takes, but I am thinking that It's more legs, and less upper body.  \nSwim, then swim more.  When you feel tired, swim more.  Get some one to critic your strokes, then swim more.  If you can't be in the water, to exercises to increase your stamina and that allow you to make similar movements to your strokes.  Swimming takes more time, and more effort than most sports to change anything.
436404
if you swim laps before and do streches before to get you warmed upI swim 70 lengths of a 25meter pool at least 3 times a week. I have been doing this since I was little. It is good exercise but not great for losing weight. Then again it might work differently for you. 64 lenghts = 1 mile. Front crawl is best. If you have not swam for a while or never at all, built up your lengths add a few more on every night. Stop for a breather every 10 lengths of so and always bring water.yes swimming is exercise you burn 600 calories and hour and it really shapes your arms...try doing jumping jacks in the water...or doing rolling your arms in the pool (put your arms under the water and bend then in front of you and put one hand in front of the other and roll and do that for some time..or stand with your hands at your sides and bring your arms up and down ...try walking or running in the same stop you can also do modified squats or hold the side of the pool and bring your legs forward that what i do in the summer.Running is good but swimming is also good as well. It is a good form of exercise and workouts depend on the length of your pool. You should do many laps of swimmimg depending on your level of fitness. If you have not been swimming in a long time it may feel tiring at first but you will get used to it. As you get better you should increase the amount of swimming. A good idea is to join a swim class. Swimming is a good alternative to running because it doesnt have that high impact that running does. Oh yeah and before your swim workout you should strech, like your quads, calves, triceps, ect. I had a bad experience once. I was doing drills (The flutter kick thing) and right in the middle of the pool i got a cramp on my quad. It was painful. That is why you should strecth.
929300
Practice!  You will get better with time.  Also try swimming slower.  Make sure you have good form so you are not wasting energy.  Breathe with your head to the side; breathe every stroke if necessary.
204210
Depends on the individual, and where you swim.\nPools don't cause any harm, as long as someone is watching and adjusting the water chemistry.  Swimming laps will make you feel livelier and better off, and you'll get into better physical shape.\nBe careful if you swim in the sea.  Watch for rip tides, and know what to do if you're caught by one.  Check with the local authorities to see if the water is bacteriologically contaminated.\nFresh water swimming is generally safe.  Just use common sense.\nUse sunscreen if you plan to be in the midday sun for a while.  Swimming tends to wash it off; reapply if necessary.
369305
Not really it tends to make you lean with lots of endurance.  The resistance of water doesn't change.  However, if you see the pools where you stand up and fight the water.  Those can make people real strong.
475024
When doing backstroke make sure your arm touces your ear as it goes past it also has to touch your leg. Keep your head strait and looking back. Keep your arms strait, and your legs straight when you kick, and kick consantly. I see lot of people kicking from their knees, this is rally bad, kick from your hips. Practice kicking hugging a kickboard. Also when you are doing it see if you can find a straigh line that goes all the way down the pool andfollow that.\nI hope this helps!
1130799
what is incredible about swimming is that it is horizontal exercise,and like flying in mid-air! For some people it might be the only horizontal exercise they ever get.. Because you are in the water you are able to move more weight with less resistance,and exercise your cardio-vascular system ( if you progress into laps,especially) A great body workout!!
895995
The lanes at the edge of the pool are usually the slower lanes. As you move towards the center, the lanes get faster. When you swim, stay to the right of the lane. Don't block the walls, because then other swimmers will have to work around you when they're turning. (Or they'll just turn on top of you, and that's no fun for anyone.) If you have to rest it's best to get out of the pool, or just stay out of the other swimmers' ways. Try to schedule your workouts at off-peak times (like during the middle of the day if possible, or after 8 pm.) That way, there probably won't be as many people in the pool and you can have a lane to yourself and you can do pretty much whatever you want.