Why freestyle not front crawl

While swimming researchers have traced the history of front crawl to originating as far back as the Stone Age, the first mention of the stroke in a competitive context was reported by The Times newspaper in Invited to swim in a race in London, two native Americans, Flying Gull and Tobacco, were said to be lashing the water violently with their arms like the sails of a windmill and beating downward with their feet.

Observers were reported to be shocked by the stroke and its difference to breaststroke which was the only competitive stroke used in the early European swimming clubs. Another breakthrough moment in the history of front crawl came in when Johnny Weissmuller became the first person to swim m freestyle in less than a minute.

As front crawl is the fastest of the four contemporary swimming strokes, it is swum almost universally in the freestyle event in competitive swimming. The majority of freestyle swimmers at the first four Olympic Games used the Trudgen stroke — a hybrid of front crawl arm technique and breaststroke leg kick named after English swimmer John Trudgen.

Sweating is a biological function used by the body to cool itself down. That means, during high-intensity workouts, the body will break a sweat to cool down, even in the water.

However, swimmers are less likely to notice the sweat because the water washes it off immediately. As if you needed another excuse to hit the pool this summer, new research shows that swimmers live longer than walkers and runners.

In a study of more than 40, men ages 20 to 90 who were followed for 32 years, swimmers were 50 percent less likely to die during the study period than were walkers or runners. Your cardiovascular system is also winning. You should be able to cover anywhere from 20 to 30 laps, at least.

If you are capable of doing more, you should be swimming for longer periods of time, perhaps 45 minutes or even an hour. If you are looking for a great aerobic and total body-strengthening workout, then look no further.

Swimming can provide all that and more. If the water is warm, swimming can even have a soothing effect on achy joints and muscles.

You may prefer to swim laps, if you like to work out by yourself. This refers to the point of entry of your hand into the water. Ideally, your hand and fingers should be straight with your fingers entering first, nearly parallel to the angle of the water. This should create minimal splash and decrease drag. You should maintain this wrist angle as you glide through the water to initiate the catch.

The catch refers to the point where you bend your hand and wrist in the water to begin pulling your hand back, to allow propulsion through the water. This is a crucial part of the stroke and one many people get wrong. When you bend your hand it should become directly perpendicular to the bottom of the pool. This occurs immediately after the catch and refers to pulling your hand back though the water to propel yourself forward.

Imagine you were looking at yourself swimming from behind and you had a smiley face drawn on the palm of your hand. You should be able to see that face through the entire stroke until your hand exits the water. This allows for maximum grab of the water and will help keep your upright during your swim. This refers to the way you twist your torso to aid with hand entry into the water.