How to Learn Swimming Stroke Techniques Online

Swimming, a healthful activity enjoyed by people of all ages, is a great strength and cardiovascular exercise that uses all the muscles in the body. It takes time to learn to stay afloat and then to swim properly, especially to learn several different swimming strokes and the associated breathing techniques. For a beginner, learning swimming techniques online can be a good introduction to swimming before getting wet. For more advanced swimmers, online instructional videos featuring renowned Olympic swimmers like Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin can provide helpful tips to perfect a particular swimming stroke.

Things You'll Need

  • A bench
  • A pool
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Instructions

    • 1
      Search for online lessons

      Find online sources of swimming instruction. There are many to chose from. Some use text, others use video and still others provide a combination of the two. Swimsmooth.com provides animated videos that breaks down the swimming stroke. Swim.com offers videos of real people. YouTube provides hundreds of instructional videos. There are other sites as well. Find the sites--or combination of sites--that you think will help you, focusing on sites that feature instructors, coaches or accomplished swimmers. If you are new to swimming, begin with the freestyle or front crawl stroke.

    • 2
      Use a bench to practice swimming techniques.

      Lie down on a bench and attempt to repeat the movements you saw, focusing on just one step at a time.

    • 3
      Practice your arm movements.

      Begin with the motion of the arms for freestyle. Move one arm up and over your shoulder, then reach out in front of you, just to the side of the bench and pull the arm down through the imaginary water and back to the side of your thigh. Pay attention to the position of your hand, slightly cupped. Do the same with the other hand, then practice alternating the two arm movements in steady succession.

    • 4

      Now focus on the leg kicks. While lying prone across a bench or chair, kick the legs up and down in a flutter motion. When you have this right try putting the arm and leg motions together.

    • 5

      Practice the breathing technique you've seen in the online instruction. Simply turn the head to the side and take a breath, without lifting the entire upper body--a common mistake of beginners. Practice doing this in a slow rhythm. Now try to do it while moving your arms and legs.

    • 6

      Follow the same procedure if you are trying to learn another style of swimming, such as the backstroke, sidestroke, breaststroke or butterfly.

    • 7

      Make a list of all of the concepts that the online swim lesson has offered. Take the list to a pool with a lifeguard, being careful to stay in a shallow area, and practice the elements of each stroke, one by one, until you have mastered them. Now try to put them all together to swim through the water. It may take a few trips to the pool to get it all right. Refer back to the online lesson if something seems more difficult in the water.