Steps to Learn to Swim

Swimming is valuable for sport, recreation and exercise, and is also a useful life skill to have. The simplest swimming stroke is the crawl. Getting comfortable in the water and picking up the few basic skills of the crawl will put you well on your way to being a good swimmer.

  1. Get Comfortable in the Water

    • The first step toward proficient swimming is to be comfortable in the water. If the impulse to panic and thrash is not checked, no progress on swimming technique can be made. Start in water shallow enough for you touch the bottom. Practice treading water for gradually longer periods of time. Practice holding your head under water and opening your eyes. Practice floating on your back and on your stomach.

    The Crawl Position

    • When you are comfortable floating and keeping your face under water, practice kicking while you float on your stomach. Tilt your head up so that you are looking forward rather than down, with the water line at your eyebrows. Kick your feet in small fluttering kicks, keeping your ankles limber.

    The Crawl Stroke

    • This floating position is the starting position for the most basic and most efficient swimming stroke, the front crawl. The front crawl consists of alternating strokes with your arms while maintaining a kick. Draw one arm up from your side through the air, break the surface with your hand and pull the water back down to your side. When your backward pull begins, your other arm should exit the water at your side and begin its way forward. Allow your body to rotate slightly back and forth with the alternating momentum of your strokes.

    Breathing

    • To breathe while swimming the crawl, tilt your head sideways on the side where your arm is just leaving the water. The natural tilt of your body at this point in the stroke means you will only have to tilt your head a little bit to get your mouth above water. Do not raise your head and face out of the water to breathe. Breathe in through your mouth and exhale through your nose or mouth and nose underwater. Most swimmers find that a good rhythm is breathing once every two stroke cycles.