I learn the four strokes as a kid. But what is it like for you that learned it as adults. I was amazed that some adults are like age groupers better at some strokes than others.
Former Member
In reality both the *** and the fly are the hardest for most swimmers to learn. The *** because of the kick. And the fly because of the timing. Most age group coaches will tell you that there are dozens of freestylers in the US compared to those that compete in either *** and fly. The red cross is talking about doing *** by keeping your head above water. But the leg action makes it more difficult for most swimmers to learn than either free or back. In fact, the US unlike European countries starts with free which is easier to learn with the exception of side breathing.
Hey Cynthia,
The red cross talks about an alternative relaxing breastroke, where your face is kept out of the water (especially helpful when you have an adult learner who is not comfortable with water in the face). But when we teach breastroke (to adults or children) we try to instill the proper mechanics where the face is put into the water (whether the head goes under completely is another issue) during the stroke.
I'll put myself out on a limb here, when I coached High School and taught swim lessons down in So Cal, it seemed that our beginner swimmers that were of Asian/Pacific Island heritage picked up the breastroke real easy and had a harder time of learning front and back crawl (freestyle & backstroke).
Jeff
You can learn fly and *** as an adult. I took lessons at 38 am now 42, and fly and *** are fast becoming my best strokes. Now am I fast, not compared to the national standards, but I am still dropping time, so I don't know. I can complete a 400 IM well under 7:00, for someone who could not swim 3 years ago, that's not bad. And yes, I am short and short waisted, I think that helps with fly and ***. My back is downright pitiful though!!
it is hard to gauge how I am doing as I have only competed twice since I learned three years ago. My fly split on the 400 IM(yards) was 1:31.00, I have swum 1:37 *** in practice, and 1:40 back. Free is around 1:15-1:17. 100 IM is around 1:20, 200 IM 3:20.
Still so far from those National times, but I got into this for fitness, it has been fun to get faster in my 40's since I never swam before this.
When I took lessons at 38, I could do a form of freestlye with my head up, could not do any of the other strokes, and it took me 6 months to be able to swim farther than a 100 and that 100 took me 3:00! :) I did not start out of shape, as I have been a life long exerciser. The boast in times this year has been a 35 pound weight loss. Makes a big difference.
I'm in the age group after years in the 45 to 49 and if you continual to improve you can make the NQT. There easier in meter swims since less people swim meter meets. I made both the 50 meter and the 100 meter ***. In the 200 meter I can't hold it together yet at a faster speed so I missed it.
We are close in free or *** time,Dorothy. But you might just be a little faster since that was a split from an IM. You are way head of me in fly and back.
Coach thinks I could probably go low 1:20 on fly if I raced it. *** took me FOREVER to learn. I could not get the timing down, it was so maddening. I think I overthought it, because now it is getting a lot better. That 1:37 is a time taken over a year ago, so who knows where I am now.
I timed a 200 fly at 3:30, which is slow, but just finishing that one is good.
I spend a lot of time at swim meets for my kids, watching swimmers. If you know what to look for, you can learn a lot! I also ask their coaches lots of questions to get tips on my own swimming. They are always very generous with their help.
Well, as a kid I didn't have anymore problem learning the free than the ***. And as an adult it took about a month to develop the sidebreathing in free and the kick in breaststroke again. As for fly it took a lot longer because I didn't swim as much of it and I didn't start working out 2,000 workouts 3 to 4 days a day until last year again to built conditioning. And as a kid I had a fair fly. My best time then was 1:05.8. in a 100 yards. Recently in a workout I did a 1:47 fly and a *** a 1:43 and a 1:33 free. Now, the back I did a 1:56. I swam a 200 meter free at 1:34 at the 100 meter mark and I swam a 1:43.31 *** in a long course meet,so I do swim faster at meets. The workout times were yards. As an adult the *** is the best. The free is second and the fly is in third now and the back is behind the pack
Yeah, Nadine is the friend I was talking about. She swims some of the time with my son's team and is awesome!! I think it would be fun and it is at a good time of year for me. I would be at the bottom of the pack, but I don't think that will bother me.
I am heading over there at the end of the month to see what it is like to swim over there. Been to Indy many, many times for my son, I am sure it will be a different perspective being there to compete!
