The History of the Crawl Stroke
July 16, 2022 12:35 PM Subscribe
"Why Europeans Took So Long to Learn the Crawl" - Slate's excerpt from Karen Eva Carr's new book Shifting Currents: A World History of Swimming.
My face in the water, no matter the stroke, has always made me claustrophobic. Hence I have long favored the sidestroke. I find it restful and efficient. More gliding than swimming...
posted by jim in austin at 1:36 PM on July 16, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by jim in austin at 1:36 PM on July 16, 2022 [11 favorites]
I'm pretty sure that the breast stroke is still the only broadly-taught method in Sweden. There's been call from swim organisations to implement crawl lessons for youth instead, as swimming is a part of the core curriculum in Swedish schools, but I'm unaware of any school following through.
I learned to swim in a variety of styles at community pool lessons growing up in the States, and unless I'm swimming laps in a pool also prefer the sidestroke as I generally keep my glasses on in the water. In reflection it feels like a kind of bougie stroke to have mastered, as I don't see anybody else in the water in Europe is using it.
posted by St. Oops at 1:52 PM on July 16, 2022 [2 favorites]
I learned to swim in a variety of styles at community pool lessons growing up in the States, and unless I'm swimming laps in a pool also prefer the sidestroke as I generally keep my glasses on in the water. In reflection it feels like a kind of bougie stroke to have mastered, as I don't see anybody else in the water in Europe is using it.
posted by St. Oops at 1:52 PM on July 16, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's the butterfly that I alway found odd. It's so exhausting, yet not as fast as a crawl stroke. I find backstroke the most relaxing, and breaststroke always came easiest to me, but crawl is undoubtedly the most efficient way to cover distances in water.
posted by tavella at 2:39 PM on July 16, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by tavella at 2:39 PM on July 16, 2022 [5 favorites]
Something that is missing from this (fascinating) article -- when, how, and why did Europeans *lose* the crawl? She mentions that ancient Greeks & Romans knew it, but it's unclear when it was lost. Also unclear whether it was known to ancient China and lost or just unknown.
posted by feckless at 2:48 PM on July 16, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by feckless at 2:48 PM on July 16, 2022 [11 favorites]
It's the butterfly that I alway found odd
My understanding is that the butterfly is a pure invention borne of competition. The breaststroke has the arms and legs moving together (with crawl and backstroke the arms and legs more independently). The butterfly was originally a "Hey, this technically qualifies as a breaststroke" invention and was then spun off into its own stroke.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 6:00 PM on July 16, 2022 [3 favorites]
My understanding is that the butterfly is a pure invention borne of competition. The breaststroke has the arms and legs moving together (with crawl and backstroke the arms and legs more independently). The butterfly was originally a "Hey, this technically qualifies as a breaststroke" invention and was then spun off into its own stroke.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 6:00 PM on July 16, 2022 [3 favorites]
Huh. As a kid in 1970s New Zealand we were taught "overarm" (ie the crawl) and only those who were competing in sports learned breast stroke or butterfly. We had a progression from floating, to kicking while holding a float ("flutter board") in front of us, to holding the flutter board with alternating hand in front of us, and finally the full movement. If you referred to swimming - does so and so know how to swim - it was taken for granted it was the crawl. (Swimming is an essential skill for New Zealand children because we are generally keen on beaches and rivers but so many of ours are quite dangerous). I don't know what traditional Māori swimming styles were but probably something crawl like given Polynesian culture? Anyway this is a bizarre read from my perspective. Although it does clear up for me what "Australian crawl" is, a term I would come across in older works that I was never sure about.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:12 PM on July 16, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:12 PM on July 16, 2022 [10 favorites]
They saw the breaststroke as calm and rational, and rejected the crawl as excessively splashy and energetic.
I am glad I know crawl stroke, but I kind of agree with the second part of this assessment. Competition or rescue is a different matter, but just swimming for fun? I reject the crawl and embrace the breaststroke. You are like a happy little frog when you're swimming breaststroke! I put my head underwater though, what neck aching madness otherwise.
Thanks for posting! This is interesting stuff.
posted by the primroses were over at 8:15 PM on July 16, 2022 [11 favorites]
I am glad I know crawl stroke, but I kind of agree with the second part of this assessment. Competition or rescue is a different matter, but just swimming for fun? I reject the crawl and embrace the breaststroke. You are like a happy little frog when you're swimming breaststroke! I put my head underwater though, what neck aching madness otherwise.
Thanks for posting! This is interesting stuff.
posted by the primroses were over at 8:15 PM on July 16, 2022 [11 favorites]
Exactly! Breaststroke is like going for a nice walk, the front crawl is like running. If you're not trying to do exercise or get somewhere quickly, why not do a nice breaststroke so you can see where you are going, keep your head out of the water a fair bit and just chill.
posted by ssg at 8:31 PM on July 16, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by ssg at 8:31 PM on July 16, 2022 [3 favorites]
And even today, European children learn the breaststroke first.
I'm not much of a swimmer, but isn't the reason because the breaststroke is easier than the crawl?
posted by storybored at 8:59 PM on July 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm not much of a swimmer, but isn't the reason because the breaststroke is easier than the crawl?
posted by storybored at 8:59 PM on July 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm not defending colonialism, etc. etc., but the crawl is really only good for one thing: going as fast as possible for a short period of time. It's a sprint stroke, really. Unless you're just inhumanly fit, most people can't do a sustained crawl stroke for more than a lap or two. Sure, it's fast, but it's also tiring.
If the only stroke you know is the crawl, and you fall into the water and need to swim for a significant distance... you're probably going to have a bad time. You'll exhaust yourself and drown long before someone who's puttering along doing the breaststroke will.
I don't know about its introduction into European schools, but in the US, swimming was a mandatory part of the curriculum in many public schools (and still was required to graduate from many 'elite' universities, as recently as the 90s), largely because drowning was a fairly common cause of death for children and young people in the 19th century, when most people didn't know how to swim. It wasn't, at least as it's always been explained to me, as much a lifestyle/exercise thing as much as it was a "don't immediately die if you fall into water" thing.
This is/was also true in the military, which is where a lot of middle-class men in the early 20th century learned to swim. (And if there's anything that will motivate you to send your kids to swim lessons as children, it's knowing they'll avoid learning it from a Drill Sergeant with a fire hose.) Nobody is doing the crawlstroke with a rifle held above their head.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:31 PM on July 16, 2022 [2 favorites]
If the only stroke you know is the crawl, and you fall into the water and need to swim for a significant distance... you're probably going to have a bad time. You'll exhaust yourself and drown long before someone who's puttering along doing the breaststroke will.
I don't know about its introduction into European schools, but in the US, swimming was a mandatory part of the curriculum in many public schools (and still was required to graduate from many 'elite' universities, as recently as the 90s), largely because drowning was a fairly common cause of death for children and young people in the 19th century, when most people didn't know how to swim. It wasn't, at least as it's always been explained to me, as much a lifestyle/exercise thing as much as it was a "don't immediately die if you fall into water" thing.
This is/was also true in the military, which is where a lot of middle-class men in the early 20th century learned to swim. (And if there's anything that will motivate you to send your kids to swim lessons as children, it's knowing they'll avoid learning it from a Drill Sergeant with a fire hose.) Nobody is doing the crawlstroke with a rifle held above their head.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:31 PM on July 16, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'd never heard of sidestroke before. Isn't it tough on the neck? Holding your head up and sideways?
posted by Zumbador at 12:40 AM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Zumbador at 12:40 AM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
I feel this is one of those articles where "European" means either English + maybe some French activities someone has seen on holiday, or Americans of European descent who have taken on American-English mores. While Europe the continent has at least thirty different cultures, each with different attitudes to water. When I was a child many years ago, swimming was an obligatory part of PE, and one practiced crawl, breaststroke and backstroke in every class, as well as life-saving and jumping from the board. I never developed a good crawl, since I was exempted fairly regularly because of a skin condition, but I still passed the "lifesaver-exam" at the appropriate age -- 14 or 15, I don't remember. I remember you could stop at the "free-swimmer" exam, but then you couldn't take sailing as an elective. And I have had to save my daughter in a swimming pool twice in the same day, so I did make use of it.
So I checked to see what the curriculum is today, and saw (as expected)* that it is no longer obligatory, but that 4 out of 5 children have some amount of swimming classes and that the principles are still simultaneous learning of several techniques.
And to take it further back to colonialist days: my grandmother learnt to swim in the harbor, and also learnt all the techniques simultaneously. I have found a publication from 1800 which describes a crawl technique. It is translated from German.
I think back in the day, the idea was that you could swim further if you changed techniques and that you obviously need different techniques during live-saving. Now it is more about feeling comfortable in the water, and there is no longer a life saving exam.
*This country went into an educational panic at some point maybe around the year 2000 when the results from the PISA tests were bad. And then every other subject than math and reading and writing were cut to a minimum. Since, they have tried to rebuild a more holistic school, but if you cut something out it takes decades to rebuild -- the teachers are gone, and the facilities too.
posted by mumimor at 1:06 AM on July 17, 2022 [11 favorites]
So I checked to see what the curriculum is today, and saw (as expected)* that it is no longer obligatory, but that 4 out of 5 children have some amount of swimming classes and that the principles are still simultaneous learning of several techniques.
And to take it further back to colonialist days: my grandmother learnt to swim in the harbor, and also learnt all the techniques simultaneously. I have found a publication from 1800 which describes a crawl technique. It is translated from German.
I think back in the day, the idea was that you could swim further if you changed techniques and that you obviously need different techniques during live-saving. Now it is more about feeling comfortable in the water, and there is no longer a life saving exam.
*This country went into an educational panic at some point maybe around the year 2000 when the results from the PISA tests were bad. And then every other subject than math and reading and writing were cut to a minimum. Since, they have tried to rebuild a more holistic school, but if you cut something out it takes decades to rebuild -- the teachers are gone, and the facilities too.
posted by mumimor at 1:06 AM on July 17, 2022 [11 favorites]
I'm pretty sure that the breast stroke is still the only broadly-taught method in Sweden.
This brings up a thing that happened to me. I moved to Sweden as an adult and had to do two-day qualification course (dummy rescue, life raft, survival suit etc) for a particular boat that I would be riding on. This was at a workplace that only had Swedish Swedes.
We started with a 100 m lap around the pool. They didn't say what style to swim. Everybody hopped in the pool and immediately started swimming in exactly the same version of the same technique without missing a beat, like they had some sort of telepathic bond. I tried to swim like them, tired myself out, and had to duck out. The instructor was convinced I couldn't swim.
I'm not a great swimmer, but for the life of me, I can only remember doing crawl for those kind of distances growing up in the US. In fact, I can't remember ever doing any serious quantity of breast stroke in my childhood swimming lessons, at all.
posted by groda at 2:02 AM on July 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
This brings up a thing that happened to me. I moved to Sweden as an adult and had to do two-day qualification course (dummy rescue, life raft, survival suit etc) for a particular boat that I would be riding on. This was at a workplace that only had Swedish Swedes.
We started with a 100 m lap around the pool. They didn't say what style to swim. Everybody hopped in the pool and immediately started swimming in exactly the same version of the same technique without missing a beat, like they had some sort of telepathic bond. I tried to swim like them, tired myself out, and had to duck out. The instructor was convinced I couldn't swim.
I'm not a great swimmer, but for the life of me, I can only remember doing crawl for those kind of distances growing up in the US. In fact, I can't remember ever doing any serious quantity of breast stroke in my childhood swimming lessons, at all.
posted by groda at 2:02 AM on July 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
groda: "I tried to swim like them, tired myself out, and had to duck out."
Eponysterical... or not. Can't make up my mind.
(for people who don't know Swedish: "groda" is Swedish for "frog")
posted by techSupp0rt at 2:26 AM on July 17, 2022 [9 favorites]
Eponysterical... or not. Can't make up my mind.
(for people who don't know Swedish: "groda" is Swedish for "frog")
posted by techSupp0rt at 2:26 AM on July 17, 2022 [9 favorites]
Super interesting and the illustration it gives of the kinds of racist justifications European people clung to is highly instructive. Insecurity will make people do some weird things (gestures vaguely at landscape of fires guns and ubiquitous gigantic trucks, some literally with flags pretty much saying “leave me alone I am an asshole to a dangerous extent, and by leave me alone I mean cede all space to me”)
Personal anecdata: “crawl isn’t taught to European children” didn’t gibe with my personal anecdotal experience. The teaching offered was utterly dysfunctionally abysmal, but certainly included attempts at teaching crawl. Perhaps east central Scotland was a small island of Crawl int he early eighties, but I feel doubtful this was the case.
For me, at least “Crawl is harder than other strokes” implies it has been incorrectly taught. I learned properly in my forties and it was an absolute revelation. I’m lucky enough now that, while I’m not the fastest, boredom is the biggest challenge in swimming crawl a mile or so, and I’m really not very fit.
Very much looking forward to reading the book.
posted by aesop at 3:32 AM on July 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
Personal anecdata: “crawl isn’t taught to European children” didn’t gibe with my personal anecdotal experience. The teaching offered was utterly dysfunctionally abysmal, but certainly included attempts at teaching crawl. Perhaps east central Scotland was a small island of Crawl int he early eighties, but I feel doubtful this was the case.
For me, at least “Crawl is harder than other strokes” implies it has been incorrectly taught. I learned properly in my forties and it was an absolute revelation. I’m lucky enough now that, while I’m not the fastest, boredom is the biggest challenge in swimming crawl a mile or so, and I’m really not very fit.
Very much looking forward to reading the book.
posted by aesop at 3:32 AM on July 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
It's weird reading that the crawl is tiring.
I'm Australian and we basically get taught all the strokes from a relatively young age, so we're encouraged to be proficient in a number of different strokes. Crawl is 'standard' and once you're good at it it's very efficient and way less tiring than breaststroke or sidestroke, or god forbid, butterfly (which is truly wearying and designed entirely for showing off). I'm not a great swimmer by any estimation but the crawl leaves me way less tired after covering the same distance.
That said, if you're swimming in an industrial era canal full of shit and dead dogs, I can see why putting your face in there is going to seem uncouth and dangerous, especially if you aren't a great swimmer and you get the occasional lungful of water. Bad enough just in the eyes and ears.
posted by Jilder at 3:55 AM on July 17, 2022 [18 favorites]
I'm Australian and we basically get taught all the strokes from a relatively young age, so we're encouraged to be proficient in a number of different strokes. Crawl is 'standard' and once you're good at it it's very efficient and way less tiring than breaststroke or sidestroke, or god forbid, butterfly (which is truly wearying and designed entirely for showing off). I'm not a great swimmer by any estimation but the crawl leaves me way less tired after covering the same distance.
That said, if you're swimming in an industrial era canal full of shit and dead dogs, I can see why putting your face in there is going to seem uncouth and dangerous, especially if you aren't a great swimmer and you get the occasional lungful of water. Bad enough just in the eyes and ears.
posted by Jilder at 3:55 AM on July 17, 2022 [18 favorites]
This was a fascinating article. I also remember hearing adults say "Australian crawl" when I was a kid and having no idea what that meant.
I took swimming lessons as a kid with both Red Cross and YMCA instructors, which I think are likely the two main training systems in the US, and in both cases, kids learned front crawl first and breaststroke later. Some of the names have changed, but it looks like that is still true: Red Cross and an example YMCA. In addition to the competition strokes, both programs also teach sidestroke, which makes sense as they both also run lifeguard training programs, and sidestroke is a vital skill for lifeguards (it's how you drag someone to safety while keeping your own head above water).
posted by hydropsyche at 4:38 AM on July 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
I took swimming lessons as a kid with both Red Cross and YMCA instructors, which I think are likely the two main training systems in the US, and in both cases, kids learned front crawl first and breaststroke later. Some of the names have changed, but it looks like that is still true: Red Cross and an example YMCA. In addition to the competition strokes, both programs also teach sidestroke, which makes sense as they both also run lifeguard training programs, and sidestroke is a vital skill for lifeguards (it's how you drag someone to safety while keeping your own head above water).
posted by hydropsyche at 4:38 AM on July 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
Note that you can do a crawl stroke while keeping your head above water (and I have done so on many occasions), it’s just less efficient. Similar to how a more efficient breast stroke also involves putting your face in the water. (And yeah, if you’re splashing a lot while doing a crawl, seek out some better instruction. It should involve cutting your arms into the water smoothly. Not that I do that very well, myself, but that’s the goal.)
posted by eviemath at 5:27 AM on July 17, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by eviemath at 5:27 AM on July 17, 2022 [8 favorites]
I totally can't do a breaststroke at all; the only way I can swim is a crawl. I've taken swimming lessons as an adult multiple times and no one has succeeded in teaching me the breaststroke. I just can't get my arms and legs in the right rhythm and never actually go forward.
posted by octothorpe at 7:01 AM on July 17, 2022
posted by octothorpe at 7:01 AM on July 17, 2022
I'd never heard of sidestroke before. Isn't it tough on the neck? Holding your head up and sideways?
No, sidestroke is super relaxing. Your neck is close to straight, face above water because your body is turned sideways. It's an endurance stroke, something I (an unathletic person) can use to stay afloat and moving basically forever because it's easy to rest between strokes if i like, or switch sides to engage different muscles. Strongly recommended!
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:10 AM on July 17, 2022 [14 favorites]
No, sidestroke is super relaxing. Your neck is close to straight, face above water because your body is turned sideways. It's an endurance stroke, something I (an unathletic person) can use to stay afloat and moving basically forever because it's easy to rest between strokes if i like, or switch sides to engage different muscles. Strongly recommended!
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:10 AM on July 17, 2022 [14 favorites]
Side stroke and elementary backstroke are both great survival strokes--you can do them for a long time without getting tired. I think that's part of why they're often taught early in the US, because early swimming lessons are about drown-proofing. Then, kids learn front and back crawl. And then, if they want to compete, they learn breaststroke and butterfly. It sounds like in Europe, breaststroke is taught as the survival stroke instead.
posted by hydropsyche at 8:01 AM on July 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 8:01 AM on July 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
I never had real structured swimming lessons and at the school I went to it just seemed assumed that everyone had had them, (summer camp?) Unfortunately this absence of instruction didn't keep them with having swimming as one of a succession of competitive intramural sports starting at age 13. I kind of knew how swim a bit, back stroke with frog kick, breaststroke, an ineffective version of the crawl but the competition was so embarrassing that I joined the cohort who didn't know how to swim and got some kind of permission slip to just sit in the bleachers and watch with the few non swimmers and eventually just cutting out for the period. Of the strokes the crawl was the least democratic, most aristocratic and jockey. The polo of swim. In retrospect I am disgusted by the whole thing as it was basically an exercise in shaming kids whose parents hadn't the means interest or opportunity to get them schooled in swim, all while having a private pool for a school of 500 students.
To this day the crawl is a lousy stroke for me, when I do a flutter kick on its own I either stay in place or go backwards. Everyone who has witnessed this makes suggestions, watches, scratches their head, gives up.
posted by Pembquist at 8:56 AM on July 17, 2022
To this day the crawl is a lousy stroke for me, when I do a flutter kick on its own I either stay in place or go backwards. Everyone who has witnessed this makes suggestions, watches, scratches their head, gives up.
posted by Pembquist at 8:56 AM on July 17, 2022
That's interesting. I don't remember learning to swim or which stroke I learned first, but I'm American, and I'm definitely more comfortable swimming breaststroke than crawl. I find it really hard to coordinate my arms and legs when I'm swimming crawl, and I often forget to kick altogether. I swim slowly when I swim breaststroke, but it feels totally natural, and I can swim forever. (And I definitely put my face in the water when I'm swimming breaststroke.) I'm wondering if the issue is that I'm fundamentally uncoordinated, and breaststroke takes less coordination. It's also possible that I was a lazy child, and I figured out breaststroke first and then never bothered to learn anything else. I'm also wondering if I'm physiologically more suited to breaststroke, because I have extremely turned out hips, and the frog kick comes way more naturally to me than the flutter kick. But none of that has anything to do with what this article is about, which has to do with what coordinated, athletic people did in competitions and whatnot. And I'm not super shocked that the reason it took Europeans and white Americans so long to come around to crawl was racism.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 9:02 AM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 9:02 AM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Crawl can be too tiring for long distance or the best stroke for long distance, depending on how you were taught, because “crawl” is really a collection of overhand swimming techniques.
The difficulty of doing a good crawl in open water makes both sidestroke and breaststroke better choices for teaching a general audience how to swim a long distance in an emergency (I.e a rescue stroke).
Most people are taught the fast crawl, which is great for winning a swim race in a pool. In this stroke, the arms windmill continuously, and a small flutter kick is rhythmically divorced from arm movements. This is the fastest-known swim stroke, but it is not the most efficient crawl. Even a a seasoned swimmer will exhaust themselves over truly long distances (3mi+).
In a long-distance crawl, each arm pauses at full forward extension for a glide. The legs are rhythmically locked to the arm movements, and alternate between a flutter kick (while the hand is overhead), and a scissor kick (when the body is sideways and breathing) that precedes the glide period. This stroke is faster than sidestroke, but has a similar efficiency. Sidestroke is easier to teach and therefore is probably a better rescue stroke for really long distances.
Another complication of crawl in open water is that constantly turning the head disrupts the inner ear and makes wayfinding difficult. Unless you are very practiced, you‘ll probably swim in circles. It helps to breathe on one side while keeping a waypoint in sight, as even a practiced swimmer’s path will curve over a long distance. Breaststroke is probably superior as a short-to-medium-distance rescue stroke taught to infrequent swimmers, since you stay focused straight ahead.
Side breathing during crawl is also difficult in choppy water and waves, the conditions in which you’re likely to get thrown overboard. To do the crawl, you need to learn the wave rhythm so you can pace the stroke to breathe during wave troughs, facing away from the wave face. Again, a less experienced swimmer will get better results with either breast stroke or sidestroke.
(I’m a recreational open water swimmer and was a swim instructor and waterfront lifeguard on rivers, lakes, and the ocean as a teenager)
posted by Headfullofair at 9:22 AM on July 17, 2022 [33 favorites]
The difficulty of doing a good crawl in open water makes both sidestroke and breaststroke better choices for teaching a general audience how to swim a long distance in an emergency (I.e a rescue stroke).
Most people are taught the fast crawl, which is great for winning a swim race in a pool. In this stroke, the arms windmill continuously, and a small flutter kick is rhythmically divorced from arm movements. This is the fastest-known swim stroke, but it is not the most efficient crawl. Even a a seasoned swimmer will exhaust themselves over truly long distances (3mi+).
In a long-distance crawl, each arm pauses at full forward extension for a glide. The legs are rhythmically locked to the arm movements, and alternate between a flutter kick (while the hand is overhead), and a scissor kick (when the body is sideways and breathing) that precedes the glide period. This stroke is faster than sidestroke, but has a similar efficiency. Sidestroke is easier to teach and therefore is probably a better rescue stroke for really long distances.
Another complication of crawl in open water is that constantly turning the head disrupts the inner ear and makes wayfinding difficult. Unless you are very practiced, you‘ll probably swim in circles. It helps to breathe on one side while keeping a waypoint in sight, as even a practiced swimmer’s path will curve over a long distance. Breaststroke is probably superior as a short-to-medium-distance rescue stroke taught to infrequent swimmers, since you stay focused straight ahead.
Side breathing during crawl is also difficult in choppy water and waves, the conditions in which you’re likely to get thrown overboard. To do the crawl, you need to learn the wave rhythm so you can pace the stroke to breathe during wave troughs, facing away from the wave face. Again, a less experienced swimmer will get better results with either breast stroke or sidestroke.
(I’m a recreational open water swimmer and was a swim instructor and waterfront lifeguard on rivers, lakes, and the ocean as a teenager)
posted by Headfullofair at 9:22 AM on July 17, 2022 [33 favorites]
I was taught to swim by my mother before I was old enough to go to school.
She taught me to doggy paddle and float, and I felt more confident swimming underwater than on the surface from pretty early on.
She used to get me into the bath by letting me pretend to be a shark swimming under water.
Doggy paddle naturally changed into breast stroke somewhere along the way, and that's how I swim now. Never learned to crawl. Probably because you can't really do it under water?
I went to one swimming lesson after school and it was horrible so I never went back.
Love swimming, but slowly, looking at things. Snorkeling, if I'm at a beach with a kelp forest. It's like flying.
posted by Zumbador at 9:50 AM on July 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
She taught me to doggy paddle and float, and I felt more confident swimming underwater than on the surface from pretty early on.
She used to get me into the bath by letting me pretend to be a shark swimming under water.
Doggy paddle naturally changed into breast stroke somewhere along the way, and that's how I swim now. Never learned to crawl. Probably because you can't really do it under water?
I went to one swimming lesson after school and it was horrible so I never went back.
Love swimming, but slowly, looking at things. Snorkeling, if I'm at a beach with a kelp forest. It's like flying.
posted by Zumbador at 9:50 AM on July 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
I never had real structured swimming lessons and at the school I went to it just seemed assumed that everyone had had them, (summer camp?)I feel like being on a recreational swim team was a bit of a class marker for kids of my generation, kind of like piano lessons and ski vacations.
I really wonder if the distinction between crawl-swimmers and breast-stroke-swimmers, at least in the US, has to do with whether you learned to swim in an ad hoc way or whether you were involved in more formal competitive swimming, even in a not-very-serious way. I spent a ton of time at the pool as a kid, and I've swum laps off and on as an adult, but I've never been involved in formal swim instruction, except maybe a couple of lessons as a kid to get me to the point where I wouldn't drown.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:03 AM on July 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
I don't really remember a time before I could swim. I have vague memories of swimming lessons when I was young but I'm pretty sure I could at least stay afloat and move around by that point. At summer camp they required us to do a swim test to prove you could swim and you'd get different colored bracelets depending on if you passed or not. But I had been swimming for years by that point. The only time it was required in school was freshman year PE and that was mostly just playing around in the pool. I couldn't identify any specific strokes though. It was always just general swimming.
posted by downtohisturtles at 12:17 PM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by downtohisturtles at 12:17 PM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Apparently the Trudgen stroke was used by Scottish water polo players in the 19th century to change the game into the much faster moving sport it still is today.
posted by eye of newt at 2:06 PM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by eye of newt at 2:06 PM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
I had formal swimming lessons as a small Australian child, in which I was taught "freestyle" (i.e. crawl), breaststroke with frog kick, backstroke, butterfly and sidestroke. Freestyle was always the default Way To Swim; the others were presented as specialist strokes to be used for racing events that called for them. I don't recall any lifesaving emphasis being put on sidestroke but tiny children don't often get lifeguard training.
My crawl was always reasonably quick but never very smooth and it still uses up a lot of energy. It's good for getting rapidly across a fast flowing river current but for actually navigating up and down the river, or for getting back to the beach after being dragged out a km or two by an unexpected rip while floating on my back and enjoying the cloudscape, I've always relied on my dodgy face-out breaststroke plus scissor or flutter or no or very-occasionally-frog kick.
My mother swam that way, and as a kid I could never understand why because it felt completely pointless to me, but as an adult I find it very power-efficient if not particularly quick. Works well underwater, too.
posted by flabdablet at 7:04 PM on July 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
My crawl was always reasonably quick but never very smooth and it still uses up a lot of energy. It's good for getting rapidly across a fast flowing river current but for actually navigating up and down the river, or for getting back to the beach after being dragged out a km or two by an unexpected rip while floating on my back and enjoying the cloudscape, I've always relied on my dodgy face-out breaststroke plus scissor or flutter or no or very-occasionally-frog kick.
My mother swam that way, and as a kid I could never understand why because it felt completely pointless to me, but as an adult I find it very power-efficient if not particularly quick. Works well underwater, too.
posted by flabdablet at 7:04 PM on July 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
I find I can do a very leisurely "crawl", at a slow pace, if I get my stroke right (nice smooth entry and hand moving almost parallel to the water's surface not spearing down from up high), with breaks to check my bearings. I wonder if the perception it's energy intensive is because we're mostly taught it from racing/sports perspective.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:32 PM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:32 PM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
As an American born in the '60s, I remember being taught to Indian dive. Funny, when I look it up on Google - nothing.
posted by atomicmedia at 11:32 PM on July 17, 2022
posted by atomicmedia at 11:32 PM on July 17, 2022
The breast stroke's whip kick gets to be hard on the knees as one gets older, the front crawl's flutter kick and the side stroke's scissor kick are more forgiving.
posted by fairmettle at 2:42 AM on July 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by fairmettle at 2:42 AM on July 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
And even today, European children learn the breaststroke first.
This was a really interesting observation from the article for me: I have never realised that. Data point from my gym pool in Scotland: the pool is divided into three zones: free swimming, slow lengths and fast lengths - then there are steam rooms, a jacuzzi, etc; mostly adults. The non-swimming areas are always pretty popular: it is interesting to note that many of the people who are completely at home on equipment and in exercises and classes in other parts of the gym - seem less enthusiastic about swimming generally. Within the pool, the general and slow lane areas always have several people in them. The fast last usually reserved for crawl swimmers and is quite quiet.
My own experience growing up - and I suspect this is typical here - is that learning to swim involved mastering breast stroke - or maybe even just doggie paddle. We would be encouraged to swim over longer distances and to know how to jump in, dive, retrieve objects from the bottom of the pool. And we would probably attempt crawl while playing around. But nobody would consider teaching you to do it properly unless you had the build and the inclination to be swimming in competitions. So, the people in the fast lane at the gym are those who originally fit into that category at school - and those who have taken time to learn crawl properly since.
I'm in that latter group. Youtube has been a great asset in that regard. Take for example this video about how to swim freestyle in a smooth sustainable manner that will work for long distances.
posted by rongorongo at 3:17 AM on July 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
This was a really interesting observation from the article for me: I have never realised that. Data point from my gym pool in Scotland: the pool is divided into three zones: free swimming, slow lengths and fast lengths - then there are steam rooms, a jacuzzi, etc; mostly adults. The non-swimming areas are always pretty popular: it is interesting to note that many of the people who are completely at home on equipment and in exercises and classes in other parts of the gym - seem less enthusiastic about swimming generally. Within the pool, the general and slow lane areas always have several people in them. The fast last usually reserved for crawl swimmers and is quite quiet.
My own experience growing up - and I suspect this is typical here - is that learning to swim involved mastering breast stroke - or maybe even just doggie paddle. We would be encouraged to swim over longer distances and to know how to jump in, dive, retrieve objects from the bottom of the pool. And we would probably attempt crawl while playing around. But nobody would consider teaching you to do it properly unless you had the build and the inclination to be swimming in competitions. So, the people in the fast lane at the gym are those who originally fit into that category at school - and those who have taken time to learn crawl properly since.
I'm in that latter group. Youtube has been a great asset in that regard. Take for example this video about how to swim freestyle in a smooth sustainable manner that will work for long distances.
posted by rongorongo at 3:17 AM on July 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
This explains why I never learned the crawl. I keep meaning to. I still remember my irritation when the lifeguard didn't want to let me in the deep end: sure, I could stay afloat and move about in the water, but since I didn't know the crawl, I didn't know how to "swim". I demonstrated that I could propel myself with my legs while flailing my arms ineffectually, and this seemed to satisfy.
posted by alexei at 7:19 AM on July 18, 2022
posted by alexei at 7:19 AM on July 18, 2022
The great thing about the crawl is that you can refine the style into this effortless glide (at least in still water) that people will ask incredulous questions about at rec swim. Like, "but when do you breathe" and "you don't look like you're doing anything". Hey, as a 45-y-o woman I'll take the confidence boosters where I can get them.
posted by tigrrrlily at 8:30 AM on July 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by tigrrrlily at 8:30 AM on July 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm not defending colonialism, etc. etc., but the crawl is really only good for one thing: going as fast as possible for a short period of time. It's a sprint stroke, really.
Most people can't swim long distances with any stroke, but it seems like the crawl is the most popular stroke for crossing the English Channel (a couple of lunatics have done it with butterfly), although the Channel Swimming Association doesn't track that detail (it's just something that everyone knows).
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 9:23 AM on July 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
Most people can't swim long distances with any stroke, but it seems like the crawl is the most popular stroke for crossing the English Channel (a couple of lunatics have done it with butterfly), although the Channel Swimming Association doesn't track that detail (it's just something that everyone knows).
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 9:23 AM on July 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
I bet that adult swim lessons would be a big money-earner if promoted correctly.
I took swim lessons for years and years and years and got promoted very slowly through the different classes at the Y (I was very slow and could never do flip-turns, so I never got to the top class.) I really hated it even though I loved to swim because those classes were fonts of bullying from kids and instructors. (There was one class where the instructor was a little bit fat, that was the best class. She was also a very good swimmer.)
But all that aside, there were things I never learned to do well, partly because I did not advocate for myself enough to be allowed to wear glasses while watching demonstrations of new things so I literally could not see them well enough to follow and partly because I just didn't really have the metacognitive skills to coordinate all the different things you need to do at once.
We learned all the basic strokes (crawl first, then backstroke, breaststroke, sidestroke, butterfly) but I was never really good at the crawl because I didn't understand how to coordinate my arms and legs. I think that if I took classes now, I could really improve. (But covid, no group classes for me.)
I always use breaststroke now, keeping my head out of water and sometimes keeping my glasses on - my vision is so bad that I get dizzy in the water otherwise.
posted by Frowner at 9:26 AM on July 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
I took swim lessons for years and years and years and got promoted very slowly through the different classes at the Y (I was very slow and could never do flip-turns, so I never got to the top class.) I really hated it even though I loved to swim because those classes were fonts of bullying from kids and instructors. (There was one class where the instructor was a little bit fat, that was the best class. She was also a very good swimmer.)
But all that aside, there were things I never learned to do well, partly because I did not advocate for myself enough to be allowed to wear glasses while watching demonstrations of new things so I literally could not see them well enough to follow and partly because I just didn't really have the metacognitive skills to coordinate all the different things you need to do at once.
We learned all the basic strokes (crawl first, then backstroke, breaststroke, sidestroke, butterfly) but I was never really good at the crawl because I didn't understand how to coordinate my arms and legs. I think that if I took classes now, I could really improve. (But covid, no group classes for me.)
I always use breaststroke now, keeping my head out of water and sometimes keeping my glasses on - my vision is so bad that I get dizzy in the water otherwise.
posted by Frowner at 9:26 AM on July 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
Crawl is 'standard' and once you're good at it it's very efficient and way less tiring than breaststroke or sidestroke, or god forbid, butterfly
Huh, interesting. I wonder if most people (or at least kids) in the US only get taught the crawl for the purposes of competition / short-distance pool swims, and aren't doing it "right" for endurance?
One thing that I have noticed as I started doing triathlons as an adult, is that there's a very definite split among athletes during the open water swim portion: the really fit people, who are typically in "Group A" (i.e. the people expected to move very quickly, so they get to go first so as not to run over anyone), almost invariably do the crawl, and haul ass. But once you get back to the Group C (and D, F, and Q) bottom-feeders like me, we're pretty much all puttering along doing the breaststroke. Maybe this is an open-water swim thing? (I find especially in open water, that the breaststroke is helpful because I can 'pop up' my head a bit more and see where I'm going over waves/chop. I don't know how the crawlstroke swimmers don't get lost at sea.)
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:47 AM on July 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
Huh, interesting. I wonder if most people (or at least kids) in the US only get taught the crawl for the purposes of competition / short-distance pool swims, and aren't doing it "right" for endurance?
One thing that I have noticed as I started doing triathlons as an adult, is that there's a very definite split among athletes during the open water swim portion: the really fit people, who are typically in "Group A" (i.e. the people expected to move very quickly, so they get to go first so as not to run over anyone), almost invariably do the crawl, and haul ass. But once you get back to the Group C (and D, F, and Q) bottom-feeders like me, we're pretty much all puttering along doing the breaststroke. Maybe this is an open-water swim thing? (I find especially in open water, that the breaststroke is helpful because I can 'pop up' my head a bit more and see where I'm going over waves/chop. I don't know how the crawlstroke swimmers don't get lost at sea.)
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:47 AM on July 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yeah, after watching that video rongorongo posted, I am clearly doing the crawl very poorly for distance swimming. :) My arms aren't terrible (I think?) but no way am I timing the kicks correctly.
Something new to practice at the pool, awesome!
posted by the primroses were over at 10:18 AM on July 18, 2022
Something new to practice at the pool, awesome!
posted by the primroses were over at 10:18 AM on July 18, 2022
Kadin2048, yeah I think that's an open water thing. It's pretty easy to stay orientated doing freestyle in a pool since there are usually either bottom stripes or lane floats or both and you are constantly looking at one or the other. A little harder in open water, though not crazy difficult for me as long as I'm wearing goggles and there's something on the horizon. It's backstroke where I wander all over the place, though that's partially because I'm very zen when doing it, so relaxing.
posted by tavella at 12:57 PM on July 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by tavella at 12:57 PM on July 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
I wonder how much of it is racism and how much is any pretext to reject having to learn something new if you already consider yourself an expert? I'm not sure how you would differentiate that in the historical record in this case, though.
For open water, I'm amazed no one has mentioned combat sidestroke. You start arms out in a streamline, then do one stroke of crawl to turn on your side, one stroke like breast stroke with the other arm, then a scissor kick as you recover your arms. You breathe on the side with the crawl stroke if you're on the surface. Since I learned it I alternate between it and crawl for distance swimming.
Also, no one here has commented on how much swimming technique has changed even in our lifetimes. When I joined an adult swim team a few years ago after many years of only swimming on my own, the coach watched me and then said, "Did you learn to swim in the mid-1980's?" She was spot on: the college coach at the college pool my grandfather would take me to had tuned up my strokes when I was a kid in that period. In the mid-1980's, your crawl stroke was supposed to come up with your elbow out of the water first, palm facing out, and keep the hand tightly tucked to the water as you reached out and pierced back into the water. Now it resembles half a butterfly arm stroke (which turns out to be much less effort and much faster). Similarly, body motion and kick and arm position in breaststroke are not what I learned as kid. They're easier, they're faster, and in the case of the kick they're much easier on the knees.
posted by madhadron at 5:15 PM on July 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
For open water, I'm amazed no one has mentioned combat sidestroke. You start arms out in a streamline, then do one stroke of crawl to turn on your side, one stroke like breast stroke with the other arm, then a scissor kick as you recover your arms. You breathe on the side with the crawl stroke if you're on the surface. Since I learned it I alternate between it and crawl for distance swimming.
Also, no one here has commented on how much swimming technique has changed even in our lifetimes. When I joined an adult swim team a few years ago after many years of only swimming on my own, the coach watched me and then said, "Did you learn to swim in the mid-1980's?" She was spot on: the college coach at the college pool my grandfather would take me to had tuned up my strokes when I was a kid in that period. In the mid-1980's, your crawl stroke was supposed to come up with your elbow out of the water first, palm facing out, and keep the hand tightly tucked to the water as you reached out and pierced back into the water. Now it resembles half a butterfly arm stroke (which turns out to be much less effort and much faster). Similarly, body motion and kick and arm position in breaststroke are not what I learned as kid. They're easier, they're faster, and in the case of the kick they're much easier on the knees.
posted by madhadron at 5:15 PM on July 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
My dad learned sidestroke in the Navy (mandatory service in his country at the time) and taught it to me. It’s the only stroke I can do with my hypermobile joints in total comfort. (Breaststroke - a proper frog kick hurts my knees, though I can do a squiggly one ok; front crawl - shoulders pop out of joint, plus I get disoriented pivoting when I do it for three breaths, and hyperventilate if I do it for two; backstroke - feels amazing actually, but no thanks, can’t see the flags properly even with prescription goggles, have bonked my head on the wall 99% of the times I’ve done it). I actually did take lessons (as a baby! And kid), and I still like sidestroke, my wonky breaststroke, kicks with a board, and my dolphin imitation best.
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:07 PM on July 18, 2022
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:07 PM on July 18, 2022
For open water, I'm amazed no one has mentioned combat sidestroke. You start arms out in a streamline, then do one stroke of crawl to turn on your side, one stroke like breast stroke with the other arm, then a scissor kick as you recover your arms. You breathe on the side with the crawl stroke if you're on the surface
I had never heard of the combat sidestroke but it seems particularly interesting in that it was developed for the US Navy SEALs - which means most of the instructional videos (like this) make the tacit assumption that you are swimming as part of a covert mission by night to demolish an enemy pontoon. Of course the SEALs - who swim as part of their job, and stake their lives on how efficiently and rapidly they do so - probably did not choose to teach a novel stroke to recruits without some careful research on effectiveness.
posted by rongorongo at 5:13 AM on July 20, 2022
I had never heard of the combat sidestroke but it seems particularly interesting in that it was developed for the US Navy SEALs - which means most of the instructional videos (like this) make the tacit assumption that you are swimming as part of a covert mission by night to demolish an enemy pontoon. Of course the SEALs - who swim as part of their job, and stake their lives on how efficiently and rapidly they do so - probably did not choose to teach a novel stroke to recruits without some careful research on effectiveness.
posted by rongorongo at 5:13 AM on July 20, 2022
I think it's worth bearing in mind that the first swimming pool was only chlorinated in 1910. 19th century European swimmers would have often been swimming in either unchlorinated swimming pools, or rivers/lakes in populated areas where waste is discharged, or coastal seas where raw sewage is discharged. That might have been a reason to keep your face out of the water. A lot of the time the water probably didn't even smell too good.
(This comment brought to you by a visit to the Serpentine which has a lido and smelled pretty bad)
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:28 AM on August 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
(This comment brought to you by a visit to the Serpentine which has a lido and smelled pretty bad)
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:28 AM on August 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
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