What is you favorite stroke (swimming)?

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So I was just curious if anyone does swimming and what their favorite/ least favorite stroke is.

I swim competitively and my personal ranking would be:

 

1. Freestyle

2. Breaststroke

3. Backstroke

4. Butterfly (uughhh. More like butterDIE)

 

My favorite event is 50 free or 100 free (yeah ik, they are the easiest events)

Feel free to comment your favorite event or rank your strokes.

[Ldlelee]

I've never swum competitively, so I can't speak for a favorite event, but I've always loved the butterfly stroke. (I know it's difficult, but that's why I like it. )

 

Spoiler

ButterDIE, lol. xD

 

[Holy Ghost]

I used to dive competitively but now I swim for fun. My favorite is the breaststroke and the butterfly. freestyle is my least fav. 

[Grumpy Alien]

I can swim and was on a swim team as a small child before my ear surgeries and had to quit. But I said I hate all of them and don’t swim

 

I don’t particularly like getting wet and exercise is the bane of my existence so if I’m in water, I tend to stay still or just drift around.

[Tintinfan]

Never could work out butterfly... Always felt that I was trying to drown myself...

[iff]

I can't swim

[Ortac]

I used to be a competition swimmer, but these days I am into open water swimming in the sea and lakes. That includes a bit of endurance swimming where I go non stop for a few kilometers. I still occasionally get back in the pool, but I now hate the confines of a 25m or even a 50m pool now that I am accustomed to the open water. 

 

To answer the question, my favorite stroke is front crawl. My least favorite is backstroke. I am even better at butterfly than I am at backstroke. 

 

Sorry but I am now going to be an irritating pedant and point out a couple of things:

 

"Freestyle" is not actually a swimming stroke. The term is often incorrectly used as a synonym for front crawl, but the term freestyle actually means pretty much that - the swimmer is free to swim whatever style they choose with few restrictions. In competition, swimmers will swim front crawl in freestyle races 99.99% of the time because for most people it is the fastest stroke. 

 

Secondly, there are more than just four swimming strokes! Swimmers who are only into competition often seem to forget this. You also have old english backstroke, life saving backstroke, side stroke, and dog paddle, among others! In fact if you include variations used in drill exercises as separate strokes, the number of possible strokes are numerous. Side stroke, where you scissor kick the legs and make a scooping motion with one arm only, is a particular favorite of mine. In fact, I think it is one of the most important strokes there is, because if you ever need to rescue someone from the water, that is the stroke you will most likely need to do that. It would not be at all easy to rescue someone using any of the competition strokes. 

 

 

 

 

[everywhere and nowhere]

For me there is one more important division: strokes I can do and strokes I can't do.

I can swim, but I'm not a fit person. I suffer from asthma and my body just can't take prolonged exertion. My mother used to swim competitively in her youth and is still a good swimmer, able to win amateur competitions. I can't swim freestyle - I just get short of breath after about 10 strokes. But, due to my mom's competitive past, I can accept her as an expert - and she said that I'm really doing the technique well (and she's not uncritical about me - on the contrary, often she has been unable to understand that there are things my body cannot do). So it's not a problem of bad technique, it's a problem of freestyle being too exhausting for my lungs. The same applies to butterfly as an even harder style. I can do breaststroke, backstroke and an orthopedic style where arms and legs move almost the same as in breaststroke, but it's performed on the back.

A few other things I can't do:

- underwater sommersault or however it is called (professional swimmers turn this way, but I can't, I can only swim up to the wall and push my legs against it without making a "sommersault".

- diving headfirst - no way, my body is too stiff for that. Any attempts have been painful because I fell flat with my chest to the water.

- swimming underwater for more that a short moment - my fat pushes me out. However, I can lie on the water without sinking.

- swim (or, for example, at home - wash my hair) without goggles - my eyes sting even if I close them completely.

[XYZ96]

I haven't swum for about eight years, but when I still did swim, I was one of the worst, possibly the worst swimmer in my grade, and the only really thing I could do was a dog paddle  ... 

Spoiler

I was so awesome at swimming, that while everyone else during swim lessons in school had to swim to the other side as fast as possible is in some stoke, I got to kick there while holding a floaty board  

 

[ThaHoward]

I like to do breast the best, even if crawl is the fastest.

[Guest Jetsun Milarepa]

I like to swim when I get the chance, but it's always Front crawl, so I couldn't do the poll I'm afraid.

[Skycaptain]

Where's doggypaddle?? 

 

I can manage the all limbs flailing to generate forward motion, but proper strokes aren't possible (other than the kittystroke ) 

[everywhere and nowhere]

Yeah, the poll seems to assume that people who can swim can do all strokes. And it's not always true. There are even people who truly love doing some sport, but have never been fit anyway...

[Yatogami]

I prefer the backstroke. I very much dislike the breaststroke. I no longer swim, as it is inapplicable to my living area.  

[RoseGoesToYale]

What about mermaid stroke? I know, not an Olympic stroke, but still my favorite.

[scarletlatitude]

I hate butterfly because I almost drown every time I try it. I used to teach swimming lessons and that's the only one I couldn't teach.  

 

On 3/1/2018 at 11:55 PM, RoseGoesToYale said:

What about mermaid stroke? I know, not an Olympic stroke, but still my favorite.

I think that is a part of butterfly no? 

[RK800]

Mermaid feels most natural to me. I miss swimming, dysphoria keeps me away from public pools.

[Podsnap]

I like the breaststroke. I have a difficult time with freestyle and have never gotten the hang of it. My mom saved my progress report from when I took swim lessons as a young child and it said I was just about perfect in everything except freestyle (we called it crawl) which was "very weak" and needed improvemet.

 

I used to like to do handstands and somersaults in the water but in my old age I can't do those things without getting really bad vertigo. I've always really wanted to be able to dive but I was afraid to go in head first. If I had my life to live again, I'd have taken diving lessons when I was a lot younger.

[Haze.]

1. Breaststroke

2. Freestyle

3. Butterfly

4. Backstroke

[Mae 🌼]

I don't know if it counts since it's not olympic but dolphin kick is my favourite I find it much more fun. 

[AquaBreezy]

I swam competitively until college, now just for fun (and summer coach). I used to be a breaststoker, but in high school, I was one of 2 girls who could swim butterfly, so I was pressured to become a butterflyer, and now its my favorite, makes me feel powerful. I love that there are so many swimmers here.

[elmrain]

I like swimming, but I hate the whole 'getting changed afterwards' bit, so I rarely ever go. Breaststroke is my favourite by far, though I do enjoy a good bit of backstroke. Never been able to do butterfly in any way effectively.

[rinpardee]

I love swimming as a form of exercise, but I don't swim as often as I should (I work at the local Y, I have access to a pool).  I took swim lessons for 12ish years and didn't swim competitively.  The only stroke that I can do competently now is the front crawl.

[SSB]

Fun fact: I got held back in swim lessons because I couldn't figure out butterfly, jokes on them I have a third place medal for butterfly (despite feeling like death for the entire race)

[cooliocool]

1. Butterfly

2. Backstroke

3. I swim for fun

[ColeHW34]

I try swimming but...

I sink like a stone except my head.

So quite laughably if I try floating, I alway lean and somehow rotate over and over due to perpetual motion. Why me!?

[Rey129]

I used to swim competitively as a child, but I grew out of the competitive mindset once puberty started.  I've always enjoyed backstroke, but I practically drown if I do butterfly for more than 25 yards.  However, my coach was convinced I was a butterflier, despite watching me drown every time he put me in the event.

[cavalier080854]

Breaststroke is the best for me. But now I come to think of it, I feel slightly dirty

[Aspenn]

I used to swim a lot when I was younger, but I have grown out of the habit of doing so, which makes me sad. 

I would have to rank the strokes as such:

1) Backstroke (it is my best stroke competitively and I find it very enjoyable)

2) Freestyle (it is a very versatile stroke and I find it very efficient)

3) Breaststroke (I used to struggle with the kicking for this stroke a lot, so that is probably why it is not a favourite of mine)

4) Butterfly (I think it is pretty self explanatory lmao. It is indeed ButterDIE!) 

[Pramana]

I'm not a fan of swimming pool culture, which dissuades me from the whole swimming affair.