What Swimmers Need to Know About Underwaters for Each Stroke

Under the surface of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle lies a fifth stroke. When coaches mention the fifth stroke, they're referring to underwater techniques, including streamlined positions off the wall at the start and after turns of all strokes, maintaining a streamlined posture during turns for optimal efficiency, and deploying powerful, hip-driven dolphin kick cycles that add speed on both sides of the kick.

Here are the specifics of the fifth stroke for each competitive stroke.

Butterfly

Performing streamline dolphin kicks after a start and turns can be both fun and energy efficient. If you can maintain speed underwater, you can break out later and expend less energy with your arms. During practice, challenge yourself with underwater kick sets using fins, which can help you increase lung capacity and help you hold your pace during anaerobic swims. Try doing your butterfly dolphin kicks on your side for more efficiency.

Backstroke

You may notice that you get more power from dolphin kicks on your back than on your front. This is because your core is more engaged in that position, and because your lungs, which act as air bladders, tend to make your chest rise toward the surface, which helps in maintaining balance when you’re kicking on your back.

Breaststroke

Mastering the fifth stroke here is challenging yet rewarding. It means perfecting various hand and body positions during your glide, along with timing your breakout efficiently. The timing here is difficult, and you may wish to get help from a coach to get it dialed in. Also, remember, you get only one dolphin kick during your breaststroke pullout, which should be executed simultaneously with a powerful pull-down.

Freestyle

After your starts and turns, aim to capitalize on the speed generated by your legs when pushing off the blocks or the wall. Maintain a streamlined position for a few seconds before initiating dolphin kicks and transitioning into a rapid freestyle kick. Drive those dolphin kicks from your hips and use both an up-kick and a down-kick. Try doing your freestyle dolphin kicks on your side for more efficiency.

The number of dolphin kicks you should do varies (except in breaststroke, in which you get only one). If you’re going more slowly than you would swimming at the surface, you’ve kicked for too long. If you’re breaking out close to the flags, you need to practice your underwaters to increase your reach. If you’re approaching the 15-meter mark, back off just enough to ensure you don’t get disqualified (except for breaststroke races, during which you can go past the 15-meter mark underwater).

Common Mistakes

• Not descending sufficiently below the water's surface before pushing off the wall. This is usually caused by incorrect foot position on the wall after a flip turn, resulting in pushing off too shallow. Ask a coach for feedback on this.
• Rushing into kicking immediately after leaving the wall, rather than getting into a good streamline position first.
• Weak streamline position. Imagine your body is traveling through the tube of a roll of paper towels. You must hyperextend, pull your biceps into your ears, and get small.

Armed with knowledge about the fifth stroke, it's time to hone your skills, impress your coaches, and challenge yourself. Elevate your swimming prowess by perfecting your fifth stroke.