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Chapter 1
Introduction

Swimming competitively is one of the most difficult and challenging sports in the
contemporary period. Why? Because like basketball, football, baseball or any other team
sport you can never "win" the game, because a swimmers main goal is to improve their
time not to win. Of course, all swimmers would like to win but they prefer the most is to
get a better time, or simply saying, a progress of their time.

Swimming also involves myriad of strokes or techniques one must practice and
master, that is why most swimmers practice twice a day for their own betterment.
Swimmers must always try to find ways to improve their strokes, fine-tune their starts
and turns to improve their time. Each practice has its physical demands, but also
requires mental maturity. A swimmer has to be willing to accept that they are in a sport
that they must always improve. Everyone can go faster, the fastest time possible is a
0.00 though it is unattainable, and swimmers must always strive for it. To improve, you
must work harder each day to reach your physical limit. The best thing about this activity
is it does not need so much equipment than that of the other sports- just you and the
deep blue water!

Some may say that swimming is just for sports or for money purposes but they
have not known that swimming has the benefits to offer to a person, most especially to
pregnant women and for the toddlers. It is not just about bathing in the pool for leisure,
without knowing, swimming has been a good exercise that could also transform you to
have a good cardio rate.

Research from Australia focused on kids says that “Swimming can make you
smarter.” Also, that swimming may just lengthen one’s life and can improve your
condition in the lungs. What is with swimming that greater than the other exercise? Of
course, all exercise is great for the mind and body, but what makes swimming excel?
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Chapter 2
The Body

Back to swimming the way it was before, prehistoric man learnt how to swim just
for them to cross rivers or lakes- researchers know this since cave paintings from the
Stone Age depicting swimmers have been found in Egypt. In ancient times, swimming
was just considered as a mean of leisure and physical exercise not until the early 19 th
century, when the National Swimming Society of Great Britain began to hold
competitions. England is recognized as the first country to participate in swimming as a
recreation and competitive sport. In 1837, competitions were held in man-made pools in
London. The National Swimming Society in England organized the competitions which
grew quickly in popularity. For the 1896 Games, swimming took place at sea, in the Bay
of Zea locates in Piraues. Nearly 40,000 spectators attended. The program included the
100, the 500, and the 1,500. The first Olympic Champion was the Hungarian Alfred
Hajos. . In 1904 the Olympic Games in St Louis, Missouri, held the 50 yards (46 m), 100
yards, 220 yards (200 m), 440 yards, 880 yards (800 m) and one mile (1.6 km) freestyle;
100 yards (91 m) backstroke and 440 yards (400 m) breaststroke; and the 4 × 50 yards
freestyle relay. In the history of swimming, this was the first time that the Olympics
specified if an event was freestyle or breaststroke.

In 1908 the Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA), which is the

world’s first swimming association, was formed. And then women appeared in the
swimming competitions 16 years later, at the Games of Stockholm in 1912. Women’s
races were held in the 100 m freestyle and the 100 m freestyle relay. This was a
milestone Olympic Games for swimming. Women were being allowed to compete for the
first time in the history of swimming.

As the spreading of this competition took place, in the early 1900s

swimming was first introduced to the Philippines by the American military men as a
comparative sport in the country. The holding of the first dual swimming meet between
Manila YMCA and the Fort McKinley YMCA in 1910 marked the formal inception in the
Philippines of swimming as a competitive sport. This initial competition kindled Filipinos
interest in the sport.
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In 1911, Filipinos watched avidly as the first swimming championship meet was
held at the American Columbian Club swimming pool. In the following year (1912), the
Filipinos participated in the second championship meet. Of the 42 individual entries, the
late Condrado Benitez emerged as the most outstanding Filipino swimmer. The year
1928 witnessed the greatest achievement of a Filipino to the history of swimming
competition. Teofilo E. Yldefonso nicknamed as the “Ilocano Shark”, a Philippine Scout
soldier of the US Army won recognition as the greatest Filipino swimmer for his feats in
national championship meets. He won the Philippines its first Olympic medal by winning
bronze in the 200 m breaststroke event at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. He
repeated this feat in the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, California by winning his second
bronze medal and became the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to win multiple medals
in the Olympics.

Swimming has been on the agenda of all modern Olympic Games since 1896.
Till this day, Filipino swimmers strive hard to and swimming has, and continues to be, an
exciting and evolutionary sport.

Hall of Fame

Michael Fred Phelps is an American

swimmer who holds the record for the most
Olympics medals won by any athlete at 28,
including 23 gold medals and 13 individual
golds. He was the first American male
swimmer to earn a spot on five Olympic
teams and also made history as the oldest
individual gold medalist in Olympic
swimming history at the age of 28.
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Strokes
For competition, the versatility will allow swimmers to compete in multiple events.
For exercise, different muscles are used for different strokes; learning all of the strokes
provides a more comprehensive workout. For safety, different strokes can be used
depending on the dangers of a particular situation.

Front Crawl

It is known as the freestyle stroke and most swimmers choose to use this stroke
as it is the fastest and efficient stroke. It is likely the first swimming stroke you think of
when you picture swimming. To execute the front crawl, you lie on your stomach and
propel yourself forward with alternating arm movements in a sort of windmill motion that
starts by pushing underwater and recovers above water. Your legs should propel you
with a flutter kick, which is performed with pointed feet as your legs move up and down
in alternation. The swimmer usually face down and inhales quickly. Turns his head
sideways during the arm recovery, until the mouth is above the water surface.

Uses

Front crawl is the fastest and efficient of all swimming strokes for the following reasons:

 There’s always one arm pulling underwater, ideally positioned to deliver powerful
propulsion.
 The arm recovery above water minimizes drag.
 The continuous flutter kick also provides its fair share of propulsion.

It dominates swimming competitions where the choice of stroke is free, such as freestyle
races or triathlons.

Butterfly

An advanced swimming stroke that provides an excellent workout. It can be more

difficult to learn but it is also a lot of fun. It is the second fastest competitive stroke, and
the favorite stroke of Olympic legend Michael Phelps. To perform the butterfly stroke,
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start horizontal with your stomach facing the bottom of the pool. Bring your arms
simultaneously over your head and push them into the water to propel you forward and
bring them up out of the water again to repeat. As you move your arms into the water,
you will push your head and shoulders above the surface of the water. Your legs will
perform a dolphin kick, which requires your legs to stay together and straight as you kick
them similarly to how a dolphin’s lower body and tail moves.

Uses

The butterfly stroke is one of the more difficult strokes to learn. You need to
master the unusual movements of the body undulation, as wells as the dolphin kick and
the not-so-obvious arm stroke. Because the butterfly stroke is quite tiring and allows you
to only to swim a few lengths in a row, it is mostly used by competitive swimmers.
Recreational and fitness swimmers most often prefer to swim front crawl or breaststroke.
Nevertheless, the butterfly stroke is a spectacular swim stroke that is quite fun to swim
once in a while when you have mastered it.

Backstroke

The backstroke requires similar movements to the front crawl, but it is done, as
the name suggests, on your back. Doctors often recommend this stroke to individuals
with back problems as it provides a great back workout. To perform the backstroke,
while floating on your back, alternate your arms with a windmill-like motion to propel
yourself backwards. Like the front crawl, your arms should start the circular motion by
pushing underwater and recovering above water. Your legs should engage in a flutter
kick. Your face should be above the surface as you look straight up.

Uses

In competition, backstroke is the third-fastest swimming stroke, being faster the

breaststroke but slower than butterfly. Recreational and fitness swimmers should
consider doing a bit of backstroke during each swim session, as it uses different muscles
than front crawl, contributing to a more balanced musculature. Equally, in open water
competitions, it can be useful to switch from front crawl to backstroke from time to time
to catch your breath and rest a bit. Doctors frequently advise patients suffering from
back problems to swim backstroke, because it allows to relax and strengthen the back
muscles.

Breaststroke

The breaststroke is the slowest competitive swimming stroke, and it is the most
commonly learned stroke. It’s often taught to beginner swimmers because it does not
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require putting you head underwater. However, in competitive swimming, swimmers do

submerge their head and breathe at designated points in the stroke. This stroke is
performed with your stomach facing down. Your arms move simultaneously beneath the
surface of the water in a half circular movement in front of your body. Your legs perform
the whip kick at the same time. The whip kick is executed by bringing your legs form
straight behind you close to your body by bending both at your knees and at your hips.
Your legs then move outward and off to the side before extending and coming back
together. This swimming technique is often compared to a frog’s movement.

Uses

Breaststroke is often the first stroke taught to beginners because you can swim
breaststroke while keeping your head above water all the time. This allows beginners to
learn to swim without having to use swim goggles or deal with breathing issues.

Sidestroke

This is an older swimming style that is not typically used in swim competitions, but is still
an important stroke to learn for safety reasons. It is most commonly used by lifeguards
when they rescue someone, as this stroke most easily allows you to pull something
along with you. It involves swimming on your side, as the name implies, propelling
yourself forward with a scissor kick and alternating arm movements. It’s one of the
easier strokes to learn, and can be a nice break from the moral popular swim strokes if
you’re looking to add more variety into your routine.

Uses

Sidestroke is not used in swimming competitions and is therefore swum less often
nowadays. Nevertheless, it is easy to learn and can be a welcome alternative to the
more popular strokes. Sidestrokes is also one of the swimming strokes used by
lifeguards to rescue a victims.

Elementary Backstroke

This is a variation from the typical backstroke you see. It uses a reversed breaststroke
kick while your arms move in sync beneath the water. It’s called “elementary” because of
its simple technique that’s easy to pick up and is often one of the first swim strokes
taught to new swimmers.
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Uses

Elementary backstroke is a beginner’s stroke, as it uses relatively simple technique and

allows for unconstrained breathing. However, some balance on the back is required to
be able to stay horizontal. Despite its simple technique, elementary backstroke allows
you to swim quite efficiently. As a disadvantage, the swimmer cannot see the direction in
which he or she is swimming.

Combat Side Stroke

Is a variant of the sidestroke used by the U.S. navy Seals that is particularly efficient and
therefore can be used to swim long distances. A kind of a combination of breaststroke,
freestyle and sidestroke. It reduces the swimmer’s profile in the water, making them less
visible while allowing them to swim with maximum efficiency-two critical criteria for
combat operations that require swimming on the surface.

Trudgen/ Trudgeon Stroke

This stroke evolved from the sidestroke and is named after the English swimmer John
Trudgen. You swim mostly on your side, alternating lifting each arm out of the water and
over your head. It uses a scissor kick that only comes in every other stroke. When your
left arm is over your head, you spread your legs apart to prepare to kick and then as the
arm comes down you straighten your legs and snap them together for the scissor kick.
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Amazing Benefits of Swimming

1. Swimming improves muscle definition and strength.

Swimmers gain muscle strength throughout the entire body. Where runners see muscle
build in their legs, swimmers utilize more muscle groups to move through the water.
While the legs kick, the arms pull. As the back reaches and rotates, the stomach tightens
to power the legs and stabilize the core, making swimming one of the best aerobic
exercises to give you a total body workout. Just look at Michel Phelps’ fit physique if you
need inspiration!

2. Swimming builds up bone mass.

For years, researchers scoffed at the idea that swimming affected bone mass. After all,
only weight-bearing exercises were able to achieve this benefit, right? Not according to
research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Because there are ethical
reasons to avoid in-depth bone examination on humans, the study put rats into three
groups: running, swimming, and a control group with no exercise stimulation. While
running still showed the highest increase in BMD (Bone Mineral Density), the swimming
group also showed benefits over the control group in both BMD and femoral bone
weight. While more studies are needed, these new findings show that previous research
dismissing swimming’s bone benefits may need to be revisited.

3. Swimming helps you stay flexible.

Swimming requires you to reach, stretch, twist, and pull your way through the water.
Your ankles become fins and are stretched with each kick as you push off against the
liquid pressure. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still stretch on your own, but repetitive
stretching found in your various strokes also helps with flexibility.

4. Swimming reduces inflammation.

While swimming’s cardiovascular benefits of strengthening the heart muscle are

common knowledge, research also indicates aerobic activities,[2] such as swimming,
reduce inflammation that leads to atherosclerosis[3] build-up in the heart. Reducing
system-wide inflammation leads to lessened disease progression in many other areas as
well, so expect to hear of more benefits as the research progresses.
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5. Swimming holds its own for calories burned.

Everyone knows that swimming is a great way to burn calories, but most don’t realize it
can be just as efficient as jumping on the treadmill. Depending on the stroke you choose
and your intensity, swimming can burn equal or greater calories than running.

Additionally, you don’t have to worry about sweat in your eyes. For example: for 10
minutes of swimming you burn 60 calories with the breast stroke, 80 calories with the
backstroke, 100 calories with freestyle, and an impressive 150 with the butterfly stroke.

6. Swimming can improve exercise-induced asthma.

Nothing is as frustrating as trying to exercise and being unable to get your breath. Unlike
working out in dry gym air or braving seasonal pollen counts, however, swimming allows
you to breath moist air while you train. Not only does swimming help alleviate asthma
symptoms, studies have shown that it can actually improve the overall condition of the
lungs.

7. Swimming lowers stress and depression.

Love that natural endorphin kick? While many talk about a runner’s high, swimming can
bring about all those feel-good emotions too. In addition to the happy hormones, you
also can feel a relaxation response similar to yoga. As I mentioned previously, swimming
stretches your body constantly. Combine this with the deep rhythmic breathing, and you
can experience a relaxation rush that’s very unique to the sport.

8. Salt-water swimming can be a beauty treatment for skin.

When I switch from pool swimming to open water workouts in the ocean, I noticed a vast
improvement in my skin over time. Swimming regularly in salt water helps the skin retain
moisture and detoxify to promote new cell growth. You will be surprised how smooth and
healthy your skin feels after an invigorating ocean swim.

9. Swimming can make you smarter.

Of course all exercise is great for the mind, but can swimming actually make you
smarter?

Research from Australia focused on kids who took swimming lessons compared to a
control group of non-swimmers. The results showed that kids who regularly participated
in swimming were able to master language development, fine motor skills, confidence,
and physical development sooner than the control group. Swimming may also help with
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math skills, as swimmers regularly calculate the meters swum in sets or interval drills to
put their adding and subtraction skills to work.

10. Swimming may just lengthen your life.

While all exercise can produce greater health and longevity, studies point to swimming
as one of the best choices for doing so. Researchers at the University of South Carolina
looked at 40,547 men, aged 20 to 90, for over 32 years. The results showed that those
who swam had a 50% lower death rate than runners, walkers, or men who didn’t
exercise.

Swimming for pregnant women

Swimming is a great pregnancy exercise, many health care providers and fitness
professionals say swimming is the safest exercise for pregnant women. Swimming
keeps the body toned without adding weight and stress to the joints. It raises the heart
rate and allows to enjoy a safe cardiovascular exercise. Swimming is helpful because of
connective tissues in the joints and can stretch more easily during pregnancy. Water
exercise forces to strengthen the core muscles especially the abdominals and lower
back because of contracting the muscles as moving in the water.

The benefits of swimming in pregnancy are the following:

 Relieves the ankle and boot swelling;

 Boosts the circulation which keeps blood from pooling in the lower limbs;
 Reduces morning sickness;
 Improve the labor and delivery experience;
 It counteracts increased back strain from the expanding body;
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 Helps to keep the weight within a healthy range and it works both on the large
muscle groups; the arms and legs.

Swimming; doing it firstly in the morning may prevent nausea and energize for the rest of
the day. The water’s buoyancy also reduces the effects of the gravity in the body.

In conclusion, swimming is a good all-around activity and can boost maternal and
fetal health and can make delivery recovery faster. Swimming while pregnant will help
the baby to take the right position in the womb and completely eliminate placenta previa.

Swimming for toddlers.

In such an early stage, swimming can prevent any toddler from borne
diseases which they inherit from their biological parents. Parents know that
children have soft limbs and doubt if they could really swim, and they really can
do! Swimming is a very essential activity for toddlers for keeping their heart rate
up.

Benefits of swimming for toddlers.

 Swimming is one of the best loved family activities. It is the largest

participation sport in the UK and many children say it is their favourite
family pastime. So, one of the benefits of baby swimming is that it starts
building water confidence early.
 Swimming helps to improve coordination and balance. Because much of
your baby’s body is supported by water, the main focus for them is on
maintaining balance. On the whole, babies who swim have a much better
balance out of the pool.
 Swimming helps to build muscles. Working and strengthening all of their
muscles effectively helps to make them stronger.
 Swimming provides quality bonding time. We always have less time that
we would like with our kids; it is an unfortunate effect of being so busy.
Time in the pool is one of the few times when your child has your
undivided attention for the duration, so make the most of it.
 Swimming strengthens your baby on the inside. While swimming will help
to develop their muscles and joints, it also improves the strength of their
heart and lungs, and helps to develop their brain.
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 Swimming can improve their sleeping pattern. While it isn’t going to make
them sleep through the night every night, the extra exercise will help to
make your baby sleepier.
 Swimming can improve a baby’s appetite. Lots of gentle exercise and
warm water helps to make a baby hungry, so make sure you have some
sort of snack or milk for after they finish.
 Swimming builds water confidence. Many parents pass on an uneasiness
of water to their children because they themselves are not confident
swimmers. Going in the water with your baby will not only make them
more assured about being in and around water, it can build your
confidence too!
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Methodology

Backstroke

Combat Side Stroke

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Breast stroke

Butterfly Stroke

Elementary Backstroke
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Front Crawl Stroke

Side Stroke
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Sheila Taormina.Swim Speed Strokes.3002 Sterling Cir,Boulder,CO 80301,USA:

VeloPress,2014.

Webliography

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/ten-benefits-swimming-you-may-not-
know-about.html

http://www.lescitadinsnatation.com/en/node/58

https://www.swimming.org/learntoswim/the-benefits-of-baby-swimming/

https://www.singaporeswimming.com/2011/07/the-history-of-swimming-from-
ancient-times-to-modern-olympic-games/

https://www.olympic.org/swimming-equipment-and-history

https://www.athleticscholarships.net/history-of-swimming.htm

https://www.healthxchange.sg/women/pregnancy/exercising-safely-pregnancy-
walking-swimming

https://www.myactivesg.com/Sports/Swimming/How-To-Play/Swimming-
facts/Swimming-beneficial-for-pregnant-women

https://swimjim.com/blog/4-different-swimming-styles-strokes/

https://www.enjoy-swimming.com/swimming-strokes.html

https://www.rappler.com/sports/specials/palarong-pambansa/2012/4601-highs-
amp-lows-of-swimming-in-the-philippines

http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_History_of_swimming_in_the_Philippine
s
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https://www.biography.com (Famous Swimmers)

https://www.sports-reference.com