Why You SHOULDN’T Swim All 4 Strokes

Do you need to swim butterfly in every workout? Is breaststroke better for your shoulders than freestyle? There's a common idea in the swimming community that you need to swim all the strokes in every workout to be a well-rounded swimmer. While training in all four competitive strokes (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle) offers big benefits, this approach may not always be the best for every swimmer. Let's dive in!

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[RefuseLose]

Guilty as charged! I do all 4 strokes plus sidestroke just because it’s more fun

[jimshackelford]

Summer McIntosh is one of many good arguments for learning all four strokes.

[Bluemudwasp]

I am not good at any of the strokes by most of the people watching standards. I started learning to lap swim in my mid-30s with a breast stroke background. I am still working on body positioning 4 years later. I've found that playing with the long and short axis strokes, especially switching between kick drills of one and strokes of the other, really helps me get my hips better positioned. If I switch up the strokes, I am much more likely to switch strokes and go "OH! That's where my body is supposed to be!"

[SwimmingFit]

Freestyle is actually any stroke you want to swim (Micheal Phelps once swam butterfly on a freestyle event) but I use it the same and know what you mean. I think Front Crawl would be more specific for the Long Axis Stroke.

[richardwhiteman]

I swim mostly freestyle. When I start to tire I do some backstroke laps. I concentrate on the stroke while getting the exact amount of air my body needs. For me both demanding and comforting.

[julianchee]

That’s what i do 1-2 times a week for about 40 mins. All 4 strokes, 3 sets each.

[aquaswim]

Absolutely agree with your thoughts. My age group swimmers practice 1 stroke per day &
I include pre set as
2x 100 kick IM
200 IM swim or
1 x 100 IM Drill
200 IM swim in everyday training schedule.
Training specific muscles for each stroke yet for keeping them versatile I'm adding such pre set .
Keep writing.


Dilip Vaidya.
Swim Coach,
Ameya Classic club.
Alibag Aquatic Sports.

[robohippy]

Well, I do agree that back stroke is an excellent compliment to freestyle. I think most of that comes from a cross training perspective. It works pretty much the same muscles, but in different ways. I never could swim breast stroke because my feet just won't turn out that way, so I don't swim it at all. Perhaps that is why I like my over arm side stroke much better, it suits me better. It is also a lot faster than breast stroke.

[cotefacekillah]

I finished all 4 stroke technique training plans and the get fit IM training plan. My race paces didn't improve but overall I am a much better swimmer. Back improved my rotation like crazy. Breast helped with my lung capacity. Butterfly made my dolphin kicks much stronger. Now I'm going to do USRPT to get below that 1 min 100 free. Just need to shave 5 seconds!

[luammerces]

My back stroke is awful 😭 I hate when we have ims in training cause then I’ll have to swim back