breathe kick stroke..  these are the three fundamental basics to swimming.

 
first and foremost, one needs breath.  duh, you’re in the water.  of course the breath gives us vital oxygen.. but in swimming, it also gives us buoyancy.  without air in the lungs, we start to sink, and that’s not good if we’re trying to swim.

next, we need to kick.  the legs are the second largest muscle mass on the body, capable of tremendous power.  a good swimmer has the strength and coordination to propel themselves through the water with solid, steady kicks.

finally, there is the stroke. a good swimmer utilizes the strength of their core to support the stroke of the arms that paddle and carve their path through the water. 

when these three fundamentals are in sync, a rhythmic locomotion is created.. the arms stroke in time with the rise and fall of the breath, the breath is in line with torque of the core, and the core pumps with the kick of the legs.. each independent system firing in syncopation to generate one fluid movement.  now, that movement, coupled with the buoyancy of the breath, is what allows our swimmer to masterfully glide through the water.

all that said, it is plain to see that the distinguishing factor between a good swimmer and a bad one lies in the swimmers’ capacity to execute these fundamentals.  it’s that simple.  the only difference between the doggy paddle in summer camp and the 100 meter race in the olympics is that in the olympics, the swimmer has mastered their basics, while the swimmer in summer camp is still learning them.

the same holds true for martial arts, or pretty much anything else you can think of really.. a master is a master because the master has mastered the basics.  

it’s that simple.

that’s the moral.. more basics.




David Wei 

www.wudangwenwu.com