This is the fastest way to swim in the world, but it is not present in competitions

Which swimming method is the fastest? Swimming, butterfly swimming? All are wrong, the fastest swimming method simulates fish movements.

The official list of speed records achieved in swimming is almost entirely in the free swimming category, also known as swimming . Standing right behind it is the butterfly swimming method .

But the reality of the fastest swimming method is not among the traditional swimming methods. Let's read this article and comment.

Swimming method

Picture 1 of This is the fastest way to swim in the world, but it is not present in competitions
The current 100m long distance swimming record is 46.91 seconds.

There are many reasons people can move fast by this method on the water. One of them is the high energy efficiency of swimmers swimming because just turning their head to the side is an athlete who can breathe a bit of air to continue swimming with the highest efficiency. This is also an advantage because this breathing movement does not affect the flow of water when swimming.

Second, because the barrier of air on the water surface is much lower than water, the more the body exposes in the excess movements, the better. When swimming around the entire arm, the hand movement completely takes place on the water where there is little resistance, each cycle increases its effectiveness.

The swimming speed of this method increases with the strength of the kicks.

Restrictions of traditional swimming methods

Picture 2 of This is the fastest way to swim in the world, but it is not present in competitions
The current record of 100 meters is 49.82 seconds, which is not far away from the swimming pool because of the small amount of time allowed to use Dolphin kick.

From the early years of the nineteenth century, in the UK, the birthplace of swimming sport, the first method to be played was breaststroke . Currently breaststroke is the slowest swimming method among the four main methods.

Only a few decades later, Europeans learned a faster swimming method from two Native Americans from the Americas.

They went to the London capital of England to demonstrate the superiority of swimming techniques they learned from their own people.
One of the more modern civilians, when observing the technique of these two Indians, did not write down the description: "They pushed the water violently with their arms like the propellers. of the windmill, they violently kicked their feet, creating horribly awkward scenes. " The British soon "forgave" the differences of the new swimming method and gradually followed the method by turning up. In the early 20th century, butterfly swimming method was also born.

The speed of these swimming methods depends heavily on the resistance of the water and the waves the swimmers create when swimming. In theory, these waves grow with the speed of swimming and to some extent will grow to the length of the athlete's body. When this level is reached, the speed of swimmers can almost no longer improve.

According to calculations, a person who is about 2 meters tall can reach a speed of 2.6m / s before being created by his own wave of water to prevent an increase in speed. Of course if it is possible to jump over those wavelengths like dolphins, we can easily overcome that speed threshold.

Or perhaps more reasonably, we can sink underwater to avoid those waves . and that's the fastest way to swim:

1. The movement of "dolphin foot" Dolphin kick

Picture 3 of This is the fastest way to swim in the world, but it is not present in competitions
Dolphin kick.

In the 1980s, coach Joe Bernal at Harvard University found that school athletes swam faster when the dive time was longer.

Specifically, the butterfly swimming method has many weaknesses compared to the swimming method, but because of the time of diving with the "dolphin foot" movement (Dolphin kick) , the swimming speed of this method is close to the swimming more than any other method.

The "dolphin foot" movement is performed every time the swimmer reverses swimming. When the foot kicked into the tank wall and pushed itself forward and completely submerged under water, the athlete stretched his arms into a closed loop in front of his head and stretched out. Then the athlete bends and kicks his feet vertically like the dolphins' tails. At this time the athlete's body was still completely submerged.

Since 1998, in tournaments, backstroke athletes have been limited in using this movement in just 15 meters of head each time because of the great advantage it gives the athlete.

But a new way of swimming is born when a new underwater swimming method is developed.

2. Swimming method "Foot kick" Fish kick

Picture 4 of This is the fastest way to swim in the world, but it is not present in competitions
Fish kick.

Realizing that the swimming speed of dolphins is sometimes up to 40km / h, the maximum speed of the collected fish is up to 100k / h.

Based on this bizarre phenomenon, many people have gradually tried to use their dolphin-like swimming method but pedal horizontally like sea fish. And they were surprised when this method also increased speed more effectively.

When observing the swimming movements more carefully through the dyeing of the water tank, they found that when pedaling like that, the swimmers create whirlpools in the water and these swirls are the driving force for swimmer.

This is also the reason this swimming method is superior to Dolphin kick. When tested, the Dolphin kick is limited by the base and bottom of the pool. These shields make whirlpools not take full advantage of their ability to assist swimmers to increase speed.

Despite being fast, Fish kick does not escape "deadly" weaknesses .

Fish kick swimming method weakness

One main reason Fish kick or Dolphin kick is not officially put into play is probably partly because of the new and different sport. And because of the truth, the cheerleaders will almost only see the shadow of the athletes below the surface of the water.

Picture 5 of This is the fastest way to swim in the world, but it is not present in competitions
The cheerleaders will almost only see the shadow of the athletes below the surface of the water.

In addition, the factors that come from the swimmers themselves are included. When swimming, taking breaths will miss the rhythm for swimmers and therefore it is easy for athletes to regret the time but neglect breathing . The truth is that when the mental performance is high, the signs of labor are easily ignored and the athlete can completely faint underwater and even die. Even without swimming in this risky way, the risk of fainting while swimming is not a strange thing in this sport.

Not only is the swimmer's vision really optimal when swimming in these ways. Accidents from crashing into tank walls have happened. When pedaling horizontally, the whirlpools of swimmers will interact with each other causing disturbance.

This is also a point to note if one day the diving competition takes place.

But anyway, this difficulty is completely overcome if it receives enough attention and attention.

The role of diving method in the future

Picture 6 of This is the fastest way to swim in the world, but it is not present in competitions
Dolphin.

Humans are terrestrial animals, so each of us has to go through a process of learning to swim. So far, people have honed themselves but effective swimming methods. We even organized these talent competitions.
Instead of limiting its ability to only be within the first 15 meters of the competition, is there really any good reason not to apply this "fastest" swimming method to official competitions?