5 common mistakes most swimmers make

Swimming is a great physical activity to lose weight, tone muscles, build strength and keep your heart healthy.

It even helps to keep your mind and body in sync. But to enjoy the various health benefits of swimming, you need to perform it correctly.

The correct technique not only keeps your body relaxed and stress-free, but it is also necessary to improve your speed.

Swimming is constantly evolving and new techniques are being introduced every now and then that can help to improve your speed and performance.

Here are 5 things you should be careful about:

1. Using the same old stroke
Chances are that the stroke that you learned in your childhood might not be correct. Using the wrong technique can lower your speed in the water. It is important to use proper technique to move forward speedily. So, it is time to upgrade your swimming skills to move faster in the water.

2. Looking forward
It might seem obvious that when moving forward, you have to look in front, but that’s not the case with swimmers. After taking a deep breath by moving your head to the side, you must look down and your head should be submerged in the water to move faster.

3. Keeping your fingers together
While paddling inside the water, you should not keep your fingers together. Studies suggest that keeping some distance between your fingers can increase the propulsion through the water and you will increase your speed. This will take you through the water easily as compared to keeping your fingers together.

4. Holding your breath
Some swimmers are taught to breathe after every four-strokes, but with a change in swimming technique, it is good to breathe with every stroke. Holding your breath does not help to increase your speed and it isn’t even healthy.

5. Over-kicking
This is another common mistake people make. They think that kicking fast can help them perform better and move quickly, but this is incorrect. Kicking hard will only make you tired and will slow you down. You must kick in a limited manner so that your body is able to move forward smoothly.