SIP 020: Philosophy of Horizontal Forward Motion

Why we teach front glides and back glides immediately instead of doggie paddle.   Positives Glides are face in Glides are easier to move farther with less effort Glides when done correctly have same body position as all other strokes, Fr, bk, be, fly Proper glides have arms in same position as swimming the strokes Requires one body position to do well, position 11 or soldier.   Negatives Requires face in the water, first difficult hurdle, may keep from progressing. After initial push low mobility Difficulties changing direction No emphasis on breathing No emphasis on arms making propulsion at first.   Doggie paddle swimming, survival swimming Benefits Can learn how to breathe Any direction relatively easy Head can stay above water Survival swim Can teach palms pushing against water makes you move   Negatives Exhausting Requires bad body position unrelated to any stroke Difficult to keep head above water Inefficient movement to energy expended.     Considering those things, we focus on glides and ignore doggie paddle and discourage its use entirely. For safety, we feel that bobbing or rolling onto backstroke glide is more effective than teaching head up doggie paddle We teach palms pushing and arm motion as an addition to glides to create extra movement and use plat to teach palm pushing for movement.   <p style=