Treading water

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the 2001 movie, see Treading Water (2001 movie). (Treading Water (2001) at the Internet Movie Database)


Water treading is employed when a swimmer wishes to remain in the water without allowing his or her head to be submerged, yet does not wish to move in any specific direction. Treading water allows him or her to remain in a relatively fixed position, while using the arms and legs to remain afloat.

Any sort of movement that allows the swimmer to do this can be classified as treading water, but it is more efficient to move the arms and legs in a specific fashion. Two common ways of treading water are kicking extended legs back and forth (see freestyle) and also kicking in an alternating manner, one leg at a time. A refined version of the latter technique, known as "egg-beating" due to the reciprocating motion of the swimmer's legs, is used in the sport of water polo.

[edit] See also

This swimming-related article is a stub. Help Wikipedia by expanding it


Styles of Swimming
v  d  e
Competitive: Backstroke | Breaststroke | Butterfly | Freestyle | Medley
Competitive Variations: Front crawl | Total Immersion | Trudgen
Recreational: Sidestroke | Snorkeling
Other: Dog paddle | Treading water
In other languages