Focus on small, controlled movements, maintaining feel and pressure on the water, to maximize swim propulsion, and conserve energy. Remember when treading water it’s all about technique and timing, to stay relaxed focus on controlling your breathing. Kick your legs in a scissor motion, known as the flutter kick. Do not bend your knees, but keep your legs flexible and relaxed and with pointed toes” – explains Your Personal Swim Coach.
Learn how to keep your head above the surface in a controlled and relaxed manner, using proper technique and energy-saving movements. Being able to stay afloat with minimal effort is not only practical but empowering, especially in deep water situations. No-hands treading is an advanced skill that builds incredible leg strength and improves overall water confidence. For advanced swimmers, treading water without hands is an excellent way to build leg strength. Treading water is a skill that anyone can learn with practice and the right guidance. By focusing on technique, staying relaxed, and building strength, you’ll be able to stay afloat effortlessly.
Arm Movements: Sculling Technique
Sculling, particularly for swim pulling technique, can be done at each of the phases – the entry, catch, push, or finish. Treading water efficiently is essential for swimmers and can be mastered by focusing on key techniques. It’s freedom—freedom from fear of deep water, freedom to explore aquatic environments safely, and freedom to help others when needed. Understanding how to stay afloat in water can mean the difference between life and death in emergency situations. Whether you’re an instructor, parent, or peer, how to teach treading water requires patience, proper progression, and safety awareness. The right technique is the rotary kick, moving your legs like an eggbeater, with each leg rotating a different direction.
This guide combines practical advice, actionable tips, and expert insights to help you stay afloat with confidence and ease. Every year, drowning claims over 320,000 lives globally, with many incidents occurring in situations where treading water skills could have made the difference. Learning how to tread water efficiently is a journey that pays dividends in safety, confidence, and fitness.
The Eggbeater Kick
How to Properly Tread Water with your arms involves a technique called “sculling”—imagine spreading peanut butter on toast with both hands simultaneously. This motion is the hardest to master, but once you do, I promise you can go for hours without feeling a thing! If there’s something you can’t find, please get in touch and one of our experts will be able to help. Try taking a deep breath first, then hold your breath whilst trying the mushroom float, it’s easier when your lungs are full of air.
Step 1: Floating on your back
- Pay particular attention to the head position which affects what happens to the rest of the body.
- This life-saving technique combines coordinated arm and leg movements to generate enough lift and stability to stay afloat indefinitely—or at least until help arrives.
- Treading water is a very useful water skill that serves as a safe and controlled way of remaining at the surface whilst in deep water, with the head above the water.
- For advanced swimmers, treading water without hands is an excellent way to build leg strength.
- Well, there are 2 main benefits to mastering the breathing right away.
The sculling arm action is as difficult or as easy as you want to make it. If you relax and take your time sculling can be easy, if you speed up the resistance on your arms and shoulders will be greater and you will tire more quickly. There is a simple exercise for finding your buoyancy and balance shown in the first minute of this video. Pay particular attention to the head position which affects what happens to the rest of the body. If you watch the full clip you’ll get a better understanding of steps 5, 6 and 7. Proper breathing is crucial for how to tread water efficiently and prevents panic.
Your arms and legs move to keep you afloat, although you can tread temporarily with just arms or just legs. Thanks for checking out my website and all the information here about learning to swim and teaching swimming. Let The Complete Beginners Guide To Swimming take you by the hand and support you through every difficult stage and over ever tricky hurdle. There are many variations of leg action when it comes to treading water. Children tend to find it easier to ‘cycle’ in the water as the action is similar to that of riding a bicycle or running. Always prioritize your safety by swimming with a buddy, using proper safety equipment, and adhering to local guidelines and conditions.
- Over time, treading in deep water will feel as natural as in shallow pools.
- Beginners can practice sculling in a shallow pool with their feet or knees touching the bottom of the pool and progress deeper once technique is established.
- For structured guidance and real progress, consider joining our Adult Swimming programs.
Once proficient at both arm sculling and the preferred leg action you can combine the two to tread water. By keeping a rhythmical arm and leg action you can conserve energy, which is ideal for a survival situation where you might need to tread water for a long period of time. Let’s go right back to basics and focus on the principles of swimming to build confidence first before we learn about the correct technique for treading water. As treading water is a skill that is performed in one place (in other words, not swimming around), the body position should be as upright and vertical as possible. This life-saving technique combines coordinated arm and leg movements to generate enough lift and stability to stay afloat indefinitely—or at least until help arrives.
No-Hands Treading
Lastly, don’t push yourself too hard, especially in open water. Knowing your limits is crucial for staying safe while practicing. One-legged treading is another advanced skill to test your balance and build unilateral strength. Use one leg to perform the eggbeater kick while keeping the other still, switching legs every seconds. These challenges not only improve physical fitness but also increase confidence in the water.
For structured guidance and real progress, consider joining our Adult Swimming programs. I demonstrate how to integrate the eggbeater kick with a breaststroke arm motion, a skill often used in water polo, lifeguarding, and synchronized swimming. By maintaining a steady rhythm and proper body positioning, you can achieve a smooth and best way to tread water.
Safety First
It is important to stay calm and slow your breathing, since this will increase your energy efficiency and slow exhaustion. Breathing is such a fundamental part of learning to swim, that we’ve written a full article on it. Watch this video below to understand how to achieve an efficient, relaxed breathing style. Just look at the top 5 most popular swimming goals at Swim Now In 2019, they all involve situations where treading water is essential. Treading water is a very useful water skill that serves as a safe and controlled way of remaining at the surface whilst in deep water, with the head above the water. Sculling involves using your hands to feel and hold water, it creates lift, propulsion, and stability.
Depth does not affect your buoyancy, so trust your technique. To prepare for open water swimming, practice in various conditions, such as with slight currents or waves, and build confidence in your adaptability. Over time, treading in deep water will feel as natural as in shallow pools. For a deeper dive into building confidence and skills for open water, check out my guide on how to prepare for open water swimming.
It’s a useful skill for many swimming situations, especially deep water and it’s just as important as swimming from A to B. Although many people find treading water difficult, it’s all about technique and timing and can be learned in a just a few private swimming lessons. Treading water is one of the most fundamental skills in swimming. Whether you’re a beginner learning the ropes or an advanced athlete looking to refine your technique, mastering how to tread water efficiently can make a world of difference.
The swimmer is in a sitting position, with the back straight and knees bent so that the thighs are parallel to the surface of the water. Each leg rotates in a different direction giving a constant flow of propulsion, pushing the body up out of the water. Perform intervals of 30 seconds of sprint treading followed by 30 seconds of rest. In this video, I break down three variations of treading water and provide key tips to help you stay afloat with ease. Take your treading water skills to the professional level with these advanced training protocols. Once you’ve mastered the basics of how to tread water for beginners, these advanced techniques will dramatically improve your efficiency and endurance.
Although finding your buoyancy looks like a simple task, it can take some time, don’t get frustrated, just keep practising, you’ll pop up to the surface soon enough. A good pair of swimming goggles can improve relaxation and make swimming more enjoyable, you can open your eyes fully and see what’s going on around you. Well, there are 2 main benefits to mastering the breathing right away. The vertical kicking is another effective, but challenging, method, especially for beginners. The information on this website is for entertainment purposes only and should not be seen as a substitute for working with a qualified swimming teacher. You must consult with a medical professional before starting any swimming programme.