How to swim efficiently

Question
Hi,

I am a beginning swimmer, and have done 30 classes.

My Problems are---
1. Treading Water----
      a. While is it easy to scull, as soon as I exhale completely, I sink fast. I have tried different sculling movements, but they dont help the sinking once I exhale. I think there's something wrong with the technique.

     b. The Vertical Breaststroke kick is not efficient enough. It provides negligible buoyancy and I get tired quickly. Any tips, videos, for doing it efficiently?

2. Breaststroke---
      a. Insweep not correct.
      b. Kick provides negligible propulsion.  
3.Front Crawl----
  a. During side breathing water goes into nose and mouth, and the rythm of the leg movements get disturbed.

Answer
Hi Rim, there's a lot of questions but much of them are related to the same issues. I will try to answer them...

1. The secret to treading water is in the kick. You want to use an egg-beater kick, not a breaststroke kick. And using just your arms to scull will get anyone very tired.

Here is a good video of how to do the egg-beater: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nWgS4CC9R0

Combine the egg beater and scull together and treading water is still a lot of work. Another trick is to do "survival float" which is where you float with your face in the water, kick and scull to get a breath and then put your face back in the water.

The higher you get out of the water the more work it is. The lower you are, the easier.

2. The secret to the breaststroke kick is to turn the feet out to the side and to flex the toes so that they point to your knees. This makes it that you are pushing backwards against the water with the instep of your foot (not the top or bottom). It can be difficult to do.

This video is for little kids, but the technique is the same: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9WG7q6rdBs

And this video is for a more competitive type of swimming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8DHYd7D28&feature=related  notice how her feet are flexed and pointed to the sides of the pool.

To pull correctly in swimming any stroke, you must master the "catch". It is a high elbow position. The previous video show it, as does this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqmayy6yfKw

3. Breathing to the side takes lots of practice. Inhale through the mouth, exhale through the nose and mouth. Practice on the side and using a kickboard with fins to make it easier and to be able to only focus on the breathing.

Roll your body to breathe, rather than just turning your head. The more you roll, the easier it is.

4. The rhythm of the kick is an entire different matter. I think you're probably struggling a bit in the water. Spend time relaxing and swimming as easy as possible. You shouldn't need to kick to swim or even breathe. Total Immersion has some good videos on how to swim and excellent philosophy. I recommend the book and videos. There's lots of good free ones on Youtube. Here is one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJpFVvho0o4

I hope that helps. Congratulations on learning to swim and best of luck. Swimming is a great sport and activity. It can take a lifetime to master.