Whale Moves Inspire Swim Moves

While whale moves and human moves are obviously very different creatures, it doesn’t mean that the human can’t mimic the whale. Each swim technique that you can do will help you to glide through the water with the grace of whale out in the majestic open water sea.

To better understand how whales swim, you need to look at their body. It is free from the appendages that humans have that will slow other animals down. Instead, it is shaped similar to a submarine, which is also designed to glide through the water. The skin is rubbery without hair and its overall design is one that will help it to quickly glide through water.

However, the animals cannot spend long periods of time under water. Their swim fins allow them to maneuver better in the water and will act like propellers and rudders. On their back is a dorsal fin that allows their body to remain stabilized. The dorsal fin is unique in that is contains no bone. Instead, it is a dense tissue that is growing on its back.

The Whale Moves Explained

There are quite a few whale moves that actually are very similar to some of the swim techniques that swimmers will use. They include:

Breaching – a move where whales propel out of the water and smash back into it.
Spyhopping – where the whale will sit straight up in the water and sometimes turn in circles.
Lobtailing – this is done with the head below water with the fluke above the top of the water before slapping the water with its tail.
Logging – where a whale will straighten itself in the water similar to a log.

So what swim technique can be used to mimic these unique whale moves? Think about the swimming drills that you routinely do. When you are vertical kicking with a long axis rotation, you are mimicking the whale’s spyhopping maneuver. As you are doing your side glide balance drills, back balance and front balance drills, you are mirroring the logging technique. As swimmers, we even do the breaching and lobtailing when we do a butterfly stroke in the pool. As we master each swim technique, we should feel closer to our swimming brethren in the ocean.

Of course, this doesn’t make us whales, nor could we keep up with one swimming in the ocean with other ocean life. But what we can do, is work on building up our individual speed and skill by paying close attention to these majestic creatures and learning from them. With their incredible form and graceful swimming techniques, despite their massive size, these creatures are one that we shouldn’t only enjoy watching in the water, but to also learn how to be like them when we are in the water.