5 Tips to Improve Your Backstroke Swimming
The Backstroke Swimming Style
The backstroke, called also the back crawl or the upside-down freestyle, is one of the easiest swimming styles. During the backstroke, the swimmers can breathe really easy. Unfortunately, they cannot see where they are going, which is considered a disadvantage. The speed of the backstroke is similar to the butterfly one.
During the backstroke, the swimmer lies on his back in the water, kicking gently and trying to get his body on top of the water. The face is out, pointing up.
If you want to practice this swimming style, here are some tips and tricks that might help you:
The body position – Your body has to be parallel to the water surface, facing up toward the sky. Your back will get slightly curved, as a boat bow, due to the shoulder’s movement. You can start by pushing your body off a wall.
The kick – Keep in mind that the backstroke kicking makes a lot of bubbles. Try to kick from your hips and relax your ankles. Keep your legs straight and don’t bend the knees too much. All you have to do is to kick, kick and kick, but remember where exactly you are in the pool, not to hit your head on the wall.
The body roll – When your kicking move is getting better, you will see you will start to rotate your body. This is happening because one of your shoulders is always going into the water. Try to do from three to ten kicks for each time a shoulder gets into the water. Practice is the key!
The arms – During the backstroke, the arms exit the other one by one. When one is up in the air, the other one is in the water. They should make a circular rotation. Your shoulder should rotate above and below the water all the time. Keep your head still all the time and kick!
The breathing – Your face is out of water all the time, so in this swimming style you shouldn’t have any problem with your breath. However, try to breath in when one arm is in the air and breath our when the other arm comes up!
Looking forward to learn other swimming styles? Check it out on our posts on breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle swimming.
If you are looking for a swimming lesson in Selangor area, you might be interested in the following swim school:-
- MySwim Academy (Petaling Jaya)
- BIB Swim (Petaling Jaya)
- Swimin12 (PJ Palms Sports Centre)
- Putrajaya Swimming Class
- Optimum Train (Klang)
- Swim School International Asia (Petaling Jaya, Old Town)
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