N WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR BACKSTROKE

For most adult swimmers the first and easiest way we can improve our backstroke is actually 
to swim it! This may sound odd and perverse, but it is a fact borne out by long experience 
of observing other swimmers and talking to coaches that adult swimmers are very reluctant 
to practice, train on, and compete at strokes other than front crawl.

As they get older swimmers tend to gravitate towards the front cr:awl parts of the session, 
and if offered a choice of strokes after a front crawl set will often choose to do even 
more front crawl.

Coaches too find that sessions made up almost entirely of front crawl are easier to manage. 
You can fit more front crawl swimmers into a lane than you can butterfly swimmers, for 
instance. You can set more combinations of repeats and distances in front crawl. And of 
course once the squad has warmed up you don't need to change the lanes round from set to 
set if you are going to continue front crawl swimming.

This is all rather a pity, as the non-front crawl strokes have characters of their own, 
and if we only trained on them a little more we would find our training was that much 
more varied and also, should we be of the competitive persuasion, our options would be 
that much more varied. We would find our main stroke or strokes benefiting from a 
contrasting activity. (And a glance at any set of meet results will reveal that there 
are a number of neglected areas, which in descending order are: butterfly (particularly 
the longer distances and the older age groups); long distance freestyle (400 metres and 
up), backstroke (particularly the 200 metres, if offered), and individual medley. If 
you are a sprint freestyler and keep to those events, you'll ave a very hard time in 
masters swimming!)

So what do we do to improve our backstroke? Here are some ideas.

1. Swim some backstroke in the warm up and swim downs when you have the opportunity.

2. Make the warm up and swim down constructive.Think about the stroke when you swim, 
particularly the important aspects of it, some of which are

(a)	keeping your head still, so that a cup of water would balance on your forehead 
(try this with a plastic mug of water and see)-

(b)	despite keeping your head still, rolling your shoulders and body so that the 
pull is more powerful-

(c)	completing the pull with a strong push at the back of the thigh-

(d)	as you recover, think about keeping the arm straight and at the same time as 
you are recovering the arm lift that shoulder out of the water. This will also encourage 
the roll.

3. When you have the chance, practice some backstroke drills. Backstroke doesn't seem to 
lend itself to the variety of drills available to the front crawl swimmer, but there are 
still quite a number of drills which carry over directly into the full stroke.

(a)	Kicking, the basic and obvious drill. Start by kicking flat on your back with 
your hands by your sides, and graduate to kicking with your arms stretched in front of 
your head: stretch your body and push your shoulders back.

(b)	Tougher kicking drills: with your arms by your side, kick with your hands out 
of the water, and gradually push more and more of your arms out of the water until both 
arms are perpendicular above the shoulder. This is a very advanced drill for strong 
kickers, so try it but don't be discouraged.

(c) The rolling kick. To simulate the desired roll of the shoulders and hips in the full 
stroke, kick with your right arm stretched in front of your head with your left arm by 
your side. Keeping your head still, lean onto the right shoulder so that your body is at 
a 30-45 degree angle. Kick some 6 to 10 beats in that position, and then pull the right 
arm, recover the left, and repeat on the other arm, and so on. A nice drill for those 
whose kick is not so propulsive.

(d)  Single arm backstroke. Kick normally, or perhaps a little more strongly than normal. 
Keep one arm relaxed by your side, and pull and recover with the other. Concentrate on 
the straight-arm recovery and the entry, getting an early catch, and the second half of 
the pull, which should end below the thigh. (It ends below the thigh because as you pull 
you should roll onto the pulling arm and lift the non-pulling shoulder out of the water 
to simulate the action-reaction rolling action essential to the powerful backstroke.) 
Head, of course, should stay as still as possible.

(e)	Double arm backstroke. Back crawl alternate kicking as usual, but pulling and 
recovering both arms together. Stretch in front of the head on entry; push strongly 
back with bent elbows to simulate the bent arm pull.

(f)	Sighting the rifle: swim full stroke, but as your recovering arm approaches the
perpendicular, try to sight along it as it points straight up, hold the position, and 
lift the same shoulder to accentuate the reaction to the action of the other (pulling) 
arm.

(g)	A sprinting drill. It can be difficult to generate additional speed while 
thinking about all the components of the stroke. For a moment forget all that and go 
all out for arm speed. Push off the wall powerfully and move your arms as fast as you 
can: it helps if you lift your head clear out of the water while doing this. You will 
be surprised at the speed of rotation you can achieve. After a few lengths doing this, 
do a couple more starting off with the high speed stroke, and gradually ease your head 
back into the correct position and stretch out iri the water. Try to maintain the arm 
speed.

All swimmers should be able to shape up reasonably well on backstroke. It will give you 
added flexibility and variety in your training. If you are a triathlete or open water 
swimmer it gives you an opportunity to relax and even to rest while still maintaining 
forward progress. W

[Copyright (c) 2000 Watermarks]