The backstroke, also\nknown as the back crawl, is the only technique that\u2019s swum on the back in\ncompetitions such as the Olympics. It entails swimming while facing upwards,\nfor easy breathing, with the arms moving in an anti-clockwise manner towards\nthe direction you\u2019re going using flutter kicks. It is actually a front crawl\nbut done in reverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following is a complete\nguide on the backstroke swim style is performed, the technique comprising of\nthe arm and leg movement, body and head position, breathing plus drills and\ntips for both beginners and advanced swimmers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The backstroke\nstarts with the swimmer flat on their back. Your hands should be stretched\nabove your head and the legs also extended flat. The focus is to make the body as\nflat as possible which is great when it comes to swimming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The backstroke\ngenerates a majority of the propulsion from the movements of the hands. For\nthis reason, you have to get the technique right at all times. The arm\nmovements in this style occurs in two phases namely the power phase and the\nrecovery phase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The arms move in an\nalternating manner such that, when one arm is under the water, the other one is\nrecovering. The body also moves side to side to aid in the generation of power\nin the arms. For an arm to complete a cycle, it must turn through 360\u00b0 first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The power phase of\nthe arm has three parts the first of which is the catch phase. In this part,\nthe arm will sink into the water to catch the water at an angle of 45 degrees.\nThe fingers should be together to catch as much of the water as possible. The\npalm should also be perpendicular to the floor of the pool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second part of\nthe power phase is the mid-pull and entails moving the arm in a semi-circle\nfrom the catch phase to the side of your hips. The elbow should point at the\nbottom of the pool to catch the maximum amount of water with the arm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The last phase of\nthe power phase is the push which entails the palms flapping downwards and\nbackwards to propel the body forwards. This push downwards helps push you ahead\nand to the other side when the other arm is just completing its recovery phase.\nThis stage can have the fingers apart slightly to increase the palm\u2019s surface\narea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The recovery phase\nstarts with pointing the palms towards the legs and thumb upwards. This occurs\nwhen the other arm is starting the power phase. The arm in the recovery phase\nmoves from besides the hips in a semi-circle to the front of the head while\nkeeping a straight profile. To make the most of the recovery, you should put\nthe arm into the water with the little finger first. This way, your arm will\nexperience very little resistance going in. It saves on energy and time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are various\nvariations to the arm movements for the backstroke. They include the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you master the\nprimary stroke, adding these variations can be a fun way to swim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The leg movements in\nthe backstroke are similar to those in the freestyle stroke as they\u2019re both\nflutter kicks. The kicks are important as they stabilize the body while giving\nit significant propulsion forwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From a starting of\nposition of straight legs, the first leg moves downwards into the water about\n30 degrees from the horizontal plane. The knee bends slightly such that the\nlower leg is deeper into the water than the thigh region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The leg then kicks\nupwards with the lower leg kicking last to push the water away from the body.\nAs one foot kicks, the other one deeps into the water. In the end, they\u2019ll be\ngoing up and down in quick succession. Often, the legs can move the same cycles\nwith the strokes of the hands. However, many variations exist with 2, 4, or\neven 6 kicks. The expertise of the swimmer also plays a part in this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are some\nvariants to the simple flutter kick including using the butterfly kick rather\nthan the flutter kicks. This occurs in rare occasions as its difficult to pull\noff especially for beginners. While the butterfly kick is much faster than the\nflutter kicks, it\u2019s not very beneficial for this type of swimming style. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s much easier to\nbreath with this stroke as the mouth and nose are always above the water. While\nyou can breath as you please, matching your breathing with parts of the strokes\nhelps you focus better and thus move faster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, most experienced swimmers prefer breathing based on the movements of one arm. For example, they breath in as the arm recovers and out when the arm is in the push phase. This technique also makes it easy to eliminate water from the nose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n