Courtesy of Gary Hall Sr., 10-time World Record Holder, 3-time Olympian, 1976 Olympic Games US Flagbearer and The Race Club co-founder.
Your backstroke swim technique can be improved by several important drills. In this Swimisode, you will see world champion backstroker Junya Koga utilize one of our favorite techniques to increase your power with every stroke by learning to rotate the body quickly. Body rotation in backstroke, like in freestyle, is one of the best kept secrets for developing more power and speed. The energy that you will invest in this carefully timed rotation of the body, will serve you well by increasing your power during each pull. Junya shows you how to first rotate slowly, then later with more velocity and energy to produce a powerful backstroke technique. Watching Junya swimming backstroke in the water is like seeing a ballet. His motions are so strong and well timed, yet so graceful. He carefully brings his shoulders out of the water, turning to his side as he recovers his arm over the water, preparing to snap the body quickly to the other side. Together with his strong kick, his fast body rotation and powerful recovery of his arms over the water lead to an amazing demonstration of backstroke speed. Practice the six kick, three stroke backstroke drill and you will see a big improvement in your backstroke speed.
Gary Hall, Sr., Technical Director and Head Coach of The Race Club (courtesy of TRC)
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Indeed a very important drill. Thank you.
This drill is even more effective if the extended arm is palm down, instead of palm up. Palm down teaches the importance of catching water immediately on the arm entry, instead of wasting time turning palm down or “slicing” water with pinky first and thus executing a late catch.
Thanks for your input. Early catch is certainly important in backstroke…as is stroke rate.