How does your hand exit (not enter) water in backstroke? Seems most do thumb-first, others pinkie-first. What about the back of the hand first? Maybe more natural?
I've always gone by the Aaron Peirsol method..."pinky in, thumb out" Exiting with the back of the hand adds a lot of extra resistance and puts extra stress on your shoulders.
Exiting with the back of the hand adds a lot of extra resistance and puts extra stress on your shoulders.
Do you mean resistance in the water or in the air? After the final push, the hand is already almost at surface, so the resistance should not be very considerable. Besides, without regard to how to exit, what would be the natural position of your hand after the final push? It doesn't seem to be thumb up.
I like the idea of palm out because it reduces the amount of "hand flip" that you need to do in order to go "pinky in." I think I'll try that. I hate the hand flip.
the rule for the backstroke pull is
pinky in
thumb out
your hand must be to the side as it exits, you want to slice through the water with the least amount of resistance
pinky out involves unnecessary twisting
back of hand out increases resistance
on BK
concentrate doing complete strokes
dive your hand down on the entry and quickly get into your catch
then finishing your push fairly shallow and pop your hand out of the water
spin drill might help you
it's where you sit up a bit and
spin your arms as fast as you can for 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 strokes
give yourself plenty of rest
it's tiring
How does your hand exit (not enter) water in backstroke?
Seems most do thumb-first, others pinkie-first.
What about the back of the hand first?
Maybe more natural?
I find that if I really concentrate on rotating my body, by the time my hand has finished the push phase and is down by my hips, my thumb is pointing diagonally upwards ready to slide out of the water. I hope this is something like right?
(I'm no good at backstroke at all....I'm off to lurk the backstroke lane soon for help on it to complete my 400IM quest.)
I'm with those advocating pinky in and thumb out. The backstroke finish should be with the fingers pointing to the side for the final "push", then straightening the wrist so the fingers finish to the toes. All thrust is to the toes, and the hand finishes with the thumb up, against the hip as the hip rotates out of the water. Perfect for the thumbs out exit. I see many folks finishing with a final "push" down, requiring a complete change of direction of the lower arm for the exit. Inefficient.
Sorry to be different...
pinkie in...pinkie out...
I inherited a slight rotation as I finish the stroke, probably because I'm using a slight scull to get one last push off the end of the stroke. I've always imaged the catch of water in my hand as a ball being thrown down past the feet (rather than chopping it off at the hip) and I don't let go until I've put as much effort in as I can.
When a pitcher finishes accelerating off the pitch, how many do you see with a thumb up?
