Backstroke body position

The most buoyant part of your body is your lungs... to be balanced and have a nice body line you need to find a spot (probably near your armpit) that is your balance point. The danger of "chicken necking" is that your hips drop because your head isn't able to balance out the weight of your lower body. Since everybody's natural body weight distribution/buoyancy varies, the key thing to focus on is having a nice horizontal body position... as the late Richard Quick said, posture line and balance! In backstroke you have to curve your t spine slightly because your hips have to be slightly dropped so the legs don't come out of the water with every kick.... your head should be in a neutral position in line with your spine. This will lead to your eyes/nose not aiming straight up, actually at a slight angle towards your feet , depends on the person. Most people do NOT have their faces completely submerged, not even a little bit. IF you play around with some balance drills, when you're swimming whole stroke backstroke you should be able to keep your face above the water the whole time. It's ok for water to wash over your face with the rotations, but your face should be above the surface. How much? A good rule of thumb is where your cap ends. (somewhere on your forehead). So (in my opinion) your face should be a bit out of the water, but not by much. Don't think so much about having the face at a certain level.. think about it in terms of keeping your hips/lower body balanced with your lungs as the balance point. Hope this helps! Let me know if you would like anything clarified.

For all the backstrokers out there, how many of you swim with the thought of keeping your face at or even slightly below the surface of the water? Has anyone else done this or swim this way all the time? Wookiee: You are considerably faster in the back events than I (probably in the other strokes as well) so this is not advise, just an observation to add to the anecdotal data you are collecting. I have noticed that when I am swimming backstroke fast, the water will sometimes wash over my face. This is typically not a hindrance to breathing, just an observation. The occasional gentle wash of water over my face actually seems to be an indication that I have a good stroke going. On the other hand, when I start to fatigue, or if I really struggle to go AFAP, sometimes my entire face will drop below the water line. This can be accompanied by my entire torso bobbing up and down. I am pretty sure that this is a sign that my stroke has deteriorated and indeed, if this happens in a race I rarely end up with a fast time. I take the clock as an important guide.

I understand the "theories" about backstroke swimming and body positioning. What I am asking is if others have had to focus on a similiar feeling of hiding their face at or just below the water surface to keep from sticking the head too high. When I focus on "hiding" my head during backstroke, the balance and all the moving parts seem to work together better.

Wookiee: You are considerably faster in the back events than I (probably in the other strokes as well) so this is not advise, just an observation to add to the anecdotal data you are collecting. I have noticed that when I am swimming backstroke fast, the water will sometimes wash over my face. This is typically not a hindrance to breathing, just an observation. The occasional gentle wash of water over my face actually seems to be an indication that I have a good stroke going. On the other hand, when I start to fatigue, or if I really struggle to go AFAP, sometimes my entire face will drop below the water line. This can be accompanied by my entire torso bobbing up and down. I am pretty sure that this is a sign that my stroke has deteriorated and indeed, if this happens in a race I rarely end up with a fast time. I take the clock as an important guide. Karl, Thank You for the thoughts. I will take note of my times with keeping the face just at the surface, with water going over it and when I notice that I have it slightly below the surface. Thanks again. John

Lately, I have been experimenting with tilting my head further back and I think it is helping my speed. But my face is not in the water. I think it is helping me improve my pull as well.

Wook: I coach kids to align with the spine, but when I'm swimming, like Karl, I get a wash job in each cycle. I've never tried the underwater position. Would like to hear how your experiments pan out. Matt

OK, so I played with this in practice today. My first observation was that it is actually quite difficult to get my face down to the waterline. When I did, of course I had to come up for air now and again and getting a good timing for that was, at best, not intuitive. My nasal cavity also got many a thorough flushing, although perhaps that was a good thing since this is my first day back in the pool since last Friday, owing to a head cold. For me, I think the best head position is just far enough back to keep my hips from dropping, but no further.

You all are much faster than me, but like the others, I get wash over my face when I get a good stroke going. A mental thing that I do is to keep my head in a neutral position, but look further up and back with my eyes. That seems to keep my head from coming too far out of the water and to keep my body level.

For all the backstrokers out there, how many of you swim with the thought of keeping your face at or even slightly below the surface of the water? For me, I was reminded today that I need to focus on keeping my face just below the surface of the water. The body rotation allows the water to break on every stroke for a breath. When I try to keep my face at the water surface, I find that I do a chicken neck move. This causes me to raise my head higher and higher out of the water, dropping my hips and legs. The only remedy that seems to work in my case is keeping my face slightly below the water surface. Has anyone else done this or swim this way all the time? Keep your head neutral pretty much applies to every stroke most of the time In swimming: High Lips Sink Hips

Wook: I coach kids to align with the spine, but when I'm swimming, like Karl, I get a wash job in each cycle. I've never tried the underwater position. Would like to hear how your experiments pan out. Matt Red Bird, When I was swimming this morning, I paid extra attention to my head position today. What I thought was my head underwater, was actually what you and Karl described, the water rushing over my face. My goggles and lips were just above the surface of the water. On each cycle, the water would rush over my face, which made it seem like my face was underwater. Thanks for the advice. Wook.