I have a question about swim technique. It applies to all strokes but right now backstroke is my biggest fight. I watched some elite swimmers recently (Ryan Lochte specifically) I noticed he swims more on top of the water rather than in the water. He does this when he is warming up and doing drills as well. I am definitely way lower in the water and I think that is slowing me down. Any body have tips how to achieve this? I asked him, and he said he des not know how he does what he does. He said ask his coach. (David Marsh) He was busy and I did not have a chance.
Focus on pushing the head and upper back down into the water. This will naturally bring your hips up. Your head remains still looking towards the ceiling/sky and you drive down with each stroke as you rotate your upper body. It seems counter intuitive to push down to bring yourself up, but it works.
Swimming faster than hull speed will give the appearance of riding high in the water. Same with freestyle. That's where you want to be. For backstroke keep the hips high and head back in line with the spine.
Just happened to see this thread today after, coincidently, doing some body position drills. Hadn't worked on pressing the buoy or swimming downhill in a long time, and wow, was I shocked at the difference just 400 yards or so of drill made. My stroke count dropped significantly... free and back. For backstroke it was less about pushing my head back (I worked on tucking the chin and keeping the head neutral) and more about pressing the back and shoulders deeper to allow the hips/thighs to ride a little higher. If I focus on pushing my head back I end up craning my neck back and depending on my head to find balance instead of relaxing the neck and finding that fulcrum or "sweet-spot" opposite the sternum.
