At first I thought I liked the backstroke, but now I'm all confused about the stroke.
I started doing the stroke "not thinking about it", but now that I'm _trying_ do it right, I can't do it anymore. =)
The recovery phase is fine -- obviously, it's relatively easy. My hand is in front of me and I'm not doing anything too crazy with it.
It's the push/pull. I find it awkward to do much of anything behind my back, perhaps because of low flexibility.
During recovery, my arm stays in the vertical plane, close to my head. But once it enters the water, it tends to veer out of that plane and to the side because I can't put my arm behind my back with my palms facing my feet very easily.
Since my stroke goes out to the side a bit, it steers me off course and destabilizes me.
While writing this, I'm practicing my stroke in the air, and I just noticed that rolling into the stroke makes a HUGE difference for me.
My instructor didn't tell me to do that... I'm beginning to wonder how good she is... she's a good swimmer... effortless in the water... but she doesn't verbalize very much.
Ahh, rolling, maybe I answered my own question. My shoulders REALLY hurt when I don't roll, but when I do, it feels great. That definitely helps.
Okay, I have one more: I don't wear goggles when I swim and I find that even when I minimize the splash, I still get water in my eyes during backstroke. Should I just swim with my eyes closed, will I get used to it, or what?
Former Member
If you're as new to swimming as your post suggests - several weeks experience - don't worry about "S-curves." Instead focus on getting comfortable and eliminating wasteful movements.
To be more comfortable in backstroke:
1) Relax back until your ears are underwater and the water wraps around your goggles. Keep your head still enough that you could carry a champagne glass on your forehead.
2) Shape your torso and legs a bit like a canoe or torpedo.
3) Lean on your upper back until your hips and legs feel light.
4) Rotate enough so that each shoulder clears the water.
5) Imagine your arm as a rifle barrel as it comes overhead on recovery.
6) Slice your hand in the water pinkie first, as cleanly as you can.
Spend at least an hour focused on each of these until they begin to feel like no-brainers.
Thanks I will try as many of those in the pool today as I can.
Former Member
1) Relax back until your ears are underwater and the water wraps around your goggles. Keep your head still enough that you could carry a champagne glass on your forehead.
5) Imagine your arm as a rifle barrel as it comes overhead on recovery.
1) Dont let the water wrap to far around the googles or you will be drinking water.
5) Don't shoot that arm over and slap the water place it in the water.
