Backstroke--Where's the fun?

There is no fun in breastroke! We only swim it because we want to do the I.M., or if we want to look like a novice lap swimmer or if we are floating along...it is evil to do the breastroke. You get water up your nose, you get your sinuses filled with it, you almost drown. I hate the breastroke...love the back when I get a chance to rest from my fly or free...The Wookiee

Hehehe, Rob, for those of us who don't take the *** seriously, it is a time to rest...because we swim it easy and long, with plenty of stretching. However if done properly I can assure you I get waisted. At my present level of training I find it hard to relax while swimming backstroke. I know an old fellow though who swims his 2,000 meters all backstroke while wearing a cap! A couple of things: when I re started in 2005 I found out the back was swum differently, but I adapted okay to the new way. Also, the *** was different with the no water over head rule gone. I also liked the new start and turn of ***. But I only swim them when the coach orders, and when eventually I do a 100 I.M. Out of shape is what I am, so I can only do a small amount of decent back, keeping the kicking and not losing style. I love the *** stroke out in the ocean, with no need for speed. I also have no knee problems so I do some *** for the leg exercise...take care, billy fanstone (there is a butterfrog in my future)

Rob....mine poking fun at Billy's comments about breastroke...not serious.

Fun? There is no fun in it at all. For me, it is all coughing, spluttering, limbs thrashing, hips sinking and water down my !#%**&#@! sinuses. It is a TERRIBLE experience. I am MISERABLE when I swim the backstroke. When I swim backstoke, I frequently stop in the middle of the pool and curse about how much I HATE the stroke. But I must say I have been encouraged by all the positive responses in this thread. And Chris Stevenson's record breaking swims looked smooth and effortless. No doubt it can actually be fun if you are not an UNCOORDINATED IDIOT like myself. Independently, I have been swimming some backstroke in workouts recently. I am of the belief that it is going to help me with my freestyle flutter kicking (which is equally apalling). It hurts my legs like hell and I can't stand doing it but I stick at it DOGGEDLY out of some weird, masochistic belief that if it HURTS it must be GOOD for you. Please someone, cheer me up. Syd

Backstroke to me feels like the way they describe waterboarding. I never feel like I'm getting a good breath and it often feels like I'm drowning. Unfortunately it is my best stroke so I guess I'll stick with it. Plus it is way better than that inefficient, satan-spawned stroke (***). I'll remember that next time I swim next to you in a race. If that ever occurs, I will make you scream "Thank you sir may I have another?!" :drown: Backstroke is also great for the tan. Of course if you have to swim indoors this time of year, that doesn't matter. We out here in the West, love this time of year. Outdoors 12 months yeah!

This past summer we swam outdoors in the early morning hours and there is nothing that compares to backstroke by moonlight!;)

Try this long-axis combination drill: First one lap (50 yards) of five backstroke alternated with two front crawl, no-breather freestyle. For each lap you reduce the number of BK with one and add one stroke of FR. Try it! thus: 5BK-2FR, 4BK-3FR, 3BK-4FR, 2BK-5FR

i'll take 10x200 backstroke over 10x200 freestyle any day of the week. alot more interesting stuff to look at around the pool deck, rather than staring at the bottom all the time. plus what other stroke allows you to: a) see your 50 splits as you come off your turn (assuming scoreboard/clock is behind the blocks, which it usually is). works great for a 200. b) easily see at any time how far behind you your competitors are :thhbbb:

alot more interesting stuff to look at around the pool deck, rather than staring at the bottom all the time. Good point. If you swim outside as I do, another fun aspect of backstroke is adding to your list of bird species seen from the pool. I don't get a lot of additions to the list swimming the face-down strokes. Several times in the pre-dawn I have seen bats.