Can anyone tell me a positive reason for doing a double arm backstroke drill? The only thing it seems to be good at for me is hurting my shoulders, so I refuse to do it. When I think about it, I can't come up with any reason why this drill would do you any good anyway. In real backstroke, you are supposed to roll your body from side to side, right? That's a key part of the stroke. When doing a double arm recovery, you can't roll at all. So what is the point?
Whenever a coach assigns this, I just quietly do something else. If they were to try to "encourage" me to do it anyway, I'd tell them what they could do with that idea.
The only thing I can think it might help correct is overreaching. Much harder to overreach when you're using both arms. That said, I never do it as a drill. I use it solely as a recovery swim after I've done something AFAP.
Don't do it if it bothers your shoulder. I can't say that there are many good backstroke drills IMHO. The roll drill is OK, I guess. Whenever I drill, it's very rarely backstroke.
The only thing I can think it might help correct is overreaching. Much harder to overreach when you're using both arms. That said, I never do it as a drill. I use it solely as a recovery swim after I've done something AFAP.
Don't do it if it bothers your shoulder. I can't say that there are many good backstroke drills IMHO. The roll drill is OK, I guess. Whenever I drill, it's very rarely backstroke.
