The Backstroke Lane

My coach is advocating that I hold my hands on the gutter instead of the starting block to start. She claims that she always does this and that many of the local collegiate swimmers do as well. She has been working with me on it and, sure enough, it does seem smoother for me. I've been to a lot of swim meets in my life and I have never seen this done in competition. I am concerned that this might cause a problem if I try to do it at a meet. Is it common practice? Will the starter give me trouble? There is also the problem that some pools don't have "hold-able" gutters. My take on backstroke starting off the gutter is this: It can be VERY fast! Since most masters swimmers don't have blocks set up with a touch pad on the wall, slipping when practicing starts in workouts is very common. Somehow, I don't slip as badly starting off the gutter as I do off a block without a touch pad. Another thing to try is stagger your feet on the wall a little bit. Somehow that gives better stability and even traction. When I was trying to get my whole body to arc out of the water on my block start, I worked to get it to arc out off a gutter start first. I didn't even realize I was up and over the water when I first starting to do it off the blocks after that because it was so much easier. (have I mentioned lately that I LOVE BACKSTROKE?) I'm told we are oxygen addicts :) We have a BACKSTROKE Blogger on the Forum - QUICKSILVER! forums.usms.org/blog.php I do not know WHY however, he has freestylers pictured on his home page right now... Ande has GREAT BACKSTROKE TIPS that help me improve my stroke every week. Seriously.

My coach is advocating that I hold my hands on the gutter instead of the starting block to start. She claims that she always does this and that many of the local collegiate swimmers do as well. She has been working with me on it and, sure enough, it does seem smoother for me. I've been to a lot of swim meets in my life and I have never seen this done in competition. I am concerned that this might cause a problem if I try to do it at a meet. Is it common practice? Will the starter give me trouble? There is also the problem that some pools don't have "hold-able" gutters. My take on backstroke starting off the gutter is this: It can be VERY fast! Since most masters swimmers don't have blocks set up with a touch pad on the wall, slipping when practicing starts in workouts is very common. Somehow, I don't slip as badly starting off the gutter as I do off a block without a touch pad. Another thing to try is stagger your feet on the wall a little bit. Somehow that gives better stability and even traction. When I was trying to get my whole body to arc out of the water on my block start, I worked to get it to arc out off a gutter start first. I didn't even realize I was up and over the water when I first starting to do it off the blocks after that because it was so much easier. (have I mentioned lately that I LOVE BACKSTROKE?) I'm told we are oxygen addicts :) We have a BACKSTROKE Blogger on the Forum - QUICKSILVER! forums.usms.org/blog.php I do not know WHY however, he has freestylers pictured on his home page right now... Ande has GREAT BACKSTROKE TIPS that help me improve my stroke every week. Seriously.