The Backstroke Lane

I've got a question on starts. I can't for the life of me get out of the water on my dive. I try to jump up at an angle, but I end up just pushing into the water and sort of do a back smack. Anyone have any tips on how to actually do a dive? A few years back I read a tip from Ande that said to position yourself for the start such that your knees are bent 90 degrees. When the starter says take your mark, don't change the angle of your knees, just pull yourself up with your arms a bit. I don't know why this works but it works great, I rip almost every entry. Thanks Ande! hey there you're welcome the 90 degree knee bend on backstroke starts works because you set your knees at the ideal place to jump powerfully and get off the blocks fast. Extra knee bend is unnecessary. Swimmers who bend too much just spend more time on the blocks and don't jump any better. It's worthwhile to improve your backstroke start technique and get more air and less drag through the water. I wish swimming would return to stand up starts on backstroke or at least curling toes over the lip. Ande As mainly a freestyler who has recently discovered the 200 back, my backstroke starts were severely lacking. Thanks for the tips -- I'm excited to try the 90 degree leg angle one. One thing that helped me... I was sitting back in the water on my start, and my coach told me that was an easy fix. He said that instead of tucking my chin in preparation for the start, I should tilt my head back slightly/look up. At the start, he said to throw everything back at once. I tried it, and voila! Not the best start I'm sure, but much better than what I had been doing. To quote, "For your purposes, that was perfect." It might not work for everyone, but it definitely helped me. Now to get my IM turns passable...

I've got a question on starts. I can't for the life of me get out of the water on my dive. I try to jump up at an angle, but I end up just pushing into the water and sort of do a back smack. Anyone have any tips on how to actually do a dive? A few years back I read a tip from Ande that said to position yourself for the start such that your knees are bent 90 degrees. When the starter says take your mark, don't change the angle of your knees, just pull yourself up with your arms a bit. I don't know why this works but it works great, I rip almost every entry. Thanks Ande! hey there you're welcome the 90 degree knee bend on backstroke starts works because you set your knees at the ideal place to jump powerfully and get off the blocks fast. Extra knee bend is unnecessary. Swimmers who bend too much just spend more time on the blocks and don't jump any better. It's worthwhile to improve your backstroke start technique and get more air and less drag through the water. I wish swimming would return to stand up starts on backstroke or at least curling toes over the lip. Ande As mainly a freestyler who has recently discovered the 200 back, my backstroke starts were severely lacking. Thanks for the tips -- I'm excited to try the 90 degree leg angle one. One thing that helped me... I was sitting back in the water on my start, and my coach told me that was an easy fix. He said that instead of tucking my chin in preparation for the start, I should tilt my head back slightly/look up. At the start, he said to throw everything back at once. I tried it, and voila! Not the best start I'm sure, but much better than what I had been doing. To quote, "For your purposes, that was perfect." It might not work for everyone, but it definitely helped me. Now to get my IM turns passable...