The Backstroke Lane

Anyone have any good advice on breathing patterns for backstroke? Is it best to try for breathe in on one armstroke (left arm), and out on the next armstroke (right arm) ??? (Hey That Guy - even sarcastic advice could be good advice) :afraid: I breathe every single stroke in backstroke. What does "sarcastic" mean?

I breathe every single stroke in backstroke. What does "sarcastic" mean? I don't really have a breathing "pattern" per se... it's more like "come out from under water, gasp for air, stoke once or twice, spit water out of mouth, gasp for air (repeat as necessary).

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!

I breathe every single stroke in backstroke. What does "sarcastic" mean? I think I breathe every stroke too, but I thought it may be slowing down my turnover...maybe if I were to kick faster... :afraid:

Breathing: Once per cycle, or twice per cycle (on every stroke)? Why or why not? Does it matter? We have a discussion of this upthread, from last August. Bottom line at the time was: Gary Hall Sr. suggests breathing once per stroke (twice per cycle), but Chris "Hung in the Lung" Stevenson breathes but once per cycle. I guess it's swimmer's choice. As a mammal, I have a peculiar fondness for air. I breathe twice per cycle.

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! The idea is that you lose power and increase your get-off time by bending your knees past 90 degrees. All you are doing if you ball yourself up is taking more time to get off of the start without generating any more explosion.

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 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!

I use as Gary Hall suggests, every stroke. I also wear a nose clip for the 50 and 100, but not the 200. I find that the nose clip not only helps for UW (not having to exhale), but keeps the minute amount of water that can get in my nose and the back of my throat, which causes me to have to swallow and throws my breathing off. This past weekend I forgot my noseclip in the 100 and suffered for it (59.99), but did wear it in the 50 and had a great swim (26.88)

I use as Gary Hall suggests, every stroke. I also wear a nose clip for the 50 and 100, but not the 200. I find that the nose clip not only helps for UW (not having to exhale), but keeps the minute amount of water that can get in my nose and the back of my throat, which causes me to have to swallow and throws my breathing off. This past weekend I forgot my noseclip in the 100 and suffered for it (59.99), but did wear it in the 50 and had a great swim (26.88) Why not try it for a 200?

Why not try it for a 200? I could, but I'm not quite as good in the 200 (go figure, I'm a mid-dist freestlyer, not a sprinter). I've had more success in the 50 and 100. If I do 200 back in the next meet I might.