What causes the most propulsion in backstroke--arms or kicks
Former Member
Some say in backstroke propulsion comes mostly from the arm movement, while others say kicking is the most important. What do you think? Is it possible to be fast (not the fastest) while being weak in one or the other?
One could probably measure or estimate the force produced by arms and legs during the backstroke swim, and I would bet you'd come up with pretty low numbers for the legs, maybe 15-20% of the arms. But that's deceiving.
I know that if I tried the following two expts:
-- tape ankles together and swim 100 back with no UW dolphins (ie, arms only)
-- tape wrists together in a streamline position and do 100 back kick, dolphin allowed (legs only)
I would be much faster in the second 100.
Bottom line, though: work on both.
One could probably measure or estimate the force produced by arms and legs during the backstroke swim, and I would bet you'd come up with pretty low numbers for the legs, maybe 15-20% of the arms. But that's deceiving.
I know that if I tried the following two expts:
-- tape ankles together and swim 100 back with no UW dolphins (ie, arms only)
-- tape wrists together in a streamline position and do 100 back kick, dolphin allowed (legs only)
I would be much faster in the second 100.
Bottom line, though: work on both.
