When we think of swimming, most of us think of freestyle or the crawl stroke. While freestyle is one of the easiest strokes to learn -- and it gets you down the pool the quickest -- there are other strokes that can help add variety to your workout and alleviate boredom.
By changing strokes you can also lower your risk for overuse injuries, especially in your shoulders.
The easiest and most familiar stoke is the backstroke. This one is comfortable for most people, as you don't have to worry too much about breathing. Its downside is that you can't see the wall, and many times you will swim crooked if there are no lane lines to help you out. The backstroke starts out on your back with your face facing the ceiling. Sounds easy so far. It involves the flutter kick -- the same one that you use for freestyle. But with this stroke the legs play a much more important role. A strong kick is essential if you want to move with this stroke. With the kick it helps to remember to keep your legs relaxed. The power is going to come from the hips and with a slight knee bend. Play with this while you are in the pool to see what works best for you. A little secret is to point your toes as much as possible. This makes more surface area and allows you to move more water. The more flexed your feet are the more drag you will have -- making you stay in one place or even more backward. To gain even more surface area, point your toes into each other -- rotating your legs a bit toward the midline of the body.
Now, on to the pull. Your hand enters above your head with your arm extended and your little finger enters the water first. The pull is much like an "S" pull. A key here is to make sure that you drop your hand deep into the water -- this is the catch. Most people want to start the pull right away, but this has the swimmer moving water that is already moving, therefore not getting the most out of their pull. By dropping the hand deep into the water -- about 10 to 12 inches, the water is heavier and still, making for more speed.
There is a bit of elbow bend in the middle of the pull. Your arm will naturally bend. Again, just like the freestyle you want to make sure that you pull all the way down to your thigh. This will make your stroke long and efficient.
One of the keys to the backstroke is that it really isn't swum on the back -- but involves a rotation side to side. Almost as if there is a stick through the center of the body and that is the axis of rotation. By rotating to the side that the hand is entering it allows you to drop that hand in the water more. A common drill for backstroke is to kick on your back and just practice that rotation. One shoulder up and then the other, so you can get used to the idea of dropping one shoulder into the water while bringing the other one out. An idea to remember is to bring that shoulder up to the chin. This takes a bit of time and practice. If you have access to a swim coach you may want to have them check out your rotation. You don't want so much that you are turning onto your stomach, but you don't want to lose that still water.
Body position in the water is also important. You don't want to have your chin too close to your chest, as this will drop your hips and legs, creating a large amount of drag. Your head too far back can also make you too flat in the water. This can leave you swimming a bit like a barge, again creating drag.
The best thing about backstroke is that your face is out of the water. There is breathing pattern though. The easiest way to create this pattern is to breathe out when one hand enters the water and breathe in when the other hand enters the water. This helps you to remember to breathe and also creates a pattern much like your normal breathing on land. Regular oxygen intake is important for the best performance. Another plus to adding some backstroke into your workout is that it gives the shoulders a break from all of the forward rotation of freestyle. After a long freestyle set a bit of backstroke releases the tension of those muscles, allowing them to work in a different way lowering the risk for overuse injuries. It is just a fantastic break after a hard workout and is great way for an active cool down. Once you get more efficient with your stroke you can start to add it into your workout.
The drawback to the backstroke is not knowing where you are in the pool. Most pools have a set of flags at both ends of the pool. Get in the pool and as you are backstroking down the pool notice when you cross under the flags and count the number of strokes before you get to the end of the pool. You will want to do this at a normal speed. If you are going too slow you will not get an accurate count. The flags are the same distance from the end of the pool so your count will be the same at either end.
If your pool has lane lines you will not have to worry about swimming all over the pool. Just stay by the lane line and you will be fine. If there aren't any lane lines, try to watch the ceiling. There may be a line to follow there. If there is nothing, and you know that you are going to be doing quite a bit of backstroke, try to get next to the wall so you won't go crooked.
Have fun with the backstroke. Experiment with it and find what works best for you. It adds a fantastic dimension to your swim workout.
Now some workouts -- there is a triathlon workout at the end:
1,250-yard workout
200 yards warm-up - focus on a long stroke
8 x 50 odd freestyle; evens backstroke -- 10-second rest
4 x 100 yards build within the 100 - 15-second rest
50 yards easy backstroke
200 cool down
2,200-yard workout
200-yard warm-up
4 x 200 freestyle -- 15-second rest
6 x 100 freestyle -- build within the 100 -- so last 25 is all out sprint - 20-second rest
8 x 50s (1,2,3 full sprint, 4 easy; 5,6,7 full sprint 8 easy)
200 yards easy - mix up backstroke and freestyle
1,500-yard workout (can be used for triathlon)
500-yard swim
100-yard kick; 100 yard swim; 100-yard pull x 2
100-yard backstroke
300-yard swim
Triathlon workout
300-yard swim
4 x 200 freestyle - 10-second rest
300-yard swim
6 x 100 swim keep steady pace (hold the same time each 100 - make it competitive for you)
300-yard pull
3 x 200s build each 200 - so last 200 is full effort
300 swim down
Don't be afraid to mix and match workouts. There is enough here to make a large number of different workouts. Also remember you can cut things shorter for your time frame.
Have fun!
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