today we're gonna be taking you through

step by step how to master the

backstroke technique yeah it is a stroke

that for a lot of people can feel quite

awkward and actually quite daunting

because you can't see where you're going

so after today's video hopefully you're

gonna go away feeling a lot more

confident about the backstroke technique

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backstroke as the name suggests is on

your back so you're looking up towards

the ceiling of the swimming pool or the

sky it's important you maintain a flat

body position keeping your body as close

to the surface of the water as possible

making sure your hips don't drop too low

as this will slow you down

as with the freestyle technique rotating

your hips and shoulders in sync will

allow you to generate more power and

momentum in your stroke as one arm lifts

out of the water the other starts the

propulsive phase underneath the water

but we'll go into more detail on that

later

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in terms of head position as i've just

mentioned you should be looking upwards

towards the ceiling but also making sure

that you keep your head still and

straight with no movement to either side

your head almost acts like a rudder of a

bow any movement will cause a change in

direction you should also keep your head

relaxed rather than craning it forwards

or out of the water the level of the

water should just cover your ears

leaving your mouth free and above the

water to breathe whenever necessary

allowing you to develop a rhythm that

works with your stroke pattern

to start the arm action you should lead

with your thumb as you then continue to

lift the rest of your arm out of the

water the arm should be straight with

the movement coming from your shoulder

as your arm comes over the top of you

you should start to slowly rotate your

arm and hand so that your little finger

enters the water first with your palm

facing outwards your arm should pass by

your ear before entering the water

between your shoulder line and the

center line of your head once the hand

is into the water you should then turn

your palm so it's facing down towards

the bottom of the pool whilst also

rotating your shoulder down into the

water as mentioned earlier then scale

your hand outwards and downwards until

it reaches a position in a line between

your upper chest and shoulders with your

elbow bent and then rotate your hand

again so your palm is facing towards

your feet and then push through the

water until your arm is fully extended

by the thigh and ready to be lifted out

of the water again by the rotation of

the shoulders

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moving on to the kick this is similar to

the flutter kick used in front crawl or

freestyle although obviously now on our

backs your legs should kick in an

alternate movement and make sure to kick

from the hips rather than from the knees

on the downward beat make sure to bend

your knees slightly as your foot moves

towards the bottom of the pool and on

the upbeat extend and straighten your

leg towards the surface of the water

accelerating the movement as you kick

upwards whilst making this movement

upwards keep your foot in a relaxed

position ankle extended and toes relaxed

this will really improve the strength

and flipper effect of that kick this is

the propulsive phase of the kick and

ends when the leg is fully extended try

to make your downbeat kick more relaxed

than the upbeat movement so that your

muscles can relax and make your kicking

quick and concise movements for best

efficiency a good drill to help your

backstroke kick and also combine the

rotation work of the stroke is to simply

kick on your back with your hands by

your side and rotate your hips and

shoulders in sync continually rotate

slowly to one side and then back to the

other i suggest using fins to make it

easier but also to accentuate this

movement and feeling of the action

now hopefully that's going to leave you

a lot more confident swimming backstroke

especially since you're going in that

direction that you can't see yeah and as

with all the strokes i would actually

recommend that you get someone to take a

look at your stroke almost like an

analysis maybe just a fellow swimmer

that's doing some training with you and

they feed back to you anything that

you're doing right or doing wrong and

then you can go away and work on those

technical points now if you have enjoyed

today's video and you've learned

something from it please do hit the

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would like to see our how to swim

freestyle video you can see that by

clicking just down there and also if you

want to see a video all about how to

breathe you can find that here