How to Swim Backstroke

Perfecting Your Form

Keep your body flat like a plank. When you're doing the backstroke, you want your body to lay as flat on the surface of the water as possible. The smaller your profile in the water, the less resistance you'll feel as you swim and the easier it will be to go fast. Most people have a hard time getting their hips to float on the surface of the water, so they sink down a little below the surface. This is OK but try to keep your hips as close to the surface as possible. It will be easier to keep yourself flat once you are moving.

Be comfortable with the water covering the sides of your head. The backstroke (like most swimming strokes) is all about making the most efficient use of your energy possible. One easy way to do this is to let your head sit semi-submerged in the water. The water should cover your ears almost completely. It may touch the corners of your face, but it shouldn't be getting into your eyes, nose, or mouth. If you don't like the feeling of the water covering your ears, consider investing in a swimming cap or a set of swimmer's earplugs. Trying to keep your ears out of the water will tire out your neck and spend energy that you could be using to swim.

Use a "flutter" kick. As soon as you're in position on your back, start kicking. Your legs should be straightened, close together, and lined up below your hips. Use short kicking motions to propel yourself forward. As you raise one leg, kick the other down (and vice versa). For best results, keep your legs straight and kick from your hips rather than from your knees. This will give you more power and prevent you from getting sore knees.

Use a long, fluid arm motion. As you start to kick forward, keep your arms at your sides. Reach one arm up in front of you. It should point toward the sky or ceiling. Bring it up over your head, by your ear, and down into the water — it will be pointing in the direction you're traveling. When your arm hits the water, bring it down and scull outward to propel yourself forward. As you do this, raise the other arm and perform the same motion. Repeat. This should feel natural. Try to keep a steady rhythm between your arms and legs because that will make your swimming faster and easier!

Position your hands to minimize resistance. To swim as efficiently as possible, it is important to remember that your hands should enter and exit the water with their edges first, not their palms. When you lift your arm out of the water, lead with your thumb. When it enters the water, lead with your pinky finger.

Rotate your shoulders and hips with each stroke. Your motions in the pool shouldn't be rigid like a steamboat. Instead, keep them fluid and flexible to get through the water as efficiently as possible. See below: As you raise each arm, rotate your shoulder upwards. Rotate the opposite shoulder downwards — you should be using it to pull the other hand under the water. Similarly, twist your hips slightly with each kick. You should have an ever-so-slight "wiggling" motion — your right hip should go down when your right leg kicks and vice versa.

Learning Related Skills

Breathe once per arm cycle. A good policy is to breathe in as one arm leaves the water, then breathe out as the other leaves the water. Repeat this pattern with deep breaths to keep your breath steady. Deep, steady breathing is important even though the backstroke allows you to breathe whenever you want. Breathing at a regular pace allows you to keep your backstroke up (with good form) for as long as possible.

Use flip turns to turn around quickly. As you approach a wall, turn over on to your front so you can see where you're going. Make sure to get a stroke count (the number of backstroke strokes it takes you to get from the flags to the wall), as it will help greatly with your flip turn. When finding your stroke count, count from the flags all the way until you hit the wall. Try taking one stroke off of your stroke count when you do your flip turn. Experiment a little bit, and see what works and is the most comfortable for you. Once you've figured your stroke count, as you take your last stroke on your back, gradually flip your body over, and simultaneously take one freestyle stroke, and use the stroke to pull yourself into the wall. This motion might feel a bit awkward at first, but keep practising it, and it will soon feel natural. Then, somersault forward underwater, then stretch your legs out to plant your feet on the wall. Kick off with your legs as you squeeze your arms to your ears and make a "point" with your hands. Stay in a tight streamline until you resurface. Keep up a streamline kick until you break the surface, then start your stroke again. It can take a little practice to learn when exactly to turn over onto your front. Ideally, you want to do it when you're just a stroke or two from the edge of the pool.

If indoors, use the ceiling to keep yourself straight. When you're swimming in an indoor pool, you can use the ceiling to make sure you don't veer off-course. Look for a line or pattern in the ceiling material. As you swim, keep your eyes open and focused on the ceiling. Keep this pattern oriented the same way as you swim to keep yourself travelling in a straight line. If you're swimming outside, you have fewer options. If there are clouds out, you can keep the clouds oriented the same way to travel in a straight line. If not, try keeping the sun on the same side of your body. Keeping your bearings when it's overcast is difficult since you have few visible reference points.