Backstroke - Aggressive Wave

Posted by Glenn Mills on Mar 24, 2009 08:00AM (10,186 views)

This drill can be considered the next step from the Backstroke - Wave Drill.

Why Do It:
Aggressive Wave Backstroke Drill uses exaggeration to teach correct hand position, head position, shoulder roll, hip rotation, recovery momentum, continuous kick, stroke synergy, and position in the water.

- Pick up Margaret's DVD for more impressive backstroke swimming!

How to Do It:
1.  Push off the wall, take two backstroke strokes, and then keep the left arm in streamline.
2.  Bring the right arm up, thumb first, to about 40 degrees. If you're a more advanced swimmer, bring it up to 90 degrees. The higher the angle, the faster your legs have to kick in order to keep you on top of the water.
3.  Drop the right arm down and quickly tap the water with your little finger. Then, with a lot of momentum, put the right arm in entry position over the head, little finger first. This forces the head to be in a laid-back position because, if you lift your head, you'll sink.
4.  As the right hand goes from pinky down to pinky up, the left arm begins the pull, which forces the left shoulder down and then brings it up under the chin. The right shoulder comes up, over and down. By sending the arm out, putting it back in, and then going into a quick recovery, the recovery stage is exaggerated at the end of the pull. The higher you send the hand before dropping it back into the water, the more beneficial the drill becomes.

How to Do It Really Well (the Fine Points):
This is not a laid-back drill. It expends a lot of energy. This is a difficult drill. It is a jerky drill. It is a fast drill. To do it slowly would negate the point. The point is to exaggerate critical stages in the stroke, alternately using force and momentum to continue forward movement on top of the water. This is not a drill for beginning swimmers trying to learn backstroke; it should be used as a "tune-up" drill for those who are already familiiar with the stroke. When you do the drill, it's best to alternate equal distances of the drill, and then the stroke.

backstroke, bodyline, kick, pull

Responses

GW	Responded Mar 24, 2009 02:44PM We do this drill a lot on 25 drill, 25 swim but it looks to me as though Margaret 'backhands' the water on entry rather than little finger in first. It could be just my eyesight of course.
Glenn Mills	Responded Mar 24, 2009 02:46PM Nope... you're correct in how Margaret's hand enters the water. This is just part of how she does it. You may notice some other small details about her stroke in her upcoming video as well.
GW	Responded Mar 24, 2009 03:17PM Hmm, seems to go against what we tell the youngsters to do. Do you know if she does it for a reason, Glenn. I do like her rotation though, an example to everybody.
Glenn Mills	Responded Mar 24, 2009 03:25PM She absolutely DOES do it for a reason... and it's cool to hear. It's on the DVD. Coming soon to a goswim.tv website near you. :)
Dustin Myers	Responded Mar 24, 2009 08:13PM This is one of my favorite backstroke drills. I call it up-down-up-and-over-though. I am very interested to hear to why she enters the way she does
Diogo	Responded Mar 24, 2009 09:21PM Instead of just touching the water with the finger, I tend to exaggerate and slap the surface before a full pull.
James Stuart	Responded Mar 25, 2009 12:09AM I have tried it - its so hard I was sinking no matter how hard kicking - what went wrong? - she looks that drill is too easy for her - I am so jealous mmm
Glenn Mills	Responded Mar 25, 2009 02:26AM Give it a shot with fins on. Remember what Beth says... this isn't a drill for newer swimmers, Margaret has Olympic Medals.
Matyas Plezer	Responded Mar 25, 2009 08:38AM I try it today. Great drill! Thanks!
mazzy	Responded Mar 25, 2009 11:25AM A lot of Elite swimmers enter the water overhead with the backhand instead of little finger first, but rotate the hand soon after. From underwater you'll see that they enter little finger first but over the water you'll see them enter with the backhand. I don't know why but I suppose that to enter little finger first stress the shoulder a lot more without any real gain, you can rotate it just after the entry with less stress, it's true for me at least.
sprinter	Responded Mar 26, 2009 08:07AM we did this drill just the other day. It's great. Also, we extended it a bit - swimming one arm per length, with resting arm the hip, we took a 1,5kg weight and put on fins (if you can do that without fins, go for it). Do 6 kicks with both arms at the hips, 6 kicks with arm up to the ceiling, which is quite difficult with the extra weight, then you perform a pull and stop for further 6 kicks at the hip. It feels a bit weird especially on the turns (hold the weight with both above your head hands when pushing off) but a lot of fun.
James Stuart	Responded Mar 26, 2009 07:54PM sound like u r great swimmer sprinter, so why not join as pro swimmer? lol
adrian	Responded Mar 26, 2009 10:17PM Iam wondering what is the diffrence to swim backstroke with normal flutter kick as you swim in freestyle, and I see here in this drill he is swimming backstroke kickin with his legs one over the other ? whats the diffrence and why
James Stuart	Responded Mar 27, 2009 12:16AM Flashing news! I can do this without fins but its not making any difference to my backstroke (my weakest stroke)
sprinter	Responded Mar 27, 2009 06:48AM James, no I am not a great swimmer at all. I am doing my best though ;) adrian, do you mean the rotation of the body incl legs to the side?!
adrian	Responded Mar 27, 2009 09:41AM yes sprinter she is kickin one leg over the other , when I swim backstroke I do kick with straight legs up and down, is this more advanced swimming kick in backstroke?
sprinter	Responded Mar 27, 2009 01:27PM She has a great body rotation. And when the body rotates, the legs follow. That's why she kicks a bit to the side. If you do not rotate the kick stays vertikal. If you do not rotate at all how do you bring your shoulder out of the water?
adrian	Responded Mar 27, 2009 04:55PM ok Mrs.Sprinter Iam followin what you are saying , I do kick in vertikal in backstroke and rotate little bit not that much as she does in this video , I still don't understand the benefits of kick on the side is that you get more body rotation and you can glide faster in the water? maybe iam more horizontal on my backstroke and i am not going that much forward when i swim backstroke huh :(
Tomás	Responded Mar 27, 2009 05:00PM What is really clear is that Miss Hoeltzer is a "anchor-thrower" swimmer as Mr. Skinner has argued in past posts. One can really se her shoulder/arm "passing by her anchoring point.
James Stuart	Responded Mar 29, 2009 10:14PM Yeah Hoeltzer is different to others doing swim a traditonal backstroke
sprinter	Responded Mar 30, 2009 07:18AM Hello Adrian, the rotation in backstroke has the same purpose as in freestyle. The kick just follows the body position. The question should be then "what are the benefits of a ration?" - minimizing drag, deeper catch. I understand that the grade of the rotation varies. Experiment and see how much or less rotation is the best for your stroke.
RogerOne	Responded Apr 07, 2009 02:37PM When I first learned backstroke my coach taught me to 'backhand' on entry as well, he did so in order to force me to rotate the body to add the additional rotation to the forearm, and I found it very beneficial.
Paul Smith	Responded May 04, 2009 11:12AM I have found this a great drill, a little difficult to co-ordinate at first but ultimately found it great for focussing on my backstroke pull & recovery. Cheers
Swimming Freak	Responded Jul 29, 2009 11:50PM im going to go practice this tommorow
backintheday	Responded Aug 30, 2009 05:44AM If you look at a good backstroker the one thing you notice is that they stay "on top" of the water- almost effortlessly. They can only do this with a good kick (no knees above the water) and great body position. This is a great drill for advanced swimmers, but half the battle of backstroke is keeping the hips up and the feet "boiling water." When I get tired I see my knees work their way toward the surface and I tell myself to straighten my core (hips and abs) and boil water.with my feet.
backintheday	Responded Aug 30, 2009 05:49AM By the way- backstroke does not have the same body rotation as freestyle- the hips should actually stay on a flat plane with the shoulders rotating around this axis. Kinda a new concept in backstroke, but makes sense from a biomechanics point of view