Swimming: Learning the Backstroke is Pretty Tricky

For some reason, I ended up trying to learn the backstroke last out of all of the strokes. I don’t seem to know why, but trying to learn the backstroke now is actually more difficult than I thought that it would be. I will list the basic swimming strokes and discuss them.

The Four Basic Swimming Strokes: A Little Background

So there are four basic strokes in swimming:

1. Front/forward stroke
2. Breaststroke
3. Backstroke
4. Butterfly stroke

The front or forward stroke is the most common and popular stroke. This is the stroke where you just move your arms forward, most people in a windmill motion and move forward. When you learn swimming, you naturally do this stroke first because it’s so simple. In freestyle  swimming competitions, you always see this stroke being used because it’s the easiest and fastest one. Technically, you can do any stroke in the freestyle, so why not choose the easiest one?  Then you usually move onto the breaststroke, the one that looks like a frog. This one is a little harder than the front/forward stroke because you have to move your arms and legs sideways instead of having your body completely straight. This is the stroke that you use when diving deeper into water because you use more force from your body to push yourself down more. Just try doing the front/forward stroke versus the breaststroke underwater. I think that you’ll agree that the breaststroke is better to use underwater. Then you have the backstroke, the one aptly name because you move backwards. So basically this is just the reverse of the front/forward stroke, harder to master because whenever you do something you have to master going forward before going backward. Just like running forward, then backward. I don’t think that most people can run backward as fast and well as they run forward. Finally, the hardest stroke of all, the butterfly stroke. The butterfly requires the most strength because you are using both arms at the same time to propel yourself forward. I haven’t gotten down the dolphin kick, where you kick your legs while keeping them next together like a dolphin’s flippers. If you have seen Michael Phelps doing the butterfly, dude is a beast in the water. I wish that I could pull off the butterfly like Michael. Here are the basic strokes with some background. Now I will discuss my attempt at the backstroke, the last stroke that I need to at least get somewhat competent at.

The Backstroke: Watch Your Back or Catch Some Flak

I’ve tried the backstroke a few times already and it’s definitely one of the more exhausting strokes. I get tired faster than the other strokes, but I believe that it has to do with me learning the new stroke rather than the nature of the stroke itself. I’ve seen other  swimmer at the pools at 24 Hour Fitness do the backstroke and they do it so calmly and peacefully in the water. I just need to get the rhythm down. When you swing your left arm back, you kick your right leg and vice versa. Also, make sure that your hand is extended out when you’re near the end of the wall so you don’t hit your  head. I learned this from experience. >=D The biggest hurdle to overcome is the recovery time when reaching one end of the the lane to the other other because this stroke is taking a lot out of me. When you’re recovering, you can’t just start swimming again. You need to catch your breath, breathe deeply and collect yourself. I know how to swim backward just using my legs, but I want to the actual backstroke using my arms also. One thing that I’ve also noticed is how when I swing my arms back, my arms lift water into the air and the water falls back down onto my face. Sometimes I feel that I might end up drinking the pool water when it lands on my face. So I plan to continue to improve the backstroke and get this one down so that I can finally do each of the basic strokes competently.