Backstroke Hip Position

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For many years, coaches told backstrokers to roll their hips so far over they spent almost as much time swimming on each side as on their backs. But now, the techniques of ace swimmers like Aaron Piersol and Ryan Lochte are providing evidence that backstroke should stay true to its name.



Matt Kredich, head coach of the University of Tennessee’s women’s team, breaks down his approach to teaching backstroke technique:



Swim parallel to the water: It’s tempting to overlook the hips. They don’t have the extensive range of motion of the arms or the powerful muscles of the legs, but according to Kredich, the hips provide the momentum for every stroke. If the hips roll too far to one side, then the swimmer’s kick becomes wider and less efficient as the swimmer must use his legs to re-balance. Doing so slows down tempo and makes the stroke weaker. Instead, keep the hips fixed and abs flexed so that your shoulders move around your core and maintain a narrower and more powerful kick. While the hips will naturally rotate side-to-side a little bit, keeping them as stable as possible creates a fulcrum for the rest of the body to move off of.
Enhance your core: In order to gain momentum from your hips, strengthening your abdominal muscles is a must.  Coach Kredich has his Lady Vols do crunches and other core-exercises with a medicine ball to enhance stomach and side muscles.
Work on timing: To create the energy that will power the rest of the stroke, your hips should begin rotating away from the pulling arm just as the extended arm’s hand begins catching water. Coach Kredich uses the one-arm backstroke drill to focus his swimmers’ timing until it’s perfectly accurate.