Forward and backstroke start drills

A lot of young swimmers have difficulty in learning how to make a proper start, they usually make a flat entry in the water or they are not as streamlined as they could. The same applies for the backstroke start as well. Many studies have reported that the entry and the underwater portions of the start make a huge difference and separate the fast starters from those who are not fast. As evidence, some of the best starting drills for forward starts focus on those aspects. These drills are:

Over and under dives

In this drill, swimmers dive off the side of the pool, over the nearest lane line, and they kick under the next two lane lines, surfacing before they come to the fourth lane line. This is a good drill for teaching swimmers to enter the water correctly and change their velocity from downward to forward quickly.

Dolphin kick

The kick used in butterfly is called a dolphin kick because the legs move as one unit, like the tail of the dolphin. This kick is also used underwater during the starts and turns of butterfly, freestyle, and backstroke (and in the fly-back and breast-free IM transition turns) One dolphin kick consists of two parts: the upbeat and the downbeat and swimmers execute two dolphin kicks during each stroke cycle.

Breaststroke underwater pullout sequence

The underwater pullout sequence is a great equalizer of breastsroke races and it's used during the breaststroke send away (breast start, breast to breast turn and back to breast turn in IM). Even poor breaststrokers who streamline well, have a strong butterfly pull and kick, and can fake a single compact breaststroke kick can compete on the walls with the fastest swimmers, and they will have eight to nine fewer meters to swim.

Make the best out of your backstroke start

Just as with the forward start (see here), there are several kinds of backstroke starts. Three basic types are the traditional start, the newer Japanese start, and the catapult start. In the traditional start, the hips are close to the wall and the shoulders close to the block, so the torso is practically vertical and the knees are bent to an extreme. The Japanese start is characterized by the torso angling slightly away from the wall and the head leaning back; this is the quickest of the starts. In the catapult start, the hips are away from the wall, the knees are bent only to about 90 degrees, and the shoulders lean in close to the hands, so the torso is angled into the wall. The catapult start is better for age groupers because the pressure of the feet is directed horizontally into the wall.

Improve your forward starts

There are four kinds of forward starts: the traditional grab start and three variations of the track start, including a leaning forward track, a full backward track, and a medium backward track. Swimmers should try each one of them and use the one that works best for them. Generally, track starts give swimmers more stability on the block, and both of the leaning back track starts allow the swimmer to use the arms to pull against the block for momentum. They also create more impulse, or greater time of force applied against the block. The forward track start is the quickest to the water but the least powerful. The full backward is slowest of the block, and often the back leg is bent to an extreme that compromises the power that the start produces. The medium backward splits the difference - it is quick and powerful.

Traditional grab start

Medium backward track start