Mistakes to avoid during the release and recovery in backstroke

Although the release and recovery in backstroke seems as an easy job to do, swimmers make many mistakes during these two phases of the armstroke that can lead to an increase in resistive drag or disrupt the rhythm of the stroke. These mistakes are: to bring the arm out of the water with the little finger up and the palm facing out, to bring the hand out of the water with the palm facing down, to initiate recovery by lifting the hand rather than rolling the shoulder up, and to swing the arm low and to the side.

Let's take a closer look to each one of these mistakes that can affect your swimming technique.

• Turning the palm outward will twist the humerus and cause unnecessary tension during the recovery and may lead to injury. To feel this tension, stand up with your arm hanging down at your side and your palm facing in. Rotate your palm back and out and then lift it to the front until it is at shoulder height; you should feel some tension in your shoulder. Continue lifting your arm above shoulder height with your palm turned in and the tension should be gone. Just imagine the tension that swimmers will feel if they do this action several times during their swimming practice.
• When swimmers bring the hand out of the water with their palm facing down they have a great chance to push water up with the back of the hand and increase pushing drag. The hand should leave the water with the thumb first and the palm facing in. It should stay in this position for the first half of the recovery and then it should be turned out when the arm passes overhead.
• The most frequent mistake backstrokers do is to initiate the arm recovery by lifting the hand from the water instead of rolling the shoulder up. The hand and arm should be relaxed after the release takes place and swimmers should allow the body to roll to do as much of the work of bringing the arm to the surface and over the water as possible. With the body rolled to the side and the shoulder above the water, the arm will remain clear of the water for a longer time during the recovery.
• The last common mistake during the recovery is to swing the arm low to the side. This will pull the hips out to the side in the same direction and it will cause them to swing outside the body in the opposite direction. Consequently, swimmers will travel down the pool with their hips and legs swinging from side to side. This will increase both form drag and pushing drag; the key to avoid this is to recover the arms high and directly overhead with a minimum of sideward movement.

This is the last part of the mistakes during the armstroke in backstroke. The other parts where mistakes during the entry, first downsweep, first upsweep, and second upsweep.

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