Backstroke - Aaron Peirsol

Important Note to the Viewer

LESSONS: 43 VIDEOS

Steady Head

In backstroke, everything follows the head. If your head moves side to side, even just a little bit, the shoulders will follow…then the hips…and then the legs and feet. This causes you to zig-zag down the pool and to lose valuable time. If your head moves up and down -- like this -- your body will move up and down. Either way, you’re losing time and not moving forward. In backstroke, the goal is to get to the other end of the pool. The more directly you can send your HEAD to the other end, the quicker your body will get there. Holding your head steady is so basic that it’s more than a focus point…it’s the most important thing you can do to go faster in backstroke. Head position is something you should think about every time you go to the pool…and on every stroke. Look directly up at the ceiling or sky. Keep your chin in neutral – not tucked too tight…and not jutting out. Keep your head and neck in a single line and hold everything steady. A steady head makes everything else fall into place. It helps your hips ride higher, and this gives you a more effective kick. It helps you get maximum power out of your pull and your core rotation. Work every day on keeping your head motionless as you swim. It’s the 1 way to swim faster in backstroke.

Slide the Hand In

Most coaches will tell you that the backstroke recovery is thumb out…pinky in. As you can see, that’s exactly how Aaron does it – thumb out…pinky in. Let’s watch that again from the surface, and notice how cleanly Aaron’s hand exits…and enters. There’s no resistance as the hand slices out…and slices in. But if we watch from below the surface, we can see there’s a lot more to it than thumb out…pinky in. When the hand enters the water it should slide into the water. The hand goes in pinky first, but watch how it goes in. Notice how few bubbles there are…and how little distortion. Also notice that Aaron doesn’t allow his hand to sit on the surface. It goes right in, and it slides in. He keeps the hand entry as clean and direct as possible. As soon as Aaron’s hand is completely under water, he begins the pull by pointing his hand toward the other side of the pool. Let’s watch that in slow motion. The hand slides in cleanly, with no bubbles. Then it points immediately toward the other side of the pool. Just as you don’t want the hand to “sit” on the surface, you don’t want to let it “fall” beneath the surface for too long before you start the pull. In this clip, Aaron sends the hand too deep, and this makes his pull less effective. In this clip, Aaron is focusing on sliding the hand in. He tries to catch and start the pull as soon as his thumb is submerged. Here you can see it in slow motion. Watch for the pinky to slide in first. Then, as soon as the thumb is submerged, the hand turns toward the other wall and starts the pull. When the hand slides in… the bubbles fall off, and this gives Aaron solid water to grab onto for the catch and pull.

Stretch to the Catch

Once your hand slides in, the next step is to extend and stretch into the catch. Here’s another angle. Watch for Aaron to stretch into the catch. Let’s watch that in slow motion. The hand slides in…and the body extends and stretches forward into the catch. You’ll know when you’re fully stretched out because you can feel it. You should feel as if you’ve loaded or stretched a spring and it’s ready to snap back into place. The more you can stretch and extend the muscles along your side, the more they want to contract to their original position, and that helps create power. Let’s watch from a different angle. Notice that Aaron extends and stretches all along the side of his pulling arm. During the pull, Aaron contracts all those muscles, and this gives him power. He describes it as “torque” when the body compresses. In this clip, watch how each side extends…then contracts. Extends…then contracts. This is what gives power to the pull. When you add this focus point to your stroke, be sure to keep your body in line. If you get out of line, like this, you can make a worming motion that sends you all over the lane. Here you can see that Aaron uses the catch to keep his body in line. The idea is to extend all along the torso, but not to extend the pulling hand past the centerline. Use the catch to stop the hand and to keep the body headed straight down the pool. Let’s watch one more time from below the surface. The hand slides in…then you extend and stretch to the catch.

Slide the Hips

In this next section, pay close attention to Aaron’s hips. Most swimmers have been taught to rotate the hips in backstroke, but, for Aaron, rotation means sliding the hips from side to side. Here’s a different angle. Notice how Aaron pushes the hip into the finish of the pull. The hip slides to the side…just in time to meet the hand as it finishes the pull and exits the water. In slow motion, you can see the timing. The hip slides into the finish of the pull. Notice that as Aaron pushes his hip to the side, he engages or squeezes the muscles along the side of his pulling arm. This is the torque that we mentioned earlier. It’s all about harnessing the power in your core. By timing the slide of the hips with the contraction of the muscles along his pulling side, Aaron increases the power of his pull. Let’s watch the focus points in sequence. The hand slides in and Aaron stretches into the catch. The hip slides to the pulling side and meets the hand as it finishes the pull. The power comes not so much from the arms…as from pushing the hip and contracting all the muscles along the side. In this clip, you can see that Aaron’s hips ROLL rather than rotate. He likes to think of his hips as rolling from side to side in a bowl, rather than rotating on a skewer. Let’s watch again at a faster pace. Watch for the hips to roll rather than rotate. Don’t forget to keep your head steady as you slide your hips. Remember: The head is the director; it never moves. The head draws the line along which your body follows. You can see it better from this angle. The hips are rolling as if in a bowl…but the head never moves. In this next clip, focus on Aaron’s kick. The hips are sliding and rolling from side to side, but the kick prevents the hips from sliding out of control. Let’s watch that again. The kick is what drives you forward and holds your body from swinging out of line, like a balloon losing all its air and flying around the room. Let’s watch the sequence one more time. The hand slides in…the body stretches into the catch…the hips slide to the side to meet the finish of the pull. Hand in…extend and catch…compress the torso and slide the hips into the pull. Push the hips to power the pull.

Underwater Dolphin - Aaron

A short clip in which Aaron demonstrates a nice backstroke underwater dolphin kick.

Kick

A short, soundless clip showing how Aaron keeps his kick continuous during backstroke.

Stable Head

A short, soundless clip showing Aaron's head and body rotation from underwater during backstroke.

Stable Head

A short, soundless clip showing how Aaron holds his head stable during backstroke.

Sliding the Hips

A short, soundless clip showing how Aaron slides his hips from side to side during his backstroke.

Perpendicular Pull

In this clip, watch Aaron’s hands. Notice that the palms of his hands are always open, and that they are always pushing water toward his feet. Let’s slow that down for a closer look. The hand enters and the palm is open, creating a big surface – or paddle – for pushing water. When Aaron thinks about his pull, he thinks about creating maximum surface area. He wants to keep his hand open so that it can push water all the way from the catch…until the final downsweep. Notice that when the palm is open, the fingertips point toward the laneline, and that the hand is perpendicular to the body. By maintaining this angle, Aaron pushes water not only with his palm but also with his forearm. To create an even bigger surface area, Aaron also uses his elbows. In this clip, watch how he maintains a high elbow. Instead of letting the elbow collapse during the pull, Aaron actually PUSHES the elbow up toward the hand at the beginning of the pull. By keeping a high elbow, he gets a faster pull, and more control over his hand position from the entry all the way through to the final downsweep. Here you can see it again. Aaron creates a long pulling surface with his hand and forearm…and pushes the elbow UP past the head and toward the hand. It’s all about creating and maintaining surface area and keeping the hand and forearm perpendicular to the body. At race pace, it’s harder to see the position of the hands. But if we watch from under water, you can see how Aaron uses his hands, forearms, and elbows to create maximum surface area for the pull.

Constant Kick

Most swimmers think it’s important to have a big kick and a fast kick for backstroke. But for Aaron, the most important thing is to have a steady, constant kick. And this is something he works on every day. Aaron tries to keep his kick in harmony with the pull. When he’s swimming slow and easy, the kick and pull are balanced. And notice that the kick is constant – not stop-and-go. As he picks up the pace, Aaron adds more effort to both the pull and the kick, to keep them in balance. And at race pace, the balance is still there. The kick doesn’t overpower the arms. And the kick is constant. Aaron tries to kick from the hips, and to keep the legs fairly straight. Here you can see it from another angle. Aaron uses the big muscles in the hips and thighs to generate power. If you kick from the knees down, like this, the upper part of each leg will just be dead weight. Another thing that Aaron tries to do is sweep one leg over the other as he slides the hips. This helps him initiate the pull and to roll smoothly from side to side. Here’s another angle where you can see the sweep of the legs – one over the other. Let’s slow that down so you can see the timing of the sweep with the push of the hips and the start of the pull. Notice that the kick is constant. And, of course, don’t forget to point your toes!

Go Swim Backstroke

For the final section of the video, Aaron will just swim…and you can watch how all the parts come together to create speed. Try to pick out the things we focused on. Is his head steady? Do his fingers slide in on every stroke? When he starts the catch, has he stretched as far as he can? Does he slide his hips into the finish of the pull? When Aaron pulls, is his hand perpendicular to the lane line? And when he kicks, is it constant and in balance with the pull? In these next few clips, Aaron will start slow and build to race pace. Try to find the things he’s doing right…or try to find the things that he could do even better. Backstroke is a technical stroke that responds well to drills…and to training that focuses on one part at a time. As you add Aaron’s focus points to your own swimming, remember to work on just one thing at a time. Start slowly, and allow time for new movements to start feeling good. But most important of all – never give up searching for the techniques that will make you faster.