**Common Backstroke Mistakes and How to Fix Them 
Mistake #4: Improper Hand Entry**

The five most common hand-entry mistakes are over-reaching…

…entering the hands too wide…

…waitress hands (extension of hand)…

…collapsing the elbow…

…and pausing on entry.

**The Fix:  Positioning techniques**
All of these mistakes can be cured by using positioning techniques, mirrors, and drills.

Notice how I lock out the elbow as the recovery begins. 

Here, I guide the arm so that it enters directly behind the shoulder, elbow locked, with the wrist slightly flexed and the hand entering on the little-finger side.

A common technique to fix over-reaching or wide entry is to tell the swimmer they are lying on the face of a clock with their feet pointing at 6 and their head at 12.

Tell them that their right hand should enter at 11 o’clock and the left hand at 1 o’clock.

Sometimes you may need to over-correct and say 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock.


**The Fix:  Mirrors**
Hold a mirror over the swimmer to give them immediate visual feedback.

Use a small mirror when teaching in the water so they can see where their hands enter.  

Or hold a mirror over them as they swim alongside a wall.

**The Fix:  Double-arm backstroke**
For swimmers who over-reach, double-arm backstroke is an excellent drill to help them learn to feel a wider placement of the arms. The arms should recover simultaneously straight up and enter directly in front of the shoulders.

If the swimmer keeps their elbows locked and recovers in a straight over-the-top line, they will not over-reach.

By taking the rotation out of the backstroke, the swimmer can simplify the movement.

When the swimmer returns to full-stroke swimming, the coach must remind the swimmer to begin rotating the body down toward the entering arm as the arm passes the mid-point in the recovery. 

**The Fix:  Paddles**
The best fix for waitress hands is hand paddles. Instruct the swimmer to dig the lower end of the hand paddle into the skin on the underside of the wrist. Keep this position throughout the recovery and especially on the entry. 

Tell the swimmer to feel the edge of the paddle throughout the recovery and into the entry.

Have the swimmer enter with the side of the paddle…the little-finger side.

Once the hand enters the water, the swimmer can relax the hand-paddle pressure on the wrist and complete a regular arm stroke.

**The Fix:  One-pound weights**
One fix that targets swimmers with an entry pause and over-reaching is to use one-pound weights and swim single-arm backstroke. 

I have the swimmer hold the weight like this and recover the arm straight up over her shoulder.

drop down, but the swimmer holds the weight firmly enough so that is doesn’t fall out of her hand.

She lifts from her shoulder, and not from her hand, as she recovers.

As the arm drops back into the water it accelerates, and drops down into the water without any hesitation. This helps cure over-reaching, too, because the arm enters before it has time to reach back.

Another benefit is that when the swimmer pulls she will need to use her forearm because the hand is grasping the weight. 

She swims a length with the right arm… and then a length with the left.

When she swims without the weight, she has the muscle memory of entering the water without hesitation and without over-reaching.

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Mistake #4 - Improper Hand Entry