Understanding an effective jump off the wall will also require an understanding of where you’re going.  We’re talking about how shallow, or how deep.

If you push off too shallow, the surface of the water will push against you and will slow you down.

If you push off too deep, your body will lose momentum and then have to have a steep angle to get back to the surface, which will also slow you down.  Even though this swimmer is going REALLY far on his push off, the angle that he’s reaching the surface is not the best.

You’ll need to experiment with where you place your feet on the wall.  If the feet are too low, you’ll push off UP toward the surface.  If the feet are too high, you’ll push off DOWN toward the bottom.

Your goal will be to find the position of the feet that allows you to push off parallel to the surface as much as possible.  The body may tilt slightly, but practice various angles until you find that one that allows you to end the push off with your entire body getting to the surface as flat as possible.

The angle of the “breakout”, which is the first stroke, should be very close to parallel.  The less angle, the more forward movement you’ll transfer into your swimming.


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