One thing that people notice right away when they see me swim is my feet.  I don’t take this personally, though.  I know they’re not interested in how big they are, but how pointed my toes are. 

No matter what size or shape your feet are, you need to keep them pointed when you swim backstroke.   If you don’t, or even if they’re a little bit out of streamline, it’s like having a couple of parachutes at the end of your legs.

**Common Error**
Here’s how many swimmers hold their toes when they swim backstroke.  They point them slightly at certain times during the kick, but hold them straight up and down at other times.  This can really slow you down.

There are all kinds of advantages to keeping your toes pointed throughout the entire stroke cycle.  These clips will show what I mean.

If you point your toes, you don’t have to work nearly so hard at kicking.  Here I’ve got a relaxed six-beat kick, and because my toes are pointed I continue to glide through the water without a lot of splash and effort.  

If you point your toes, it’s easier for your body to rotate.   Here you can see that I use my feet to help initiate my hip rotation.

If you point your toes, it’s easier to maintain a steady rhythm with your body and arms.  Watch this clip and notice how my feet create a steady rhythm for my body.

As I increase my body rhythm and my overall speed, notice that I’m still doing a six-beat kick and that the feet are still flowing from side to side with my body.  If my feet weren’t pointed, they’d rotate slower than my body and this would throw off my timing.  

Pointing your toes is such a key skill for backstroke that I work on it all the time, with dryland exercise and drills in the water. 

I do a lot of kicking on my side and without a kickboard.  What I think about is, number one, pointing my toes.  I think about keeping them pointed as I rotate from side to side.   

Two, I think about keeping my legs straight and kicking from the thigh, not the knee.  No bicycle kick.  No knees breaking the surface.  You want to keep the kick within the shadow of your body.   It’s OK for the thighs to break the surface, but not the knees.  

Three, I focus on the down kick.   Sometimes we forget that there’s propulsion in both the up and the down part of the kick.  In backstroke, you’re kicking into deep water when you kick down, and this can generate a lot of power.  So I try to maximize this with a strong downward kick.

But the main focus is always…point your toes.  It’s one of those little technique points that can bring huge results. 


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Point Your Toes