Swim Better Weekly - One small change to make swimming easier.

Hi there, Mark here. Hope all is well with you.

Welcome to this week’s Swim Better Weekly - one small change to make swimming easier.

The problem

You push off on your back feeling good, and a few strokes later you’re bumping into the lane rope. Or you finish the length and find you’ve drifted halfway across the pool.

It’s frustrating, and a little unnerving too. You can’t see where you’re going, so every bump feels like a surprise.

Why it happens

When swimming backstroke, your body follows your head. Wherever your head goes, the rest of you tends to go too.

Most beginners don’t realise their head is moving. Your eyes are drawn to your hands, to the swimmer next to you or to the end of the pool, and every small turn of the head steers you off course. It isn’t that you can’t swim straight. Your head is quietly doing the steering.

Try this in the pool

Give your eyes one fixed point to look at, so your head has no reason to move.

1. Before you push off, look up and find a line on the ceiling that runs along the length of the pool, such as a beam, a row of lights or a line of tiles.
2. Kick gently on your back with your arms by your sides, keeping that line directly above your face. Hold your head still, as if it’s resting on a pillow.
3. When that feels steady, add your arms slowly and evenly, one at a time, keeping your eyes on the line. If the line starts to slide to one side, you’ve started to turn.

As you near the end of the pool, slow down and reach one arm back so your hand touches the wall before your head does.

Practise this for around 5 minutes before trying it during a short, easy swim.

A quick safety reminder: never swim or practise alone. Use a supervised pool and stay within a depth that feels safe for your current ability. If you’re nervous or unable to swim independently, practise with a qualified swimming teacher or another responsible person close by.

Watch out for…

Turning your head to watch each hand go into the water. It feels natural, but it twists your body and sends you sideways every time. Let your hands go out of sight, keep your eyes on the ceiling and trust that your arms know where to go.

Remember

Still head, straight line.

Want more help?

If backstroke is the stroke you’re working on, my backstroke guide breaks it down so you can fix exactly what’s holding you back, from body position to arms and timing.

How To Swim Backstroke contains 20 easy, fully illustrated drills with clear coaching points to help you swim on your back with more confidence and control.

Working on more than one stroke? The Swimming Strokes Book covers all four, with 82 exercises.

See you next week,

Mark
Swim Teach

P.S. Next time you’re in the pool, try just one width looking only at the ceiling. Then hit reply and tell me if you swam straighter. I read every reply.