Elementary Backstroke
The elementary backstroke was mentioned in one of the earliest swimming books. The elementary backstroke is used for leisure, for survival swimming, and for lifesaving. Swimmers also use this stroke to recover from strenuous effort while still making slow but effective progress through the water. Breathing is easy because the face stays out of the water.
USES: lifesaving, survival, and leisure.
Body Position/Motion
This stroke uses symmetrical and simultaneous movements of the arms and legs. In the glide, your body is in a streamlined, supine position. Most swimmers keep their head submerged to the ears only, with the face always out of the water. The back is kept almost straight, with the hips and legs slightly lower than the head and the shoulders. The arms extend along the body with palms against the thighs, and the legs are fully extended and together. The hips stay near the surface at all times in this stroke.
Arm Stroke
Recovery
Move your arms continuously and smoothly from the start of the recovery to the completion of the power phase. Keep your arms and hands just below the surface throughout the stroke. From the gliding position, recover your arms by bending your elbows so your hands, palms down or in, slide along your sides near your armpits.
Power Phase
Point your fingers outward from your shoulders with palms facing back towards your feet. With fingers leading, extend your arms out to the sides until your hands are no farther forward then the top of your head. Imagine a clock with your head at 12:00 and your feet at 6:00; your hands should extend no farther than 2:00 and 10:00. Without pause, press your palms and the insides of your arms, at the same time and in a broad sweeping motion, back toward your feet. Keep your arms straight or slightly bent in the propulsive phase. You end this motion with arms and hands in the gliding position.
Kick
In the kick for the elementary backstroke, both legs bend at the knee and circle around in a kind of whipping action. The kicking action is continuous and smooth, without a pause between the recovery and the power phase. From the glide position-legs together and straight, toes pointed – recover your legs by bending and slightly separating your knees and drawing your heels downward to a point under and outside your knees. The knees are spread as wide as the hips or slightly wider, with variation among swimmers. The recovery uses an easy, rhythmical motion, with back, hips, and thighs kept nearly straight. At the end of the recovery, rotate your knees inward slightly while flexing your ankles and rotating your feet outward. Then press your feet backward with slightly rounded motion, ending with the legs in the glide position. In this action, your
feet move into a pointed position. The pressing action of this kick starts slowly and speeds up to completion where the feet touch.
In this stroke, you breathe during each arm stroke. Since your face is always out of the water, breathing is very easy, Inhale as you recover your arms and exhale as your arms press backward during the power phase. Exhaling in the power phase keeps water from entering your nose during the forceful part of the stroke. Remember to relax and to exhale slowly through the arm action.
Your arms start their recovery just ahead of your legs. However, because of their shorter movement and greater strength, the legs finish their thrust at the same time as the arms. After this combined propulsion, glide with your body streamlined. Start the next stroke as your momentum slows. Do not let yourself come to a complete stop from the recovery of the arms and legs.
Hydro-Dynamic Principals
The most obvious feature of this stroke is the way the arms function as levers in the power phase. The resistance on the whole surface of the arms and hands is overcome by the muscles rotating the arms at the shoulder, using action-reaction propulsion to drive the body forward. Leverage is also used when the knees are extended are when the ankles move from flexed to toes pointed.
- Error:Body bent downward at middle; body sitting in the water
Correction:1.tilt head back
2.raise hips towards surface
2. Error:water washes over face during recovery
Correction:1.tilt head back
2.don’t lift knees
3. don’t push water towards face
3. Error:Extreme arch in back during arm thrust/face may submerge.
Correction:1.Check head position keep arms parallel to surface during thrust.