Sports Science Topic - March 30, 2009

So can you apply to backstroke the same basic principles that you use with freestyle?
I would say that I do apply the same principles, not considering the strength reqs/physiology aspects.

Some "sames" that come to mind are the "angular momentum" idea of the opposite arm movements, vertical forearm, general 6 beat kick, rigid streamlined body.

Some things that don't quite fit together are the knifing hand entry on freestyle compared to plopping the whole arm in at once on backstroke(some variations of course with each, but still a larger difference). On freestyle there is a small non propulsive arm phase when the hand enters and the same exists at the finish of the pull on backstroke (a noticeable aspect for timing/flow possibly). Not having that breathing stroke on backstroke is a big one, but there is still a sort of timing for the breath imo. Some swimmers tend to get a little bit of lift from their whole arm hitting the water at each entry where the knifing freestyle entry will not give that bouncing sort of lift that could get the body higher on the water.

Hoelzers' backstroke hand entry is interesting, but we wont see her getting any lift from an aggressive hand entry since the shoulder seems too weak in that position(probably just as stressful on the shoulder to hit the water aggressively in a stronger position) She also has the hand angled for the beginning of the pull maybe for lift. The hand entry seems to be result of her being on the other side when the hand hits the water and then rotating as opposed to rotating the body through the hand entry and knifing the water with the pinky.

Oh and I suppose that it seems the backstroke pull seems naturally stronger than freestyle.

Every time I see that photo connected to the "sprinter" from South Africa I get side tracked into wondering if that tongue is real or not???

Anyway... (Tomas) why are the strokes different... any insight there?

Jonty, far too many times you've seen MY backstroke (sorry about that), so take my answer with a grain of salt... and your professor may change his mind after my answer too.

It hasn't been until recently that I've really started to imagine in my head exactly what you're saying. In reaching for the catch in backstroke, I've really tried to imagine taking a freestyle stroke. What makes it even tougher is that my freestyle isn't that good to begin with anyway... so I'm pretty much SUNK.

The thought of what I have to do to get into that position was daunting at first, but then I watched Aaron. The thought that the catch would occur very early upon entry was great for a non-backstroker. The reach back for the catch almost seemed non-threatening anymore.

What I realized I had to do with my own stroke, and with non-backstrokers I was working with, was to focus more on the rotation (which Aaron doesn't have to do) to get the hand further out in front, but catching immediately rather than sending it down. It seemed like a freestyle catch, but a bit more to the side, than under... my trick was rotating enough so there was no hyperextension in the shoulder.

What I also learned as that this type of stroke really needs a good kick... which pretty much put me back to square one.

The other thing that Margaret and Aaron both seem to really focus on, that non-backstrokers don't, is the high elbow. This is tough to imagine when you're rolled over on your back... but if you think of it like freestyle, and the feeling of the high elbow in freestyle, it really makes a ton of sense.

Coach Gambril and I talked about this about a year ago, and I told him that if he told me these things 25 years ago... I would have only negative split my 400 IM by :03 seconds... not :05. ;)

Glenn… that backstroke of yours created a somewhat indelible imprint in my mind. I’d liken it to a turtle flipped over on its back trying frantically to regain a foothold on terra firma.

Having said that, backstroke as it has been portrayed by those who are the experts has evolved over time. From the deep catch followed by an upsweep into a down sweep and a thumb out exit… (Egerszegi style with a lot of rotation involved) to a period where the exit was considered an area of propulsion. (late 80’s going a little flatter) To where it is today… a flatter less rotation based stroke. In many cases the deep catch was likened to a freestyle entry with the palm rotating down after entry to create an anchor point. I remember often coming across a swimmer with a catch that had the hand extremely deep with the arm in an almost straight position. It did resemble freestyle. It was also rotation based, and the return rotation began fairly soon after the establishment of an anchor position.

Fast forward…
Glen’s portrayal of not wanting to hyper extend the shoulder joint is very appropriate. You really want to avoid that since it propagates a weakened anchor position. If you have the opportunity to view backstroke from the front (underwater), at the time the swimmer has set the anchor, you should see a straight line between the recovering shoulder, the anchoring shoulder, and the anchoring elbow joint. If there is a break off that straight line, it should be towards the surface and not the bottom of the pool. Any break off that line towards the bottom of the pool weakens the anchor potential. I’ll call this ANGLE A

To effect that position, you can’t dig down towards the bottom of the pool, but set an anchor that is more to the “side” than the bottom. So shallower versus deep, and if there is any resemblance in terms of terminology, it might be the use of a high elbow catch in backstroke, which is very similar to the same principle in freestyle. In my mind that’s where the similarities between freestyle begin and end. Freestyle is all about setting an anchor and creating rotational and angular momentum to apply pressure to the anchor. Backstroke doesn’t use that principle since it’s all about connectivity into the body and adductive force versus rotational force. The key is where the rotation away from the anchor side begins. If it begins early you might break the adductive force connection and start thinking that you can create a rotational force that will work for you. It’s not possible. What you want to do is rotate late as you finish the application of adductive pressure to set the anchor on the opposite side.

Again, if you have the ability to video from the front, you also want to look at the angle between the anchoring shoulder, anchoring elbow, and anchoring wrist. This should be somewhere on the large side of 105 degrees. I’ll call this ANGLE B. The greater that angle the stronger the athlete might need to be to manage the pressure on the anchor. In looking at this I’ve seen angles from under 90 degrees to 140 degrees with the hand out really wide. As always there are no perfect angles and every athlete will more than likely settle into what works best for their anthropomometry/strength relationship. In looking at those angle extremes, the smaller version (B at around 90 degrees) will potentially cause the hand to break the surface of the water. The fingertips will face the surface of the water. In order to avoid that, angle A will be much less than 180 degrees broken towards the pool bottom, and result in a weakened position. The opposite of that, a B angle of say 120 plus an A angle of 180 (straight line) will result in the fingertips pointing towards the side wall and allow the athlete to develop an adductive position that has some power attached to it.

Enough about angles…
The real key is that backstroke doesn’t involve rotation during the propulsive phase when pressure is applied to the anchor. It’s more of a side crunching adductive motion with the fulcrum of movement being the shoulder joint. The key in all of this is to get the swimmer to anchor that pressure into the core of the body. So land work for freestyle would involve connected patterns of movement that created functional strength that’s connected left to right in a rotational pattern. Land work for backstroke would be developing functional strength that is down the side of the body based connective movement that doesn’t involve a rotational pattern.

So freestyle and backstroke are dissimilar except for the term long axis, and the use of the “high elbow” concept… which might be a dying breed in itself. A discussion for another day.

Speaking of side handles… they might look unseemly in the mirror, and we might rationalize to the nth degree as to why they’re acceptable with regards to age, but in reality they won’t affect your ability to engage that side crunching motion, and on top of that, with the new suits and the way they redistribute the body shape… those side handles will go a long way to giving you a shape that produces less passive drag. So hey… side handles are a possible advantage… something that maybe shouldn’t be put on the chopping block when those new years resolutions get dragged out of the closet.

Alright I got some beef now. I would say that the angular momentum idea is the same for freestyle and backstroke, referring to the muscles along the side creating an angular momentum sort of situation. Suppose I'll throw in a video to help display my thoughts.

Here is Rupprath with min rotation and arms fairly straight and elbow deep, interesting to see

And in contrast lochte at slow pace far rotation and straight lines(lots less rotation at fast pace though)

Just to help visualize the angles you were talking about since arbitrary variable/constants are hard to imagine without diagram imo.

Aaron I should put a clip to show what is going on talking about this angular momentum that he does more than anyone I've seen

It is very clear that there is no rotation going on in the backstroke pull probably because it would cause the pull to become weak as you mentioned with the angles and the deep elbow angle(behind body plane). I agree there.

Although I don't see why freestyle needs to be taught so that the pull is being done during the rotation, maybe so the arm ends up hitting less turbulent water as it moves backwards. Backstroke I would say that the pull going from wide to a severe elbow bend in most cases is a key point that is very similar to freestyle with it's elbow bend concept in most elite swimmers (agree that backstroke not as much though).

Again here is a clip to go along with the freestyle thoughts and there is lots of techniques to notice in it.

Sullivan under view shows how much angular momentum he is using alone.

I can't say that I have ever focused myself or taught freestylers to be rotating during the pull. More a result of when the opposite arm is piercing the water and the rotation must begin as a result of the rotational force created by holding the recovering arm out of the water (in front of the body) making it roll back to the other side. I have played with this by laying on my side and reaching the arm on top out of the water and in front to the side and letting my body roll to the other side from the force. I do not see how any propulsion can come about from that rotational movement.

To stay on topic I would say that the rotational movement as we see so many variations with it is not a factor in creating propulsion with either of the strokes and focus on it is more of a balancing in the water issue from my perspective. Might have snuck back to last weeks topic a tad :)

I did an IM set this morning, and the entire backstroke portion was focused on compressing the sides. While I still went slow, for some reason, I actually felt like I was exerting LESS energy than usual. Obviously there is a lot more work that needs to be done for this to happen in a race, but what I have thought was more work prior, may end up being less work in the long run.

Going to keep working on this... I only have 2 weeks to figure it out. Come on Jonty, there HAS to be a secret to just make it click... right? Why does it take so much effort to figure out what ultimately will take less effort to achieve? Darn this sport.

Wow is there a book you could recommend or somethinng? I found some website offering documents http://coachsci.sdsu.edu/swimming/ . Although $110 for all of them! I got the science of swimming from library once but only skimmed it.

I agree that freestyle and backstroke are different to sum it up though. Surely I have much to learn yet or I would be going super fast as well as the swimmers I coach.

I agree however that there must be connections happening through the body to swim fast for freestyle and backstroke and that the connections are different.