Swim Drill – Double Arm BK

A great backstroke drill for beginning and advanced swimmers.

Double Arm Backstroke

The first stage of this drill is double arm back with underwater recovery.

Push off in streamline
when at the surface, start with hands in streamline and pull them to your sides
While pulling down, focus should be on the fingertips pointing to the sides of the pool.
On pull, elbows will bend slightly towards the bottom of the pool
Hands should stay at or near body level as the fingertips point at the outside walls of the pool.
Finish arm pull at the hips
sneak hands up to streamline similar to a BR pullout recovery. Important to keep the hands IN the water, and not go over the body. (if the hands come out of the water the body will sink underwater).

The second more advanced version is with an out of the water recovery.

Main points similar to underwater recovery
Keep body at the surface with a strong kick
arms begin pull from streamline
when pulling hands and fingers should point to the outside walls from swimmer’s perspective
recover with straight arms over the body. Keep a strong kick going to remain at surface.

Notice in this video how the pull is with elbows bent TOO much, and the hands do NOT point to the sides. In the video you’ll see the swimmer making the OLD “S” curve with the hand.