Welcome to the “Swim Drill of the Week” sponsored by The Fitter and Faster Swim Tour presented by Swimoutlet.com. Swimming World will be bringing you a drill, concept, or tip that you can implement with your team on a regular basis. While certain weeks may be more appropriate for specific levels of swimming (club, high school, college, or masters), Drill Of The Week excerpts are meant to be flexible for your needs and inclusive for all levels of swimming.
This week’s drill is 2-2-2 (also know as 2 right, 2 left, 2 regular) for backstroke. This is a basic drill that alternates between single arm and full stroke swimming to find a feel for tempo, rotation, and body position. Pushing off the wall, swimmers will begin with 2 right arm strokes, followed by 2 left arm strokes, followed by 2 normal strokes. Single arm strokes should be done with the opposite arm at your side, and with the opposite shoulder and hip rotating with each stroke.
While the concept of the drill is simple, doing the drill correctly is, as always, more challenging. A major part of this drill is transitioning well between the single arm strokes and the full stroke swimming. You will want to maintain consistent, even rotation as you are moving from stroke to stroke and side to side. Often, swimmers will do one of two things, either 1) try to rush through their arm strokes sacrificing rotation and body position, or 2) exaggerate their rotation so much that they lose the connections between the stroke and sacrifice tempo.
You want your swimmers to hit a happy medium between these two extremes, hitting an accelerated tempo while maintaining good body line and even rotation. Putting this drill at the end of a drill progression right before a return to full stroke swimming–or even as a reset point in a main set–can work to help your swimmers more consistently practice a technically strong backstroke. Happy swimming!