Backstroke looks like an easy stroke. Your face never goes under, so you can breathe the whole way. Then your hips drop, your feet start pedalling, and you drift into the lane rope. The stroke fights you because the parts underwater are doing the wrong things. These ten drills fix that, one flaw at a time. And yes, drills help beginners: they let you rehearse one piece of the stroke slowly, so your body learns it before you speed up.
Before the drills – 3 things that make backstroke work
A drill only helps if you know what it’s protecting. Three things carry the stroke, and every drill below props up one.
First, your body line. Lie flat with your hips high and your eyes on the ceiling. The moment you lift your head to look at your feet, your hips sink and your legs drag.
Second, rotation. Backstroke is swum on your sides, not flat on your back. Each stroke rolls your body hip to hip. USA Swimming puts that roll at around 30 degrees to each side, sometimes more, which lets your shoulder clear the water and your arm reach deeper.
Third, the kick. A steady flutter kick keeps your legs up. Kick from the hip with fairly straight legs and let your toes just break the surface. Small and fast beats big and slow.
Rotation and body line first is the order our coaches at Rocket Swim teach, drawn from an Eastern-European background. Start with our backstroke swimming guide and backstroke kick breakdown for the full picture.
10 Backstroke Drills for Beginners
They’re ordered easy to harder, so you can work down the list. Do a length or two of each.
Streamline kick on back
Push off the wall on your back, arms stretched overhead in a tight streamline, and flutter kick down the pool. Keep your hips high and face calm.
Fixes: sinking hips and a poor body line. With your arms locked overhead, you can’t hide a dropped hip, so you learn the flat, high position the rest of the stroke needs.
Keep the kicks small and fast. Fins help you feel the right hip height.
Cup on forehead
Balance a half-full plastic cup on your forehead and swim easy backstroke without spilling it. If water tips out, your head moved.
Fixes: a wobbling head and the habit of looking down at your feet. The cup keeps your head still and your eyes up, which stops your hips from sinking.
The drill kids ask to repeat. Start with the cup half full and add water only once you can hold it steady.
6-kick switch
Kick on one side with your lower arm stretched ahead and your top arm on your hip. After six kicks, take one stroke and switch sides. Keep your eyes up.
Fixes: swimming flat with no rotation. Pausing on each side teaches your body to roll hip to hip instead of lying pinned on your back.
Fins help you hold each side long enough to feel the rotation.
Single-arm backstroke
Swim backstroke with one arm only. The other stays at your hip while the working arm enters pinky-first, pulls, and recovers. Do a length on each arm.
Fixes: an uneven pull and side-to-side imbalance. With one arm working, you feel exactly what that arm does, so a weak or crossing pull has nowhere to hide.
If your body swings toward the working arm, you’re pulling across your centre instead of straight down.
Catch-up backstroke
Keep one arm pointed at the ceiling while the other completes a full stroke. Only when the pulling arm returns to the ceiling does the first arm move.
Fixes: arm timing, and the habit of both arms crashing down together. The pause resets the rhythm so your arms alternate cleanly.
One arm always points up, like a clock hand. Slow it down, because speed hides timing errors.
Double-arm backstroke
Pull both arms at once, sweeping them from overhead down to your hips, then recover them over the water together.
Fixes: a pull that goes too deep and a lazy kick. With both arms working at once, you can’t rely on a big underwater pull, so your kick picks up the load.
Keep the pull shallow and wide. If your legs sink when your arms move, that’s the kick weakness it exposes.
Fist backstroke
Swim backstroke with your hands in loose fists for a length, then open your hands and swim another.
Fixes: over-gripping and yanking with the hands. With no palm to grab water, you press with your whole forearm, which is where the real hold comes from.
Open your hands again and the water feels thicker against your palm. That’s the forearm push to keep.
3 strokes + 6 kicks
Take three full strokes, then hold on your side and kick six times before the next three.
Fixes: rotation that isn’t linked to a rhythm. The six-kick pause parks you on your side, so you feel the rotated position between bursts of stroking.
Keep your eyes up during the pause and resist rolling flat onto your back.
Kickboard over the knees (‘don’t kick the board’)
Lay a kickboard flat over your knees and kick on your back without letting your knees hit it. Swim slowly and keep the board steady.
Fixes: knees popping out of the water. A knee-driven kick breaks the surface and stalls you; the board teaches you to kick from the hip with a straighter leg.
If the board keeps knocking, drive from your hip, not a bend at the knee.
Clock-arms / 11-and-1 entry
Picture a clock above you. Enter each hand pinky-first at 11 and 1 o’clock, just outside your shoulders, rather than straight overhead at 12.
Fixes: crossing the centreline and zigzagging down the lane. A hand that enters at 12 pushes you sideways; 11 and 1 keep you tracking straight.
Watch your hands enter at the edge of your vision. This is the entry you’ll keep, so groove it early.
Swimming Mistakes these drills quietly fix
Four mistakes show up in almost every beginner’s backstroke, and the drills above deal with each one. U.S. Masters Swimming flags the same list.
Sinking hips come from lifting the head. Once your eyes tip toward your feet, your hips follow. Drills 1 and 2 fix the head and eyes.
Zigzagging comes from hands entering over your face at 12 o’clock. Drill 10 moves the entry to 11 and 1 so you track straight.
Knees breaking the surface mean you’re kicking from the knee, not the hip; drill 9 corrects that. Swimming flat, with no roll, kills your reach, and drills 3 and 8 rebuild it.
If water washing over your face worries you, our backstroke breathing guide covers the rhythm that settles it.
25-minute beginner backstroke set
Here’s a simple set for a 25 m pool. Rest as needed between pieces.
Warm-up: 4 x 25 m easy backstroke, stopping to reset your body line each length.
Drills: 4 x 25 m each of streamline kick (drill 1), cup on forehead (drill 2), and 6-kick switch (drill 3), 20 seconds rest after each.
Swim-through: 4 x 25 m full backstroke, holding what the drills taught you.
Cool-down: 100 m easy on your back.
If you’d rather have a coach watch your rotation, Rocket Swim runs private and adult lessons across the Greater Toronto Area. See our 30-minute backstroke pool sessions and dry-land exercises for backstroke.
What you need
A short kit covers every drill. A kickboard for drill 9. A pull buoy to isolate your pull once your kick is steady. Fins for the kick and rotation drills, to feel the right position faster. And a cheap plastic cup for drill 2. Our gear for backstroke training guide has the specifics.
Frequently Asked Questions You May Have
How often should a beginner do backstroke drills?
Two or three times a week at least. Ten to fifteen minutes on drills, early while you’re fresh.
Can I practice backstroke drills without a coach, at home in a pool?
Yes. Every drill works in any pool deep enough to swim on your back. Film yourself from the side sometimes, since you can’t see your own hips.
Which backstroke drill is best for a complete beginner?
Start with drill 1, streamline kick on back, and drill 2, the cup on your forehead. Together they lock in the flat body line and still head.
Are these drills okay for kids?
Yes. The cup drill is a favourite with kids because it feels like a game. Keep sessions short and let them rest freely.
What should be Your Next Step Now?
Pick two drills and swim the 25-minute set this week. Add one more drill each week as the earlier ones feel automatic. Work through all ten and your hips will ride higher, your line will run straighter, and the stroke will stop fighting you.
When you’re ready for the step up, our advanced backstroke drills build on these.
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