How to Swim Backstroke: Why Classes Teach It Second
Backstroke is usually the second stroke taught in a class, right after freestyle, and the reason is practical: your face is out of the water and you can breathe freely. For a child or adult who has spent weeks fighting freestyle breathing, backstroke is often the stroke where swimming clicks — and that calmness transfers straight back. To swim it: ears submerged, eyes on the ceiling, hips high, and let your shoulders roll. Everything else follows from there.
One correction upfront, because it circulates endlessly online. In backstroke you do not turn your head to breathe. Your face never goes underwater. The head stays perfectly still while the body rotates beneath it. Any guide saying otherwise is describing freestyle.
Start With Head Position
Place the back of your head in the water. Ears under. Eyes pointing straight at the ceiling. The waterline breaks somewhere around your goggle strap.
Now press your chest gently downward. Your hips rise. You are flat.
That is the entire foundation of the stroke. A tucked chin drops the hips, and from there every arm pull becomes towing dead weight. In a class you may spend a whole session doing nothing but this — floating and kicking with your head back — and it will feel slow. It is not. It is the only thing that matters.
Body Rotation
Backstroke is a rotational stroke, just like freestyle. The entering shoulder drops; the recovering shoulder lifts clear of the water.
The head stays completely still while the body rolls beneath it. This is the hardest thing in the stroke and the thing most intermediate swimmers never properly learn. If your head rolls with your shoulders, you will swim in zigzags and have a stiff neck by morning.
Fix your eyes on one point on the ceiling — a tile, a beam, a light fitting. Not a moving point. Hold it.
The Arm Stroke
- Entry. Little finger first, arm straight, entering at roughly eleven o’clock (left arm) and one o’clock (right arm), in line with the shoulder. Entering across the centre of your body causes shoulder problems and makes you snake through the water.
- Catch. Once the hand is under, bend the elbow. The forearm becomes the paddle. A straight-arm pull is the commonest weakness in self-taught backstroke — it looks fine and produces very little.
- Pull. Press the water toward your feet, driving past the hip.
- Exit. Thumb leads the hand out, past the thigh.
- Recovery. Straight arm over the water, hand rotating so the little finger is in front again for entry.
One arm enters as the other exits. Always opposite.
The Kick
Small, continuous, driven from the hip. Knees stay below the surface. Toes just break the waterline, producing a small boil rather than a splash. Ankles loose.
A bent-knee kick — the default fault, identical to freestyle done badly — creates drag and stops propulsion working. Stiff ankles (common in runners and cyclists) make the backstroke kick feel pointless for the first few weeks. It improves with practice.
What a Coach Watches For
| Fault | What it causes | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Chin tucked, watching feet | Hips sink; you tow yourself through the water | Ears under, eyes on ceiling |
| Head rolling with shoulders | Zigzag swimming; neck strain | Fix one point on the ceiling and don’t leave it |
| Arm entry across the centreline | Shoulder strain; body snaking | Enter at eleven and one o’clock |
| Straight-arm pull underwater | Weak and slow | Bend the elbow; press with the forearm |
| No shoulder rotation | Short stroke, early shoulder fatigue | Each shoulder should roll clear of the water |
| Bent-knee bicycle kick | Braking, not propulsion | Kick from the hip; keep knees under the surface |
| Water washing over the face | Coughing, panic | Chin slightly elevated; exhale slowly through the nose |
Swimming Straight and Finding the Wall
Use peripheral vision to track the lane rope on each side. If one side is getting closer, apply a slightly longer pull on that arm to correct.
For the wall: count your strokes from the backstroke flags. Most pools in Singapore position the flags five metres from the wall. Work out your count on the first length, then trust it every length after that. Never twist your head to look behind you mid-stroke.
More swimmers hit their heads on walls in backstroke than in any other stroke. Counting strokes is not being overly cautious — it is basic pool management.
Safety
Water occasionally washes over your face, particularly before head position settles. Keep the chin marginally elevated and exhale gently through the nose. A nose clip is sensible if it helps a nervous swimmer find the right head position.
Never use extended underwater dolphin kicks or deliberate breath-holding as practice. Extended breath-holding — especially after hyperventilating deliberately — causes shallow-water blackout: a silent, warning-free loss of consciousness that has drowned strong, experienced swimmers in supervised pools. Children invent this as a game and it requires immediate correction every time.
Know where the lifeguard is. Floating aids are teaching tools, not safety devices. A child who cannot swim needs a responsible adult within arm’s reach regardless of what they are wearing. If your shoulder or neck hurts after backstroke practice, stop and see a physiotherapist — a crossing arm entry is a textbook cause of shoulder impingement and worsens with continued training.
Why It Belongs Early in a Class
Backstroke removes the most common early obstacle in learning to swim: breathing anxiety. A swimmer who can float on their back and maintain a kick has a working rest position reachable from anywhere in the pool. That is a genuine safety skill, which happens to also be a competition stroke.
If you cannot yet float on your back comfortably, that is the starting point — it deserves dedicated practice before any arm technique. Nervous beginners and adults tend to progress faster with private swimming lessons before moving to a group. Comfortable swimmers who enjoy company do well in group swimming classes. Practising in a quiet condo pool between sessions roughly doubles the rate of improvement — see swimming at a condo pool. When you can swim backstroke continuously, the next step is stroke count and tempo. For a nearby public pool, use swimming near me.
Public pool schedules and learn-to-swim programmes are listed by ActiveSG.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to turn my head to breathe in backstroke?
No. Your face stays out of the water the entire time. The head stays still and pointing up; the body rotates beneath it. Turning the head is a freestyle habit carried incorrectly into backstroke.
Why do my hips sink in backstroke?
Your chin is tucked. Submerge your ears fully and look at the ceiling. The hips rise as a direct result — no other adjustment needed.
Why do I swim into the lane rope?
Your head is rotating with your shoulders. Fix your eyes on one ceiling point and hold it. Also check that your arm entry is not crossing the centreline.
How do I know when the wall is coming?
Count strokes from the backstroke flags. Do a deliberate count on the first length and trust it every length after that.
Why does water go up my nose?
The chin is too far back, or you are not exhaling. Keep the chin slightly elevated and exhale a slow steady breath through the nose. A nose clip solves this instantly.
Should the arm be straight or bent underwater?
Straight during the recovery above water. Bent underwater — press with the forearm, not a straight arm. A straight underwater pull feels powerful and produces very little.
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