Because of the required shoulder roll during backstroke swimming and a slightly weaker arm cycle, the legs play a more important part in adding a propulsive force to the stroke. The key, however, is to ensure that the feet work just under the water surface and not above it, to ensure that the full kicking movement is propulsive and not against thin air.

The arm cycle

Recovery

Thumb first, arm fully extended, rotate the arm laterally through the shoulder joint, keeping in line with the body, gradually turning the hand laterally at the wrist ready for the entry. Allowing the opposite shoulder to drop will lift the recovery shoulder to help balance the stroke and create a more powerful propulsive phase.

Entry & Catch

Little finger first, drop the shoulder to allow a reach and "catch" the water with the hand cupped. The arm should flex slightly at the elbow to assist in the catch.

Down Sweep

Continue to flex the arm at the elbow as you press laterally, then downwards as you pull the hand towards the shoulder and chest, keeping that shoulder in the drop position.

Press

With the arm close to the body, press the water towards the feet in line with the body, ensuring full arm extension is achieved.

Breaststroke

Like the butterfly it is controlled by the efficient timing of the leg kick and arm cycle.

The arm cycle

Reach & Glide

Both hands, thumbs together, reach forward, fully extending the arm at the elbow (the leg kick starts to push back to continue the forward movement), the arms will stay in this position until the kick is completed by the feet touching.

Out Sweep

The hands rotate laterally, cupped to catch the water, and press laterally with slight flexion of the arm at the elbow.

In Sweep

The arms continue to flex at the elbow as the press on the water is now turned medially towards the chest (the legs flex at the knee and hips to prepare for the kick).

Recovery

Once at the chest, the hands meet in the centre, elbows flexed close to the chest to reduce drag, and recover together over the water at the beginning, but then dive in to the reach and glide.

Butterfly

This is a stroke where timing of the kick and the arm cycle are paramount. An inadequate butterfly technique can waste a huge amount of energy because of the double arm movement on recovery and propulsion, and the double leg kick. Practice makes permanent and the more efficient you can make this stroke the more power you will be able to generate where it is needed.

The arm cycle

Recovery

Both arms break the water simultaneously, hand and forearms first, the arms swing outwards, elbows slightly flexed as they both continue to swing round and meet forward of the head, thumb and fingers first.

Entry & Catch

Fingers first, the hands cup and catch the water simultaneously in preparation for the out sweep (the big kick finishes).

Out sweep

Together, the arms press laterally, and the arms begin to flex at the elbow (the small kick starts).

In sweep

As the arms continue to flex, the hands turn medially and press towards the body (in small kick finishes).

Press

As the hands come close to the body, they then press towards the feet, fully extending the arms at the elbow in preparation for the quick "flick" out of the water and to recovery (the big kick starts).

Freestyle

The main propulsive force of the Freestyle stroke is the arm cycle. The legs add only 10% of total speed through the water, depending on whether you use a 2, 4, 6, or 8 beat kick. The main function of the legs is to help keep the body balanced and efficient to allow the arms to do their work and keep the body moving when the arm cycle is at its weakest point.

The arm cycle

Recovery

Elbow leaves the water first, with a high elbow, hand relaxed directly under the elbow, trailing fingers on the water, then reach forwards to the entry position.

Entry & Catch

Thumb first, hand slightly cupped, reach further forwards and out (laterally) to "catch" the water to prepare for the out sweep. Dropping the shoulder (upon the reach) slightly will help in the "catch" and in the recovery of the other arm.

Out sweep

Press the water laterally to the body with only slight elbow flexion and begin to rotate the hand at the wrist medially.

In sweep

Press the water towards the hips through further flexion of the elbow and wrist as you feel the body being pulled over the hand.

Press

With the hand at the hip and palm facing towards the feet, press the water back by extending the arm to approximately 90% of full extension, keeping in line with the body to reduce drag. The arm is ready for the recovery, elbow first!

Why bend your elbows in freestyle?

The very best arm stroke recovery is one that allows the hand to arrive in time to begin the next stroke but also allows the arm to slow almost to a complete stop just before the hand enters the water. Bending the elbow allows you to do this. If the hand and arm come forward and slam into the water, you lose momentum in the form of drag, and your arm fails to move you forward.

To get used to the bent or high elbow recovery, practice the Finger Tip Drag drill. Swim freestyle but drag your fingertips across the top of the water on each arm recovery out of the water.

The top five challenges and their remedies are:

1. Not Getting Enough Air

There are two reasons why this typically happens when swimming freestyle. First, make sure you breathe out all of your air before you rotate to take a breath. When learning, some people try to exhale and inhale while they are rolling to the side for air. There simply is not enough time for this! Your exhalations should only be in the water in the form of bubbles. Initially the timing may seem difficult, but eventually you will get used to it. Second, you may be sinking as you breathe. Make sure you are rolling to the side to breathe, and not rotating your head and looking straight up. Practicing the side kicking drills.

2. Extended arm sinks while taking a breath

This is mainly a balance issue. While you breathe to one side, your other arm should be extending. For many swimmers, this extended arm pushes down into the water (elbow drops) and they are sinking while trying to inhale. The side kicking will also help to improve this. Another drill, discussed in Issue 8 of Your Personal Trainer, which will help with this challenge, is the fist drill, which forces you not to use your hands, therefore improves your balance in the water.

3. Speed is sacrificed because of a "Pause" while breathing

A typical scenario is that you feel like you are cruising along just fine and then you take a breath and it feels like you have just lost all your momentum. To remedy this, when you breathe, concentrate first on breathing to the side (as in #1), then on having your mouth parallel to the water, instead of over the water. The latter will take a while to master, but once you do, it will take care of the pause, and improve your speed overall.

4. Difficulty breathing while navigating in a race

You need to look up to see where you are going, and at the same time grab a breath. How can you do both? Start with bilateral breathing (breathing on both sides every three strokes). This will help you to see where you are without lifting your head up as much. When you need to lift your head up to sight, try not to look straight ahead - this will make your hips sink and throw you off balance. Instead, take a quick peek at your target, roll to the side to breath, and bring your head right back down into position.

5. Sucking in water while taking a breath

In practice, this will sometimes occur because of #1 and #2 above. In a race, the waves may cause the inhalation of water instead of air (bilateral breathing will help here as well). The drills to practice to improve balance and avoid this unpleasant occurrence are the side kicking and shark fin drills, as well as the one-arm drill. To perform the one-arm drill, swim a full stroke with one arm while your other arm rests at your side. Breathe on the opposite side of the stroking arm. This is a difficult drill and takes some practice, but it will pay off!

Core Stability

The aim of core stability training is to effectively recruit the trunk musculature and then learn to control the position of the lumbar spine during dynamic movements. The information presented on this page is based on an article written by Raphael Brandon that was first published in the Sports Injury Bulletin.

The Muscles

The deep trunk muscles, Transversus Abdominis (TA), multifidus (MF), Internal Oblique (IO), paraspinal, pelvic floor, are key to the active support of the lumbar spine. The co-contraction of these muscles produce forces via the "theracolumbar fascia" (TLF) and the "intra-abdominal pressure" (IAP) mechanism which stabilise the lumbar spine, and the paraspinal and MF muscles act directly to resist the forces acting on the lumbar spine.

It is not just the recruitment of these deep-trunk muscles, but how they are recruited that is important. Hodges and Richardson (1996) showed that the co-contraction of the TA and MF muscles occurred prior to any movement of the limbs. This suggests that these muscles anticipate dynamic forces that may act on the lumbar spine and stabilise the area prior to any movement. Hodges and Richardson showed that the timing of co-ordination of these muscles was very significant.

Training

Having identified the key muscles and how they act, the next step is to establish how best to train these muscles. As with any type of strength and conditioning training, the training protocol for improving the function of the deep-trunk muscles must be specific to the task required. This specificity of training must take into account the type of contraction, the muscle fibre type and the anatomical position required. By definition, the deep-trunk muscles act as "stabilisers" and are not involved in producing movements, but instead involve static, or isometric, contractions. Furthermore, they must act as stabilisers continuously throughout everyday activities as well as fitness and sport activities, and so require very good endurance of low-level forces. These muscles do not need to be very strong, but they must be correctly co-ordinated and capable of working continuously. In addition, we want these stabiliser muscles to act by holding the lumbar spine in the neutral position, which is the correct alignment of the pelvis that allows for the natural 'S' curve of the spine. These characteristics underpin the following deep-trunk muscle training program.

The basics

Core-stability training begins with learning to co-contract the TA and MF muscles effectively as this has been identified as key to the lumbar-support mechanism. To perform the TA and MF co-contraction, you must perform the "abdominal hollowing" technique with the spine in the neutral position.

To do this use the following guidelines:

• Start by lying on your back with knees bent
• Your lumbar spine should be neither arched up nor flattened against the floor, but aligned normally with a small gap between the floor and your back. This is the "neutral" lumbar position you should learn to achieve
• Breathe in deeply and relax all your stomach muscles
• Breathe out and, as you do so, draw your lower abdomen inwards as if your belly button is going back towards the floor. Pilates teachers describe this as "zipping up", as if you are fastening up a tight pair of jeans
• Hold the contraction for 10 seconds and stay relaxed, allowing yourself to breathe in and out as you hold the tension in your lower stomach area
• Repeat 5-10 times

It is vital that you perform this abdominal hollowing exercise correctly otherwise you will not recruit the TA and MF effectively. Bear in mind the following points:

• Do not let the whole stomach tense up or your upper abdominals bulge outwards, as this means you have cheated by using the large rectus abdominus muscle (the six-pack) instead of TA
• Do not brace your TA muscle too hard; just a gentle contraction is enough. Remember it's endurance not max strength your are trying to improve
• Do not tilt your pelvis nor flatten your back, as this means you have lost the neutral position you are trying to learn to stabilise
• Do not hold your breath, as this means you are not relaxed. You must learn to breathe normally and maintain the co-contraction of TA and MF
• Use your fingers for biofeedback on either side of your lower abdomen to feel the tension in the TA muscle.

Once you have mastered the abdominal hollowing lying on your back, practice it lying on your front, four-point kneeling, sitting and standing. In each position, get your lumbar spine into neutral before you perform the hollowing movement.

The next step

Having learned to recruit the TA and MF muscles correctly in various positions, which can take anything from one session to one month or more, it is time to move onto simple core stability exercises. These exercises may also involve the oblique muscles, other lumbar muscles and gluteals to assist the TA and MF in maintaining the lumbar spine in a stable neutral position.

Lying leg lift stabilisation

• Lying on your back with your knees bent
• Ensure your back is in neutral
• Place your hands on your hips for biofeedback
• Breathe in and relax
• Breathe out and, as you do so, perform the abdominal hollowing or zipping-up action
• Once you have established some TA tension, slowly slide your left leg out along the floor until it is straight and then slide it back
• Your back should not have moved, and your pelvis should not have tilted as you performed this action
• If your back or pelvis moved, you did not achieve the correct stability
• Repeat for the other side 10 times each leg

Variations include the same exercise with knee lifts up and knee drops out to the side. Again, the aim is to retain a stable lumbar spine in the neutral position as the legs move.

The waiter's bow

• Stand up with good posture, knees soft, lumbar spine in neutral, head up and shoulders back and relaxed
• Breathe in and relax
• Breathe out and as you do so perform the abdominal hollowing action
• Keeping the tension, slowly lean forward from the hips 20° and stop, like a waiter's bow, keeping your back completely straight and long as you lean
• Hold the lean position for 10 seconds - you will feel your TA and MF supporting you if you hold the correct position
• Keeping the tension and the alignment, slowly return to your start position
• Repeat 10 times

These exercises are two examples of learning how to keep the spine in neutral, using slow and controlled static contractions of the trunk stabiliser muscles. Notice how technique is vital and the aim is to build up the time you are able to maintain good stability.

Getting functional

The ultimate aim of core stability training is to ensure the deep trunk muscles are working correctly to control the lumbar spine during dynamic movements, e.g. lifting a heavy box or running. Therefore, it is important that once you have achieved proficiency of the simple core exercises, you must progress on to achieving stability during more functional movements. Try the following two exercises.

The lunge

• Stand with feet hip width apart in front of a mirror
• Ensure your lumbar spine is in neutral and your back is tall with your shoulders back and head up
• Lunge forward and bend your knee only halfway down
• Ensure that your front knee is in line with your toes and your back has remained upright with your lumbar spine in neutral and your hips level
• Push back up, initiating the movement by pushing down into the floor with your front foot
• The force from your legs should bring you back up quickly and easily to your start position
• Your back should have remained totally still and your hips level as you performed the push back

Many people wrongly initiate the up movement by pulling their heads and shoulders back first. This extends the lumbar spine, losing the neutral position. Others have problems keeping their pelvis level while performing the lunge. You must learn to use your deep trunk and gluteal muscles to hold your lumbar spine in neutral and pelvis level as you perform the movement up and down. The movement should only come from the leg muscles.

The Press up

• Start from your knees, even if this means it is easy for your upper body, to learn the correct technique
• Your hands should be slightly wider than your shoulders and your head must be in front of your hands
• Lift your hips so that there is a straight line from your knees through your pelvis and lower back, through your shoulders and all the way to your head
• Ensure your lumbar spine is in neutral, using a mirror or a partner/trainer to help you
• To maintain a neutral spine and a straight back during the exercise, the trunk muscles must provide active support
• Slowly lower down, bending your arms all the way to the floor. Keep your head still with your neck straight relative to your back
• Push up, initiating the movement by pressing down into the floor with your hands

Your back should remain straight and your lumbar spine in neutral throughout the exercise.

These two exercises enable you to learn core stability while performing dynamic movements. By reducing the resistance i.e. doing only half lunges and knee press ups, your are able to focus on the trunk stabilisers and achieving perfect technique rather than working the major muscle groups. The whole essence of core stability training is quality of movement and relaxation. The more you practice, the easier it becomes until you can control your lumbar stability at all times and during complex movements.