PVC Technical Strategy 49

Your mission this week is to swim a total of 500 yards (or meters) of near-perfect backstroke technique (every practice) for the next six days. It can include the backstroke performed in your daily warm-up, main sets, or warm-down. And you don’t have to do all of the yardage in a row. Instead, pick your spots throughout the practice. 

As a PEAK PVC swimmer, challenge yourself to apply as many PEAK techniques as possible. These include: 

• Chin Up Head Position, where the chin points directly up to the sky at all times.
• No Bobble-Head, where the head remains still at all times.
• Shoulder Pop, where the right shoulder pops out of the water when the left arm enters and the left shoulder pops out of the water when the right arm enters. 
• Hip Kick, where the backstroke kick starts from the hip. So as the right hip lifts the right leg to the surface, the right knee flexes slightly, then straightens as the leg and pointed foot approaches the surface. The same action occurs with the left hip, leg, and foot. 
• Tick Tock Kick, where the legs perform six identical kicks to one arm cycle.
• Toe Tip Chip, where the toes chip the surface of the water (this helps to keep the legs near the surface and reduce drag).
• Shoulder Width Entry, where the arms enter the water shoulder-width apart.
• Pinkie First Entry, where the pinkies enter the water first.
• L-Arm, where the arm catches the water by forming the shape of an “L” by the shoulder line.
• Pocket Finish, where the pull finishes at an imaginary pocket at the hip.
• F-F-F, where the arm accelerates through the pull (once the L-Arm is formed) to boost propulsion.