Backstroke - Med Ball Kick

Not all drills are about body position, and this one sure isn’t.

Why do it:
By overloading the legs with the desire to continue breathing, a faster, more correct kick will be learned.

How to do it:
1) Pick a med-ball that suits the swimmer you’re working with.  Younger swimmers can do this drill by simply holding their hands out.  National level swimmers like our model, can use the 12 pound med ball as shown.
2) Start with flutter kick on your back, holding the ball close to your chest.  Do a few 25s or 50s like this.
3)  Next slightly raise the med ball completely out of the water.
4)  Alternate lengths of the ball low and the ball high.

How to do it really well (the fine points):
To keep the ball out of the water completely, the speed of the kick will need to increase.  Keep the legs long, and the kick narrow and quick.  You won’t be going very fast, but the important part is keeping the ball out of the water the entire determined distance.

Experimenting with how high you can hold the ball out of the water is a lot of fun as well.