Posture for Freestyle and Backstroke

probably more important than what you do with your arms or your legs. The posture is essentially the same for both strokes,

For the details of why this is, see About Long-Axis Swiming Posture. For this topic we will only concern ourselves with what that posture is, how to learn it, and how to

When Coach yells "Posture! Posture!" at you in the pool, he doesn't mean the same thing that your mother means when she uses that same word. Good swimming posture is similar to, but different from, land posture. In both cases you want a firm connection between your head, chest and hips. No loose, squishy connections allowed!

So what is good swimming posture? It's the posture you use for swimming freestyle or backstroke: Neck tall, chin back, belly in. The goal is to maintain a firm connection between your head, chest and hips. If your more-or-less solid head, chest and hips blocks are loosely connected, you will be trying to muscle your body through the water like an under-inflated raft.