Q&A for How to Swim Backstroke

Avoid bringing your chin to your chest while doing the backstroke since it lifts your head out of the water and makes you less aerodynamic.

When your hand is under the water pulling you forward, rotate it so your palm is facing your feet. This will give you the propulsive energy to go forward.

Count your strokes from the flags. This will let you know when the wall is coming up.

Practice makes perfect. Practice regularly to improve your sync. Alternatively, think of a song that has the rhythm you like and sing it in your head while swimming, trying to move your body to that rhythm. Also, swim four laps and see how much time that took. Then, swim sets of four laps and try to get as close to that time as you can without looking at the clock while you're swimming.

Try and keep your head straight and not look in any particular direction. Keeping the strength of your strokes even on both sides should also help.

Just try to stay as calm as possible and keep breathing with every stroke. Keep your body flat on the surface of the water, your kick should help you to stay afloat. Keep your head rested but not in a laying down position, keep it above the water as if someone is standing in front of your feet and you're looking at them.

The kick has to be slightly underwater. Your hips should be floating a bit, and you use your hips to move along the water. It is normal for you knees to be a bit under, just under the water enough to where you don't sink.

It's preferred by most swimmers in order to avoid swimming into the lane line.

When you pass the flags that are towards the end of the pool you can turn onto your stomach and start swimming the front crawl. You'll do the traditional front crawl wall kick, when you kick off the wall you should already be on your back.

Invest in a nose plug. Clip the nose plug onto your nose to keep the water out (follow the package instructions). It works like a charm to keep out the water!

A flip turn is the fastest way to turn around, but if you can't do one, just do an open turn, don't flip onto your side but touch the wall on your back, bring your feet to the wall, and springboard off.

Watch for ladders and depth signs that indicate that the end of the pool is nearing.

Imagine one arm is trying to catch the other arm. The distance between them should always be the same as they try to catch each other.

Go to the shallow end of the pool and relax on your back. If you have second person with you, have them hold your back to help you relax while you get used to the feeling of floating on your back. Repeating this will help you become more comfortable with being on your back over time.

Try to 1.) Kick harder. 2.) Focus on keeping your stomach pushed towards the surface of the water. 3.) Practice Back-floating/Buoyancy. These will help you float.

Breathe. Close your eyes for a moment and take a few good deep breaths. Oxygen reduces stress levels, slow deep breaths reduce your heart rate. Focus on one thought and block all others to reduce anxiety and stress. Remember that you love to swim and want to be there, you enjoy the experience of racing. Finally, the more you do anything, the easier it becomes.

Take small steps. Most swimming pools have relatively cold water; this cools your body down, so your heart rate and breathing go up to compensate for the heat loss. It's not necessarily a sign of fear. Go into the pool at the shallow end; do this once a week, for example. After a while, you will get used to the water. Practice your swimming, floating, diving and underwater swimming in the shallow end first. As you get more confident, your fear will dissipate.

Yes. Your feet should create a splash in every stroke except for breaststroke.

Bring your tummy and chin up higher, then water will not get in your face as much.

Practice with another person holding you flat in the water, then slowly learn to stay afloat yourself.

Yes. It's best to kick your legs both up and down very strongly, because many people neglect the down movement of the kick. If you focus on doing it properly, you'll have a competitive edge.

In backstroke, you can have a breathing pattern just like in freestyle. If you breathe every 3rd stroke in freestyle, breathe every 3rd stroke in backstroke as well.

Try to not let your head move around while you swim. Make sure to emphasize your kicking because your arms can't do all of the work.

Practice, practice, practice. Strength training and conditioning is important if you're serious about improving as well.

You can tilt your head back a tiny bit to see how close you are to the wall, or you can feel for it with your hand and do a more touch-style turn.

Consider purchasing a pair of mirrored or tinted goggles. These will act like sunglasses and protect your eyes from the sun.

Let your feet drift down slowly and bring your head up at the same time (like a see-saw). After you touch the wall (if you're racing), you can grab onto it and use it to pull yourself up. You can also turn over and get up that way.

Try to find swimming lessons, they will provide you with expert information and tips that are far better than what you read online.

To keep them floating, you want to push your stomach up towards the sky/ceiling. This should keep you floating nicely on your back when you start the backstroke.

Count strokes until your hands hit the wall and remember the amount. Also, use whatever is on the roof of an indoor pool to give you a sense of where you are. If outdoors, use pool flags or other pool markers to work as indicators of where you are.