How Do You Not Dive Too Deep In Competitive Swimming?

When starting a race in competitive swimming, it is important not to dive too deep. Proper diving technique is one of the most important things in competitive swimming because how you start your race can easily determine how it ends. Read on to learn everything you need to take into consideration when preparing to dive off the block at the start of a race.

Technique and Form

The first thing to think of when you are about to dive off the block is your starting position. You should have one foot at the front of the block and one foot at the back of the block aligned with your hips. Your hands go at the front of the block, gripping the edge along with your front foot. At this point, your hips should be the highest part of your body so that when you push off, you will be able to use as much of your power as possible.

A moment before it is time to push off, you will hear, “take your marks.” This is when you tense your muscles and prepare for your dive. When the beep sounds, you will push off the block with your feet, and your arms will come back for a second before you extend into your streamline.

Push-off and Entry

When you push off the block, most of your speed will come from your front foot, and you want to remember to push straight across the pool, not up or down. You also want to get into your streamline as fast as possible. For the perfect streamline, you need to have your hands on top of one another, arms extended over your head with your biceps behind your ears, and your shoulders shrugged so that there is no gap.

In your streamline, your body should stay tight with your muscles engaged and your feet together and pointed (with your big toes touching). After you push off the block, gravity will start to pull you down toward the water. Ideally, you want to be at a 30º angle when this happens. When your body enters the water, change your body’s orientation back to horizontal.

Tips and Tricks

As with anything else in swimming, the best thing to do to perfect your dive is to practice until perfect. Develop a sort of routine that you run through whenever you dive in order to ensure you are doing it right every time. A common mistake that swimmers make is starting with a crooked body position. To avoid this, stand straight behind the block to make sure you are facing the other side straight on before you start your dive.

Also, make sure your shoulders and hips are not crooked in any way. Many swimmers think that they can gather more power by leaning back before their dive, but this actually makes them slower when diving. You want to lean forward enough that it will benefit you but not enough that you are at risk of falling in. Just remember to pull with your hands, power through your front leg, power through your back leg, then streamline as tight as you can.

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