Posture is something that is fundamental to fast swimming, but it’s something that a few people know about or not being done the right way. We want to keep the spine long and straight and keep that straight line all the way up through the neck. Having a bad swimming posture like the arch on the lower back causes a lot of resistance in a number of places. So, what causes it?

1. Head position
When someone’s looking too far forward, it will generally put them in that posture where there’s too much of an arch in their lower back. For most people, we like them to look either straight down or slightly further forward, up to around 45 degrees and generally keep an extended neck. Creases in the neck and if the chin is too far forward can cause the posture to go away from that straight and extended position.

2. Left arm
In some of those pull throughs, pushing down on the water a lot instead of pressing back and that push down causes the shoulders or upper torso to be pushed up, which is obviously going to sit the stomach or the core low, and the hips will be up there.

3. General tightness, or Lack of mobility
Either through the hip flexors, the lower back, or the shoulders.
All of these things come into play when it comes to posture. It’s like building a house. If you get a strong base, a nice solid concrete base to build on, that’s exactly what posture, line, and balance are. If you can build on that, then the rest of the structure is going to be put together, and it’s going to stay for a long time. But if you don’t have that foundation of good posture, line, and balance, then you’re going to fall apart pretty quickly.