Forward Starts: The Complete Guide

First Goal of Your Start: Project Over the Water 

One of the most important goals for a great start is to project yourself as far over the water as possible. Why? Water slows you down.  

Water is about 830 times denser than air. As a result, creating speed in the water is lot harder than it is in the air. Every inch of your race that you can cover in the air is going to be to your advantage. Everything you do during a start should be geared toward maximizing how far out you can dive during your start. 

There’s a common misconception that a fast start is all about getting off the block as fast as possible. Keeping your reaction time as low as possible is important, but you don’t want to focus on getting off the block as fast as possible at the expense shortening your distance. You want to make sure you dive out as far as possible over the water.  

The benefit of focusing on this goal is that the power required to dive out far is also going to get you off the block fast. If you just focus on getting off the block fast, you won’t necessarily dive very far. 

No matter what, keep the goal of projecting yourself over the water in mind. Every component of your start is a means to an end to help you dive out over the water as much as possible. The start is free speed, so take advantage of as much of it as you can. 

Second Goal of Your Start: Maintain Speed Into the Water 

In addition to focusing on diving out as far as possible on your start, focus on a good entry. When you hit the water, you’ll be traveling faster than you will at any other point in your race. Maintain as much of that speed as possible when you enter. 

To maintain that speed, you need a great streamlined position. The better your streamline, the better your entry. And the better your alignment as you enter the water, the less resistance you’ll create and the more speed you’ll maintain. 

You’ve probably seen explosive starters who look good off the blocks but have bad entries that cause them to lose their speed as a result. You’ve also probably seen swimmers with a modest dive who can carry their speed well because they can maintain their speed. Maintaining speed is just as important as the dive itself. 

When you’re thinking about any part of your start, think about how it helps you better maintain the speed you create off the block. That includes the angle at which you come off the block, the angle at which you enter the water, how deep you go, how smoothly you transition to the surface, and the quality of your breakout.  

When you understand how these elements work in the context of trying to maintain your speed when you enter the water, understanding why these skills are so important and what you can do to improve how you do them is easier.

What You Need to Know About the Starting Position 

Your starting position can have a major influence on your start. Focus on the two goals you want to be mindful of when choosing a great starting position: stability and power. 

A starting position that helps you with these two things ensures a consistent great start with minimal risk of false starting (moving before the start signal goes off, which will lead to a disqualification). Some swimmers prefer to keep their weight shifted forward and others shifted back. Both options can be successful. 

When you’re called up to the block, the only requirement is to stand on the block. You do not have to assume any particular position. Some swimmers assume a relaxed starting position, and others get right into their final starting position. Others remain standing. When the referee signals to take your mark, move into your final starting position and stay still. Any movement after this can get you disqualified. 

Most swimmers grab the block for added stability and to allow them to use their arms during the initial phase of their start. If you have flexibility limitations, you don’t have to grab the block, but you do need to remain completely still, which can be difficult without holding the block.  

Many modern blocks have grab bars a few inches above the block. If you have mobility limitations, grabbing these can be a great option. In addition, if you believe that grabbing the bars allows you to achieve a more effective start, learn to use them. 

Since the introduction of the wedge, most swimmers choose to do a track start with their back foot on the wedge and their front foot at the edge of the block. Adjust the wedge to an appropriate position for you prior to getting on the block.  

Unfortunately, wedges are made by different companies, so there aren’t universal rules for placing the wedge in the right place. The most effective strategy is to find the position most stable and powerful for you. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the blocks during the competition warm-up at your meet. 

Initial Movements of Your Start 

The initial movements of an effective start are key for getting your body moving forward.  

No matter your starting position, most of your body weight is going to be behind your front foot. If it’s not, you’ll fall into the pool. To do a great dive, you need to get your body weight in front of your front foot, so that you can jump out over the water. If you jump as hard as you can before your body moves forward, you’ll go straight up rather than out over the water. 

There are two critical strategies for getting your body moving forward: 

The first is to push hard with your back leg into the wedge. Because of the angle of the wedge and the position of your back foot, pushing into the wedge will move you forward, not up. This is one of the reasons the wedge is so helpful. The hardest part of the start is getting your body moving, and the wedge makes doing so a lot easier. A strong push with your back leg is critical for the initiation of a great start. 

The second is to pull with your arms. This strategy isn’t as effective as using your back leg, but every little bit matters in terms of initiating your start. Pulling hard against the block will get your body moving forward, helping your back leg with this goal. The more weight you shift to your back leg, the more important using your arms to move yourself forward becomes. If your weight isn’t shifted backward very much in your starting position, your arms will play less of a role. 

How to Do a Great Jump on Your Start 

Once you’ve initiated your start and your body is moving forward, most of your jump will be driven by your lead leg. As your body moves forward off the block, your front knee and hip will still be bent. Forcefully pressing down and back into the block is what sends your body up and out over the water. (Your back leg’s main role is to move you forward, but it does help you project over the water as well.)  

A key aspect of a great jump is knowing exactly when to really start pushing with your front leg. The angle of your shin bone relative to the water generally indicates the direction your body will go when you push into the block.  

When you’re in the starting position, your front shin is relatively vertical, which is why you need to wait to fully jump. If you push too early, your start will be too vertical. If you push too late, your start will be very horizontal and you’ll go right into the water. Knowing when to push is a key aspect of a great start.  

If you do a start with both of your feet forward—what’s called a grab start—the same principles apply. Once your body weight is moving forward and is in front of the block, drive hard down and back into the block to project yourself over the water. As with a track start, wait until you’ve achieved an optimal position to push with before doing so. This will help you get as far out over the water as possible.  

What Your Arms Should Do During Your Start 

During your starts, your arms need to transition from the starting position to a streamlined position as easily as possible.  

Your arms play a key role in initiating your start and in assuming a streamlined position upon entry. This streamlined position is key for maintaining as much speed as possible when you enter the water. The challenge is that your arms need to move from a position down near your feet at the start to an overhead streamlined position before you hit the water, and that needs to happen fast. 

Your arms can take two basic paths to go from the starting position into a streamlined position. If your body weight is forward during your start, you won’t use your arms very much to initiate your start. That means once you hear the start signal, you can apply a small amount of pressure to the block and then throw your hands directly forward into a streamlined position as you perform your start. This is the simplest strategy, so if you struggle with your arm action, a front-weighted start may be helpful. 

If your body weight is on your back foot during your start, or you use your arms more during your start, getting into a streamlined position requires more precision. If you pull on the block for a longer time, your body will move forward past your hands while your hands remain in contact with the block. Your hands will therefore be closer to your hips and you’ll need to throw them forward quickly into a streamlined position. You can swing them straight up and over as in a butterfly recovery or shrug them forward as in a freestyle recovery. The key idea is to get them overhead as quickly as possible so you can establish a great streamlined position before you enter the water. 

Entry 

Once you’re airborne, you won’t create any more speed. In some ways, the easiest part of your start is over, and the hardest part is beginning. Holding on to your speed is a lot more difficult than generating it in the first place.  

The first major challenge you’ll face is entering the water as cleanly as possible. Entering the water in a flat position creates a lot of resistance and slows you down immediately. If you’ve watched swimming footage from the 1970s, you saw swimmers diving straight out and basically bellyflopping into the water. Altering this flat position in the air to enter cleanly is impossible.  

Your goal is minimal splash, by sending your body through a single hole at the surface, which allows you to maintain a lot of speed. A great entry is partly determined by the start itself and partly determined by how you control your body through the air and into the water.

Although being too horizontal isn’t good, neither is being too vertical. An overly vertical start, going up and then back down, may make entering the water cleanly easier, but you won’t project out very much at all. You’ll also dive too deep, causing you to lose a lot of speed. In a worst-case scenario, you could hit the bottom of the pool. 

Fortunately, diving out at an angle that optimizes your jump tends to optimize your entry as well. Get the start right to enter cleanly. 

When you’re in the air, maintaining tension throughout your body, especially your legs, is critical. You want every piece of your body to enter the water through the same hole. The more connected your body is, the easier it is to make that happen. Keeping your torso stable and squeezing your legs into line will make entering the water cleanly a much more manageable task. 

Common Swimming Start Mistakes 

The major mistakes in starts are errors that make accomplishing the two main goals for a great start more difficult. Remember: You want to dive out as far as possible and you want to maintain as much speed as possible. Avoid anything that keeps you from those two goals. 

Diving out as far as possible comes down to getting your body moving forward and then driving through the block with your front leg. If you’re not aggressive, moving forward will take more time and your start won’t be as effective. Driving off your front leg at the right time is also critical. If you push too early, you’ll drive yourself up. If you push too late, you’ll drive yourself down. In both cases, you won’t get out as far as you could. 

Bad entries keep you from maintaining the speed you generate during your start.  

Many swimmers struggle to enter the water with minimal splash; their legs often smack against the water, creating resistance. Many swimmers also fail to get into a proper streamlined position. Both mistakes cause you to lose speed because of increased drag.  

There are also several ways that starts can lead you to being disqualified. 

The most obvious is false starting. If you start the race before the starting signal, that’s going to get you disqualified. You can also be disqualified for a false start if you move once you’ve taken your mark. Flinching is grounds for disqualification. 

How Differences Between Swimmers Affect Their Starts 

Swimmers come in different shapes and sizes, leading them to use slightly different strategies to optimize their start. Regardless of individual differences, the principles remain the same: dive out as far as possible and maintain as much speed as possible.  

The best starting position on the block is one in which you feel balanced and strong. Based upon the length of your limbs and mobility, you may need to adjust how wide your feet are set or how far forward or back they are. You can adjust the position of the wedge to accommodate those differences. You also have the option to use grab bars if they’re available. You can also shift your weight forward or backward in your starting position depending on what feels most effective to you. Your arm swing in the air may differ depending on what’s most comfortable and effective for you. 

Once you’re entered the water, you may find that you benefit from doing a deeper dive to take advantage of your underwater abilities. Or you may find that a shallower dive allows you to maintain more speed because you’ll transition to swimming earlier.  

Find the solution that allows you to achieve the best overall start. 

Of course, you don’t need to do a traditional start from the blocks in U.S. Masters Swimming races. You can start from the edge of the pool or from the water. 

When starting from the edge, the same basic strategies for an effective dive still apply. Dive out as far as possible and maintain as much speed as you can. 

When starting in the water, at least one hand must be in contact with the starting platform or wall and one foot must be in contact with the wall. From that position, you can push off and begin swimming as soon as the race starts.