Experienced swimmers make diving into the pool look easy, but it can be a challenge to learn if you’re new to the sport. There’s no reason to be intimidated by diving — remember, everyone had to learn to dive at some point, even the pros!
Try out this drill progression to teach yourself to dive in 30 minutes or less!
Start with Streamline
Streamline position is the foundation of good swimming, both for your dive and for each competitive stroke.
To start, stack your hands on top of each other, and wrap your top thumb around your bottom hand. Practice raising your arms overhead in this streamline position, squeezing your biceps to your ears. This may be a challenge if you lack shoulder mobility, but don’t worry too much. Your flexibility will improve over time!
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Once you are comfortable in this streamline position, practice pushing off the wall. Start by sinking under the surface, extending your arms into streamline, and pushing off! Hold streamline and glide for a few meters before coming up.
Sitting on the Edge
If you’re feeling solid pushing off, it’s time to add a little height to the equation! Next, you’re going to ease yourself into the water from a sitting position on the side of the pool.
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With your feet in the water, extend your hands forward in streamline. Lean forward and drop yourself into the water. Tuck your head as you drop in to avoid belly flopping!
Once you hit the water, push off with your feet and glide in streamline!
Kneeling Dive
Next, you’ll move onto a few kneeling variations.
Starting in a kneeling position with your arms in streamline position, lean forward and fall into the water, maintaining your streamline arms. Don’t worry about pushing too much with your legs yet.
After practicing this variation a few times, try adding a push with your legs as you lean forward! This will help you enter the water with a bit more speed. Try to keep your core and legs engaged.
Standing Dive
And finally, it’s time to move on to a full standing dive!
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To start, keep your feet in a staggered stance. Place your hands in streamline position, lean forward slightly and bend your knees. When you’re ready, push through your feet and dive in! Try to maintain streamline as you enter the water. Think about diving through a small circle a meter or 2 away from the wall!
Related: How to Dive Off the Blocks Faster | 6 Swimming Start Tips
As you get more comfortable, try diving with your feet next to each other.
Once you’ve mastered the standing dive, you’re ready to move onto racing starts from the blocks!
What tips do you have for swimmers learning to dive? Share your advice in the comments! For more technique tips and workout ideas, download the MySwimPro app! Try ELITE free for 30 days to unlock all of our swim training resources.
6 Comments
So interesting
I love watching your videos
Thank you so much for these precious tips 🙏
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Hi Sharon! The sponsor is Underwater Audio! You can save 15% with code MYSWIMPRO: https://www.underwateraudio.com/?utm_source=myswimpro&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=myswimpro
I suffer from rotator cuff, will that prevent me from swimming?
Rotator cuff injuries are fairly common with swimmers! Often it is best to rest the shoulder and start doing strength exercises to build the shoulder back up so you don’t get injured again. You might enjoy this blog for tips to keep your shoulders healthy: https://blog.myswimpro.com/2021/03/10/how-to-prevent-shoulder-injury-while-swimming/
Great tips. Thank you