Backstroke is a swimming stroke where you float on your back and pull yourself through the water with alternating arm movements while kicking your legs. Unlike freestyle or breaststroke, where you face down into the water, backstroke lets you breathe easily since your face stays above the surface the whole time.

In backstroke, you reach one arm back over your head, pull it through the water alongside your body, then lift it out and swing it back around while the other arm does the same thing. Your legs kick up and down in a steady flutter kick. It's like doing freestyle upside down.

Backstroke is one of the four main competitive swimming strokes, along with freestyle, breaststroke, and butterfly. Swimmers race backstroke events in pools, and it's also one quarter of the individual medley, where swimmers perform all four strokes in sequence.

The tricky part about backstroke? You can't see where you're going. In competitions, flags hang over the pool to warn swimmers when they're getting close to the wall. Many beginners find backstroke easier than other strokes because breathing is simple, but swimming in a straight line takes practice. You have to trust your stroke count and stay aware without looking.