How To Do A Reverse Dive Pike (301B): Everything I Know

The reverse dive pike — 301B — is one of those dives that challenges you from the very first step. Your hurdle, your weight distribution, your core, your pike, and your entry all have to work together.

In this breakdown I go through divers from beginner all the way to Olympic level, showing exactly what changes and why as you move up the ladder.

Watch the full video here

There's a lot here, so let's get into it.

3 Key Fixes for Your Reverse Dive Pike

1. Sit more as you land 

This is the most common flaw in the reverse dive and one of the scariest things to fix. A lot of divers are afraid to keep their weight back on the board, so they end up loading on their toes. When that happens, the hips get pushed forward and out as they leave the board — the legs bend, the body slides out, and the whole dive goes with it. Your coach may call this "going through the knees."

The fix is keeping your weight back on your heels through the last jump. It's going to feel uncomfortable at first — it might even feel like you're going to hit the board. But if your coach and you agree that you go out too far this can really help.

Watch the best divers, they're stacked: ankles, hips, and head in one straight line off the board. Until the last moment when their hips move out to achieve a slight c position and move them away from the board safely. 

Diver Guy's Tip: Trust that you have space. If you stay on your heels you've got several more feet of room to work with than it feels like. Talk to your coach, experiment with it, and know that the discomfort is part of the process. The payoff in height and distance control is massive.

2. Arms to 12 O'Clock — And Core Tight the Whole Time

Two things I see at almost every level: arms stopping at 11 o'clock, and a loose core on takeoff. Both kill your dive before you even leave the board.

Your arms need to get all the way to 12 o'clock — just past your ears so you can draw a clean line from your hands to your ankles. Judges are looking for exactly that, and stopping short is one of the easiest things to fix for an immediate scoring improvement (and better form).

Core is the other piece. When your core is weak, the board changes your hip position as you leave. When your core is tight, you can drive the arms back behind your ears and the legs pop up strong and fast without the hips opening. The arms behind the ears is where the power comes from on the reverse — but only if the core holds everything together.

Diver Guy's Tip: Build your core with hanging pike-ups, regular pike-ups, and planks — anything that engages the hip flexors, but also challenges the total core stability. Fast, dynamic legs on the reverse are a core strength issue just as much as a technique issue. That connection speed matters even more as dives get harder.

3. Separate the Slide from the Grab

This is the detail that separates intermediate divers from advanced ones, and almost nobody is doing it right early in their career. Most divers are sliding out and grabbing at the exact same time because they don't have enough height to separate them. As your takeoff improves, these need to become two distinct phases.

First: slide out. Arms and hands stay along the body. Hold that hollow position and show off your press. Second: look back over your eyebrows and reach for the entry.

At the Olympic level, the best divers slide out, pause at the top, and then the hands come out laterally for the close before grabbing and swimming in. There's a clear visual beat between those two moments.

Diver Guy's Tip: On the slide out, engage your core to stop hollow — not arched. The moment you let your legs drop or go archy, the dive goes short, or loses it's line. Hold that hollow position, then reach. Your entries will get dramatically cleaner.

Watch the Full Breakdown

In this video I walk through every level from basic beginner to Olympic divers — including a great underwater angle of the knee save and swim that shows exactly what a clean reverse entry looks like below the surface.

A few things to watch for:

• The difference in takeoff angle between the beginner who goes through the knees and the Olympic diver who stays stacked
• Pay attention to how Team China drives the board down before coming up — that's where elite height comes from. More energy into the board means more energy to push you up.
• The underwater knee save footage shows exactly what the arms should be doing the moment you hit the water

On the Entry: Back and Reverse Are Different From Fronts

Learn more about back entries with this video

One thing worth calling out specifically for back and reverse entries: as you're closing for the water, you want to bring your head up — tilting it slightly backward — while simultaneously pulling the hamstrings to keep your toes straight above the water. At the same time, swim the arms laterally just like any other dive.

Final Takeaways: Reverse Dive Pike Done Right

• Keep weight on your heels — ankles, hips, head stacked in a straight line
• Arms all the way to 12 o'clock, straight throughout the circle
• Core tight from the drive up all the way through the slide out
• Eyes down / head neutral on takeoff — don't let the head go back early
• Slide out first, hold hollow, then look back and reach — two separate phases
• On entry: head tilts back slightly, arms swim laterally, push air to the sides on swim

Good luck and I'll see you on the next dive! - DG