IMPROVING YOUR
BREASTSTROKE TECHNIQUE

First, as Mrs Beeton is reputed to have said, catch your hare. In this case, first make 
sure you are swimming a tolerable breaststroke. Athough a clear definition of breaststroke 
has eluded generations of swimming legislators, and although the leg kick is more or less
impossible even to describe to a visitor from outer space, most of us know a "correct",
essentially legal breaststroke when we see it, the bases of the stroke being that it is 
swum in a prone position with a symmetrical leg kick in which the feet are turned 
outwards, with symmetrical movements of the arms.

Many of us are or have been taught breaststroke according to rather elderly precepts, and 
have ended up with strokes with very wide kicks and a sturdy glide, with a breath taken at 
quite the wrong place in the stroke cycle. If you are also one of these, read on.

If you are a recreational swimmer and like to keep your head out of the water while you 
swim, some of what follows may help you, but you will be hampered if you do not wish to 
enter into the spirit of the exercise and approach the modern racing stroke.  This is 
your opportunity to leave the flowery hat lane and move into the training lane.

So let us assume for a moment that we are swimming breaststroke more or less correctly, as 
the stroke is defined in the rules. We swim flat, or try to. The movements of our right arm 
and leg mirror those of the left arm and leg, and vice versa. We look forwards when we 
breathe, and let our face drop into the water after the in-breath and during the glide. 
We breathe in when our arms pull, or at the end of the pull. If we have reached this point 
we are ready for some improvements.

Once swimmers get locked into asymmetrical leg kicks, or screw kicks as they are known, 
it can occasionally be difficult to wean them into the paths of legality. This is a 
something of a handicap in recreational or fitness swimming, as there Is little worse 
than reinforcing an incorrect technique. For a competing masters swimmer the lack of a 
legal stroke closes entry not just in breaststroke events but in medley events too.

If your kick is asymmetrical, take time to think about what you are doing and to attempt 
to remedy your faults. First of all, forget what you were doing wrong, and now try to 
perform a completely new, but correct, breaststroke kick. The simplest route is to practise 
on your back supporting yourself with a kickboard held to your chest, tiying at first to 
make small symmetrical circles with your heels, and moving gradually towards a larger 
rotation sweeping   the  water backwards with the inside of your feet. If your feet are 
moving simultaneously, and you are making a forward motion, you must be doing it 
correctly. (See the dorsal kicking drills below.)

One important piece of advice. Breaststroke can be very hard on the knees. Energetic  
breaststroke swnnming should always be preceded by a thorough warm up. And when you start 
your breastsroke swim, start easily so that your knees and hips are thoroughly warmed up 
when you start to apply any pressure.

Improving the kick

Kicking with a kicking board: the simplest and most basic breaststroke drill is to 
practise the kick while holding a kicking board. This enables a swimmer to kick as 
slowly as he or she pleases, and then experiment with the depth of the kick and the 
degree of glide that can be obtained.

Because of the support given by the float, swimmers can kick slowly for long periods.
There is no harm in this provided the more dynamic drills are also done.

Make your kicks long and powerful, glide at the end of each kick and monitor your 
efficiency by counting the number of kicks you take per length. If you pull your 
heels up as close as possible to your seat, and then kick them back so that they are 
stretched out as completely as possible behind you at the end of the kick, they will 
be in the right position at two points in the stroke: you can build on this.

Kicking without a board: slightly more difficult than using the board, this drill puts 
one in a position more closely related to the full stroke position. Scull to lift your 
head to breathe, but not to the point of "cheating".

Kicking on the back--hands by side: the propulsive movements are slightly different if 
you kick this way, but you will be able to concentrate on two aspects of the kick. First, 
by keeping your body, hips, and knees in as straight a line as possible you will be 
reinforcing a good habit, as in the full stroke you will want to keep your knees as 
far behind you as possible, and you will be able to feel much more sensitively how 
symmetrical your kick is.

Kicking on the back--hands extended: A more difficult variation of the previous drill 
in which the arms are stretched in front of the head. This position accentuates the 
obtuse angle between knees, hips and torso.

Kicking - hands by side: back to the prone position, but with the arms trailing so that 
you can touch your heels at the height of the leg recovery. You may find breathing tricky 
at first, but lift your head as the feet come up to the seat

Alternate leg kicking: try this with a kickboard: leave one leg still and make a 
breaststroke kick with the other. After a short distance, change legs. You will almost 
certainly find that one leg kick is more propulsive than the other, even if your stroke 
is perfectly symmetrical to the observer. This is your chance to correct this propulsive 
imbalance.

General: if you are in a coached session you will find that breaststrokers do a great deal 
more kicking than specialists in the other strokes. If you are new to this, build up the 
distance you kick over a period so that you can avoid those niggly pains referred to as 
"breaststroker's knee".

Improving the pull 

The  best  breaststroke swimmers not only have extremely effective leg kicks but very 
strong and powerful arms. Because in this stroke the arms recover (i.e. go from the end 
of the pull back to the start of the pull) underwater there is very little time for the 
arms to relax, while the stop-start aspect of the stroke means that you will be trying 
to accelerate on every pull.

Arms only (with pull buoy): again, the basic pulling drill, but in breaststroke pulling is 
much, much more tiring than the full stroke. As mentioned already, at the end of the pull 
there is a "dead" phase while the arms shoot forward to the starting position. Make your 
pulls dynamic, ensuring that you pull in a semi-circular motion around an imaginary 
football in front of your chin, and keep the movement continuous from the start of the 
pull to the end of the recovery.

The pull in breaststroke never goes beyond the line of the shoulders. A good rule is 
to imagine your hands at all times in front of your chin.

Arms only with dolphin kick: pulling with a pull buoy is tiring and not at all like 
pulling in the full stroke, although it is very strengthening. Now discard the pull 
buoy and make a dolphin kick with the legs at the start and end of the pull phase. 
This will drive your shoulders up out of the water, which is what you want to happen 
in the full stroke, and enable you to dive into the recovery.

Arms only with front crawl kick: use this drill to emphasise the "shrug" which should 
occur at the end of the pull as the hands start to shoot forward in their recovery. This 
will keep your recovery narrow, thus causing less resistance.

Timing drills

It is all very well being able to kick well and pull well, but it is the combination of 
the two which makes the stroke. In some swimmers, their full stroke is more than the sum 
of their two parts, in others sadly the opposite. Try these drills to connect your pull 
and your kick.

Two kicks/one pull: very simple, two legs kicks to each arm pull;

One kick/two pulls: just the reverse. Both drills will give you greater feel for the 
best timing for your particular stroke.

Full stroke drills

Full stroke breaststroke drills are vital for reinforcing the best  timing  for your 
individual stroke. If you can combine the propulsive effects of the kick and pull while 
at the same time reducing the non-propulsive recovery phases, you must end up with a 
more efficient or faster stroke, or both.

Try this drill: swim a length (25 metres plus) with a long glide, which you hold to a 
count of 4 (i.e. about 3 seconds); breathe at the correct position, during or at the 
end of the pull. On your next length reduce the glide to a count of 3 (i.e. 2 seconds), 
and then to a count of 2 (1 second). When you reduce to a count of 1 (0 seconds) you will 
be holding that completely extended position for just an instant, but the secret is to 
get to that position during each stroke cycle.

Turning

We have said again and again in Watermarks that good turning is vital to successful 
masters swimming, but just because it is a vital racing skill does not mean that 
swimmers with no competitive ambitions should neglect it. Good turns will enhance 
your fitness swim session, and will launch you vigorously onto each new lap. There 
is no harm in following the legal example of the competitive swimmers. First, push 
off the wall in as streamline position as possible, arms stretched forward, head 
squeezed between the arms. Hold this position, and watch the tiles on the pool floor. 
As the tiles start to slow down, make a powerful and long arm pull so that your hands 
end up by the side of your legs, and glide again. When the tiles start to slow down, 
move your hands back up your body and kick your legs so that you go once again into 
the stretched position, and pull up through the surface for your first breath. You 
are now on course for a strong length.

The capacity to maximise the potential of the distance to be gained off each turn is 
one mark of a  successful breaststroke swimmer. Many masters swimmers, as they age or 
get out of condition, find the breath-holding aspect of the turn, in both short and 
long course events, difficult. This is very understandable, but training can overcome 
this problem. On some swims try to make two strokes underwater instead of one, thus 
making the single underwater pull seem short! It's not really as easy or as facile as 
this, but where tenths of seconds count you will reduce your time quicker by improving 
your turn than by trying to get fitter.

Hints for a better breaststroke

1. Pull continuously, keeping your pull pattern in front of your shoulders.

2. At the end of the pull, lift your shoulders and strike your hands forward; don't 
glide passively.

3.	Lift your heels as high as you can towards your seat at the start of the kick. 
Keep your feet high, and avoid bringing your knees forward.

4.	At the end of the kick make sure your feet have come together, and polish off 
the kick by consciously pointing your toes.

5.	All swimming movements start slowly and get quicker: accelerate your hands 
through the pull, and accelerate the feet through the kick.

6.	When you leave the wall, swim as far as you are allowed underwater.

7.	When you complete the length, touch the wall legally with both hands 
simultaneously.

8. If you are not a specialist breaststroker, don't treat breaststroke as an easy 
swim. Pay attention to all aspects of this stroke.

[Copyright (c) 2000 Watermarks]