How To Swim Breaststroke For Beginners – Arms & Legs Together

The final stage of how to swim breaststroke for beginners is getting the arms and legs to work together.

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If you have been following this series on breaststroke you should now be quite comfortable with the breaststroke arm action, the breaststroke arm action and breathing and the breaststroke kick as separate units. Now its time to put it all together.

How To Swim Breaststroke For Beginners - Making It All Work

Putting your arm action together with your leg kick in breaststroke is quite simple really. I have a drill that I use to help correct the breaststroke of my swimming students and it works just as well for new swimmers to breaststroke.

The thing about breaststroke is that it should be performed in such a way as to make sure that there is always something moving. When your legs are still your arms should be moving when your arms are still your legs should be moving. And so on.


The reverse of that is that your arms and legs should not be moving all at the same time. Now when you see good swimmers it looks like everything moves simultaneously but the is a moment in any good breaststrokers stroke when there is a glide and only the legs are moving and the legs are still when the arms are moving.

Trust me on this if there is no glide then you will be moving too slowly in the water and you will not be moving as efficiently as you could. So make sure you do this drill as I describe it as best you can. As you get better at it you can get faster and faster. The faster you go the more it will look like you are moving things together but if you have done it right there will be a glide and there will be times when you legs are not moving but your arms are and you arms are moving but you legs are not.

This is the drill:

You must only do one action at a time.

Torpedo

Start in the torpedo position like this:

(Fig.#1) Start Breaststroke Torpedo

Legs and Breath

Next bring both your legs up at the same time and perform a frog kick. Remember that both legs must do exactly the same thing at the same time.
Like this:

(Fig.#2) Breaststroke Kick Action Whilst Breathing Out

This is where you breathe out. Blowing out all your air out, under the water (Fig.#2).

Torpedo Again

You then return to the torpedo position like this:

(Fig.#3) Return To Start Breaststroke Torpedo

Arms

Then perform your arm action like this:

(Fig.#4) Breaststroke Breathing Action

This is where you get to breathe in (Fig.#4). You get to breathe in at every stroke if you want to when doing breaststroke. That is why some people mistakenly call it breath stroke. But it is breast stroke as the arms cross the breast when you stroke. When you get better at it you may want to breathe less often in order to move faster. But for now lets do it at every stroke.

As the swimmer (Fig.#4) moves his arms into position to take a breath his legs naturally start to bend. This is natural and should not be interfered with because as the stroke gets faster the middle torpedo (Fig.#3) will effectively disappear and legs in this position are ready for the kick phase. But this should happen naturally and should be allowed to do so. That is don't correct as the second torpedo disappears, unless it is affecting the stroke or the kicking action.

The swimmers (Fig.#4) head starts to come out of the water at the start of the stroke so that it is in place to take the breath by the time the arms get to the position they are at in the Fig.#4. New swimmers should not be allowed to build up a habit of lifting their head to breathe after their arms are under their chest. To do so will result in breathing faults that are harder to fix latter on.

Back to Torpedo

Now return to your torpedo position like this:

Return To Start Breaststroke Torpedo

Now all you have to do is repeat the whole thing all over again for every stroke you want to make.

The sequence is: Torpedo, Legs and breath, Torpedo again, Arms, Back to torpedo (TLTAB).

As I said as you get better, move faster and over time you should have a reasonably proficient breaststroke.

Enjoy
   Richard

How To Swim Breaststroke Correctly - A Detailed Description

I have already discussed the most common fault of breaststroke but learning how to swim breaststroke correctly has a number of advantages and disadvantages.

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Advantages

• it is a good endurance stroke when performed slowly
• it can be adapted well to swimming underwater
• it allows uninterrupted breathing if your head is high above water
• it allows unrestricted forward vision if the head is held above water
• Your head may be turned away from wind and waves.

Disadvantages

• it is a slow stroke
• there is increased resistance when your head is held out of the water

Your body should be kept as flat as possible in the water to reduce resistance. This is achieve by:

• raising late the head in the arm stroke to minimize the rise of your shoulders caused by the pull of the arms
• the legs recovering by bending at the knees and hips so that your hips are kept high in the water with the heels close to, but not breaking, the surface.

Leg Action

it can provide excellent power and is well suited to use on your back for survival and rescue purposes. It can be used to advantage in treading water.

The leg action should be performed as follows:

Breaststroke Leg action bending at the knees and hips

• recover from an extended position by bending at the knees and hips.
• your feet are kept together at first but they may separate to about shoulder width as your knees fully flex. Your knees may also separate to a similar degree
• your toes should be pulled up towards your shins (ankles dorsi-flexed) at this stage
• before starting the kick, your feet must be cocked outward (everted) and ankles must remain dorsi-flexed. The inside of your feet and legs face backward and provide the surface for use in the backward thrust
• your kick is started by thrusting the feet apart and backwards with the heels tracing a circular pattern as they travel backwards your feet come together just after the legs straighten.

Water pressure should be felt on the insides and soles of your feet during the kick and should accelerate smoothly, reaching maximum speed only at the final stage of the kick. The knee extension provides the speed; so the knees should not complete their extension until your feet have come together at the end of the kick.

Most inefficient kicks result from incorrect positioning of the feet just before thrust begins. You need to persist with the kick when you are first learning. It is not uncommon for new swim students to think they are not moving when they first start to learn this kick. If you are doing it correctly you are moving it just feels so unfamiliar that it seems like you are stationary or that you  are not making good progress.

Arm Action

The arm pull should be made by:

Breaststroke Pull Start Seen From Side 







Breaststroke Pull Start Seen From Front



• pressing downwards and outwards in a diagonal motion with the hands. Pitch your hands at a 45° angle with your palms facing outward at the maximum pull width
•  elbows bend and hands accelerate towards the centre line of your body. Your hands should be pitched at about 45° with the palms facing inward
• a high elbow position should be maintained until the hands finish the inwards movement
• the hands glide forward to full arm extension

The palms of the hands should never face upward during the pull or the recovery.

Breathing

A breathe should be taken on every stroke:

Breaststroke Breathing Action Seen From Side 

• lift your head by extending the neck at the end of the arm pull and breathing in

Breaststroke Breath Seen From Front

Breaststroke Kick and Glide, Breathing Out

• return your face to the water just before your arms return to full extension and breathe out.

The water level will generally vary between your chin while breathing in and your forehead while breathing out as your legs push back to their start posisiton.

Timing

Full Torpedo Position 

When learning breaststroke you need to take into consideration that it is a timing stroke and a short glide should be used after the kick just before the next arm pull starts. This stops the two propulsive parts of the stroke overlapping.

Your body should be at full stretch for the glide. This position may be held for a very a short time when competing or for a long time when swimming slowly. No matter what your speed, swimmers should be in the fully extended position before starting the next stroke.

Vision

Breaststroke Breathing Action Seen From Side 

For rescue purposes, if it is necessary to watch the person in difficulty, which it usually is, your head should be held above the water.

And That is How To Swim Breaststroke Correctly

Breaststroke is by far the most relaxing and versatile strokes of all the swimming strokes once you get used to it but it does require lots of practice and that is how to swim breaststroke correctly.

Enjoy
   Richard

Learn How To Swim 101: Breaststroke - the Arm Action:

Learn How To Swim Breaststroke Arm Action

The breaststroke video give a good over view but now I want to go into more detail.

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The breaststroke arm action it straight forward. If you can do a doggie paddle (i.e swim like a dog) using both arms under the water (like paws), you can do the breaststroke arm action.

I start to teach my students the breast stroke arm action the moment they are able to do the dog paddle. I start to teach dog paddle from the moment they first enter the water at about 6 months old.

Don't worry though you don't have to have been doing dog paddle from that tender age in order to be able to do breaststroke. I find that most adults pick up a dual arm action very quickly and in fact some find breaststroke easier to start there swimming with.

I think the reason is not that it is an easier stroke because in my view it is one of the hardest, but that the motivation to do it is higher because if you pull hard enough you can swim with your head out of the water.

You can learn to do freestyle with you head out of the water but it is much harder then breaststroke and way more exhausting.


The problem is that keeping your head out of water when doing breaststroke is wrong and even though it is easier to learn to keep your head out of the water than freestyle, it is still much harder to learn that way than with your head in. In fact I recommend that you start to learn breaststroke whilst swimming under water. it's much easier to concentrate on your arm action when you don't have to lift your head up to take a breath.

Obviously you can't do this if you are afraid to put your head underwater. If you are, you will need to refer back to previous posts and learn to put your head underwater.

To start breaststroke:

Begin with a torpedo position.
From a torpedo position (Fig.#1), glide for a moment and then start your arm pull - catch (Fig.#2).

(Fig.#1)Torpedo Position

(Fig.#2)

After you have gone about a meter pull you arms back to about your shoulders (Fig.#3).

(Fig.#3)

Then bring your hands under your chest.

(Fig.#4)

Now push your hands back out to a torpedo position again (Fig. #5)

(Fig.#5) Return To The Torpedo Position

This is the basic breaststroke.

Once you have got the hang of basic breaststroke, you need to learn to lift your head.

(Fig.#6)

You do it like this:
From your "start of catch" position (Fig.#6), pull your hands back to your shoulders as in Fig.#3 only this time pulling harder, then lift you head as you do your insweep (Fig.#7). 

(Fig.#7)

Don't bother about taking a breath at this point. You almost certainly will have your head in the wrong position. We'll talk about breathing in your breaststroke next time. Concentrate on getting you arm action right.

Enjoy
   Richard

Breaststroke Kick: Learn How To Swim 101 - the Leg Action

Breaststroke Kick - The Next step

Once you have established your breaststroke arm action and breaststroke breathing, the next stage is to work on your leg action, The Breaststroke Kick.

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This is the hard part because you are teaching your legs to do something that they have not been doing till now. So we are going to teach the action separately from the arm action and put it all together later.

Often called the frog leg kick because of it's resemblance, some would say, of the way frogs kick, the best way to learn this kick is on your back with a kick board. Please make sure you do learn this with a kick board because you are not allowed to do flutter kick at all in breast stroke. A flutter kick (another term for the standard kick you do when you are doing freestyle and back stroke) even of the slightest, will get you disqualified in a competition.

Don't Plan On Competing?

"But I never plan on doing competition" you say. I've heard that before from some who are now very good competitors so you never know. And even if you don't compete isn't it better to do things the right way. Who knows you may become a swimming instructor one day and you wouldn't want to teach what you can't do because you didn't practice would you, (trust me I've seen some really bad teachers).


Apart from that the frog kick is a very useful stroke if you ever need to rescue someone.

The picture below is a good example of how you should practice your frog kick with a kick board on your back:

Breaststroke Kick On Back With Kickboard

The advantage of this is that you don't have to concentrate on anything else whilst you are practicing your kick.

The leg action it's self is: Bend your knees, open your legs and push.

Breaststroke Kick (Frog Kick) From The Side

From above it looks like this:

Breaststroke Kick (Frog Kick) From Above

You Don't Have To Spread Your Legs Wide

You don't have to spread you legs as wide as the picture for it to be and effective kick but this will give you the idea of what to practice.

Once you are feeling confident with this action, get someone else to look at if you have any doubt, it's time to start to put it into action.

Starting with a torpedo position, push off and move your legs with the action you have been practicing. Like this:

Young Girl Doing Breaststroke Kick In Glide Phase

Finishing in a torpedo position like this:

Glide Position After Kick

Remaining in the torpedo posistion repeat the above leg kick until you run out of breath.

Practice this for a while and next time we'll put your breaststroke all together

Enjoy
   Richard

How to Add Power and Glide to your Breaststroke Kick!

Mastering the Breaststroke Kick: Avoiding Splashes and Finding Fluidity

When it comes to mastering the breaststroke, it's all about finesse and precision in the water. But, for many swimmers, the experience can be frustrating. You're putting in the effort, yet it feels like you're going nowhere, and there's that dreaded loud splash that disrupts your rhythm. If you've ever felt this way, pay close attention because we're going to dive into exactly why this happens and how to correct it.

Breaststroke Kick Improvement

Understanding the Problem

The culprit behind that loud splash and the sensation of going nowhere in breaststroke is often a common mistake: pointing your feet during the kick phase. It's a seemingly innocent error that can have a big impact on your swimming performance.

Picture this: when you point your feet, they elevate out of the water, as demonstrated in many novice breaststrokers. This might seem like a minor detail, but at this point, your feet are essentially out of the game. There's zero way to effectively press against the water, leaving you with no leverage to move forward.

The Corrective Action: Keeping Your Feet Submerged and Turned Out

The key to correcting this issue lies in two crucial adjustments: keeping your feet submerged and turning them out. Let's break down these essential steps:

1. Keep Your Feet Underwater

First and foremost, ensure that your feet stay submerged throughout the kick phase. This might require some practice and conscious effort, but it's essential for generating power and forward momentum.

2. Turn Your Feet Out Completely

Next, pay close attention to the position of your feet. Instead of pointing them, turn them outwards completely. This outward rotation of your feet is what allows you to catch the water effectively, propelling you forward with each kick.

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The Benefits of Correcting Your Breaststroke Kick

Once you've mastered the art of keeping your feet submerged and turned out, you'll notice significant improvements in your breaststroke technique:

1. Smooth, Fluid Movements

No more loud splashing. Your kicks will become smooth and quiet, allowing for a more streamlined and efficient swim.

2. Increased Glide

By harnessing the power of your kick correctly, you'll experience a remarkable increase in glide during the kick phase. This means you'll cover more distance with each stroke, making your breaststroke more effective.

3. Proper Press and Resistance

Turning your feet out allows you to apply the right amount of pressure against the water, creating resistance that propels you forward. It's this resistance that contributes to the graceful glide you'll now enjoy.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Lastly, it's essential to understand the consequences of not correcting your breaststroke kick. If you persist in pointing your feet, you'll either disrupt your body position by sinking further down or create a disruptive, abrupt splash. These abrupt movements not only hinder forward momentum but can also lead to inefficient and tiring swimming.

It Is All About Finesse

Mastering the breaststroke kick is all about finesse, control, and proper technique. The simple yet critical adjustment of keeping your feet submerged and turned out will transform your swimming experience. Say goodbye to the loud splashes and the feeling of going nowhere, and say hello to a smoother, more efficient breaststroke that propels you effortlessly through the water. So, embrace the change, work on your technique, and enjoy the newfound fluidity in your breaststroke.

Enjoy     
Richard

Breaststroke How To Fix Common Faults - Learn How To Swim 101

It's not much good improving your breaststroke kick if you have other faults that interfere with a proficient breaststroke. This time we are going to deal with what I've called "Breaststroke How To Fix The Most Common Faults".

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Fortunately there are not that many common faults in breaststroke.

Breaststroke How To Fix: hands down to your hips; club foot; flutter kick

There are only three that immediately come to mind however.

1. Hands Down To Your Hips

Taking your breath at the end of a stroke that has involved you sweeping your hand down to your hips instead of your shoulders.

This is the most common fault of them all.

Remember this is wrong:

Hands To Hip Is Too Far

A breast stroke is a short stroke and should finish at your shoulders like this:

Breaststroke Breathing Arms Recover Under Chest

The solution is to shorten your stroke. It may take some practice but it should fix your problem.

2. Club Foot

What I've come to call a club foot. This is not the physical disorder that some people are borne with. I'm talking about the way some swimmers have one foot doing something other than what the other foot is doing. Both feet in breaststroke must be doing the same thing. Toes should be pointing towards the torso.

Breaststroke Kick Viewed From Above

This one can be difficult to fix because often swimmers can't feel that they are moving their foot in different directions. You need to get someone to look at your feet and get them to tell you if both feet are doing the same or different things.

Sometimes all you need to do is to tell the swimmer every time they do it wrong. For example someone stands on the edge and says "right, right, wrong, right, wrong, wrong, every time they kick. Eventually the swimmer gets more right than wrong. But it only works if you tell them every kick.

If that doesn't work one of the easiest ways to fix this - if it works - is for the student to do their frog kick with a pull boy between their legs. It's not easy to do but with practice it usually shortens the kick and fixes the club foot. Remember a good frog kick is not necessarily a wide frog kick.


If this doesn't work the only thing left that I know of to do, is to get someone in the pool with the swimmer and whilst holding both their feet working through the action of the frog kick until it becomes smooth and feels normal.

3. Flutter Kick

The swimmer does a flutter kick at some point during their frog kick.

The solution? I only have one. You need to tell the swimmer every time they do it wrong. For example someone stands on the edge and says "right, right, wrong, right, wrong, wrong, every time they kick. Eventually the swimmer gets more right than wrong but it only works if you tell them every kick.

Once you have fixed these little faults you may want to change your kick to a whip kick.

That's it

Enjoy
   Richard

How To Swim Better Breaststroke: Top Techniques, Swim Secrets

How To Swim Better Breaststroke With Proficiency

One aspect that requires proficiency when learning how to swim better in breaststroke is the amount of pull and surge used to move through the water.

Looking at a swimmer using the breaststroke, the arms pulling back appear to be the dominant action. However, a focus on a smooth surge forward is the ultimate goal. Over-emphasising the pulling action in the stroke can actually slow the rate of speed and tire the swimmer out quickly. Here are three areas to target with specific secrets for an effortless breaststroke.

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Body Motion

There are two parts of the body to focus on during breaststroke. The top half is responsible for the arms and hands, setting the direction, surge, and balance. The bottom includes the legs and feet. Positioning the arms level with the water and pointed in the direction you want to go is critical. A secret for the perfect upper body maneuver has the arms making an inverted heart shape. This requires palms to face outward with arms stretched forward, followed by pulling back.

It is also essential to have upper-body motion balance between the pull and surge. Keep the arms level with the rest of the body, just under the water’s surface, to propel forward. To confirm the exact placement of the arms, the elbows will meet at the side of the chest at the end of the maneuver. The legs and feet use the same motion and timing as the arms and hands throughout the swim.

Better Breaststroke

Coordination

The legs, arms, and breathing have to work together for the breaststroke to be successful. This means each part of the body will need to be strategically timed and in sync. Lead with the arms forward and legs straight. Follow this with the arms and legs, making the inverted heart shape at the same time and have them both meet at the starting point simultaneously.

Pay attention to the breathing technique as well. This takes place when the arms pull back. The swimmer raises their head to take in air before easing back into the water to complete the heart shape with the arms and legs. A caveat about breathing is that for beginners to reach the point of keeping their head in the water until it is time for a breath. The rationale here is to prevent neck issues that are a result of the head being above water the entire swim.

Pull and Surge

A view of the breaststroke shows a predominance of the pull in the water pattern. However, the surge is the actual kinetic propulsion of the body. The secret to maximising this aspect is two-fold. First, a metered and balanced pull backward will offer a less choppy water pattern. It also cuts down the water lag element and buoys the swimmer. This sets the stage for the body to move like a bullet with the upper and lower in a closed position. Second, focus on the head and body’s positioning to surge forward.

Taking swimming lessons in NYC is an ideal place to learn more secrets and tips. This should be followed with practice to hone them into proficiency. Once the breaststroke is mastered, swimmers can make the seamless transition into more complex techniques such as the butterfly or backstroke.

Enjoy
   Richard

Breaststroke: Slowest Swimming Stroke's Most Common Mistakes

Breaststroke: The Slowest Swimming Stroke's Most Common Mistakes

Breaststroke is considered to be all the slowest swimming strokes. Common mistakes will slow you down even more.

The most common mistakes a swimmer can make when performing slow swimming strokes, will require much more energy to get momentum back, instead of using it to go faster, which is counterproductive. Being unable to hold ones breath for a long period of time can be a huge loss of time when it comes to the breaststroke and one of the most common mistakes as well.

Breaststroke The Slowest Swimming Stroke?

Key Takeaways:

• Breaststroke is commonly regarded as the least speedy swimming stroke for professional swimmers.
• With strong and continuous momentum, however, it is possible for pro swimmers to develop a fast breaststroke, even though the breaststroke is the most technical swimming stroke.
• A major problem that can impede breaststroke users is an inability to hold their breath for a long enough time.

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"That means not making any common swimming mistakes that slows down their forward momentum."

Read more: https://swimlikeafish.org/the-slowest-swimming-stroke-mistakes

Enjoy     
Richard

Breaststroke Kick: Get A Good Feel For It

No Progress Breaststroke Kick

"I just feel as though I'm not moving at all" I hear you say.

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Just as so many have said to me over the years as I try to teach someone how to do the correct kick for the breaststroke. It's one of the things that frustrates new swimmers. What they are getting at is lack of progress you seems to make when you first start trying to do the kick.

I have a lot of drill that I use to help be able to just do the action of a breaststroke kick but getting some kind of power out of it is another matter altogether. It needs to be remembered however that the biggest part of the problem at least to start with is an illusion. People get used to the feel of the strong propulsion that you get when you are doing a flutter kick and the much more gentle movement of a frog kick seem so sedate as to make you think you are not making any progress when in fact you are.

So basically the first thing you have to do is relax and allow yourself to feel like you are going slower. If you are doing the basics correctly you will come to realize that you may be making good progress.

Breaststroke Kick (Frog Kick) From Above

Breaststroke Kick (Frog Kick) From The Side

The Glide

Once you get the basics down you then need to concentrate on your glide. Now inexperienced swimmers have a tendency to look at faster swimmers and say "what glide". This is because to the inexperienced eye it looks like faster swimmers are not taking any time to do a glide. However nothing could be further from reality.

The glide is and essential element in breaststroke and without it your progress will be even slower than it is now. Faster swimmer defiantly glide your just not seeing it yet.

Even if you don't believe me yet just try and add a glide to your kick and stroke and watch the change in your speed.

Then sequence is simple kick, face down and glide, stroke, rinse and repeat (start the sequence again).

Enjoy
   Richard

Breaststroke Kick (Frog Kick) Faults - Pull Buoy Fix

Breaststroke Kick or Frog Kick, Faults and Fix using a Pull Buoy

Do you have a problem with your breaststroke kick?

1. One leg kicking faster than the other
2. One foot in, one foot out
3. Pain in your knee

The element that most swimmers, predominantly beginners by not them alone, have difficulty with. It's also the fault that gives coaches the most problems in their attempts to fix it.

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This video shows one of the best fixes I've ever used. Sure sometimes it's as simple as getting in the water with the student and moving their feet in the correct motion until they get it. But often as soon as you let go of the legs the student goes straight back to what they were doing.

Breaststroke With Pull Buoy

Sometimes you can just stand on the edge of the pool and tell the swimmer every time they get it right and every time they get it wrong. But often as soon as you stop telling them what to do, they go straight back to doing the fault.

There are many more tricks that teachers and coaches use to fix the breaststroke kick but I have to say that this drill is now my first choice as soon as the student is capable of a stroke that resembles breaststroke or a swimmer presents to me with kicking problems. By far and away this drill has fixed more faults, more easily than any of my other drills. On top of all that the narrower kick helps avoid knee pain.

So if you are having problems fixing or helping someone to fix their breaststroke kick you need to try this drill.

Enjoy
   Richard

Learn How To Swim 101 - Breaststroke - the Arm Action - Breathing

Breaststroke Breathing Arm Action

Once you have established the basics of your breaststroke it is time to start to learn to breathe.

By now you should be lifting your head out of the water. By that I mean you should have your head coming out of the water something like this.

Breaststroke Breathing Position Side View

Breaststroke In-sweep

If you are finding that you are not getting your head out more or less like this, it's probably because when you put your head under the water you are putting it too deep under water.

When you begin the stroke you should start in the torpedo position and end in the torpedo position and the top of the back of your head should not go fully under the water. I often say to my swimming students that they should try to keep the top of the back of their heads just on or out of the surface of the water.

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I sometimes get an argument from some of my students to the effect of "I've seen them at the Olympics having their head under water". Then I have to explain that if you look closely you will see that the winning swimmers are the ones that keep the top of the back of their heads skimming along the surface of the water and that whilst it may look like they have their head under the water it is actually just the wake forming over their head that they can see.

Then I tell them that they need to practice to get it right and that the start of the practice is to keep the top of the back of their head just out of the water.

The other thing that may make it difficult for you to get your head out of the water is that you are not  finishing the sweep at your shoulders.

Lifting Your Head At The Start of Your Stroke

It is very common for those new to breast stroke to finish the stroke at their hips and trying to lift their heads at the end of the stroke rather than the beginning. The result is that the swimmer has no more lift in their stroke in order to get the head out of the water. Thus there is no way to take a breath.

The lesson is keep your strokes short and lift your head at the start of the stroke and you should be doing fine. The moment you've mastered that, you are ready for the breathing.

All you have to do now is blow all your air out (lots of bubbles, big bubbles, blow everything out) under the water. Then lift your head at the beginning of the stroke and breathe in. This way you will get a full lung of air and you won't run out half way through your stroke.

You are going to get this wrong and occasionally take a mouthful of water. Don't get discouraged. When this happens reread the above,  practice the lifting of your head out of the water the correct way and after some practice try again.

With enough practice you will get this right.

Next time we will talk about the breaststroke leg action.

Enjoy
   Richard

How To Whip Kick: Learn How To Swim 101 - Breaststroke

Now I Want To Change It

The breaststroke kick is possibly the most difficult kick for many, if not all swimmers. And now to make it worse I want to change it and have us learn how to whip kick.

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The whip kick is a variation on the frog kick that some feel is more efficient and therefore all swimmers should use it.

I am not a competitively coach. I teach swimming. I have no interest in being a swimming coach. I have been a judo coach and I know the amount of hours you need to put in to be a good coach and to put those kind of hours into being a swimming coach as well seems to me to be just unreasonable so I don't even try.

I am a swimming teacher because I love to teach and for this reason I cannot attest to whether or not the whip kick is a more efficient kick or not. Except to say I have seen no evidence that it changes anyones  efficiency when it comes to breaststroke.


What I have noticed is that those who knees are under strain with the frog kick, if they manage to master the whip kick they find much less stress on their knees. For this reason it is worth trying.

How To Whip Kick

The idea is simple enough. If you have mastered the frog kick you should have no trouble with the breaststroke whip kick. All you have to do is keep your knees closer when you start the kick.

Like this:

Breaststroke Whip Kick

Now just in case your having trouble seeing the difference here is the picture of the frog kick:

Breaststroke Kick Viewed From Above

Pretty simple really. Anyway give it a go and see what you think feels best for you.

Enjoy
   Richard

Breaststroke Kick: How To Feel More Resistance In Yours

How To Feel More Resistance In Your Breaststroke Kick!

This is a quick tip video on how to feel more resistance on the bottom of your feet within your breaststroke kick.

Breastroke Kick

So the first thing you want to do to improve that resistance feels on your feet is to actually bring your feet up and point them all the way and feel how you have zero leverage with the water once you feel that at the moment. Then on the next kick go the complete opposite where you feel that resistance all the way through so that way it also improves your awareness and you get a better feel within your breaststroke kick.

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So go ahead and practice in one or two segments of that kick where you actually with purpose point your feet all the way through, which is wrong, just so you get a feel and then correct it by completely moving your foot in the opposite direction. Once you go through that extreme this will help overall improve your breaststroke kick and once you get a feel of that continue and repeat the same skill again corrected and you will continue to improve your glide from your kick feeling that resistance again.

So once you get a feel of that kick then you're gonna go through breaststroke where you actually kind of separate two kicks before you take a breath. This will help you maximize each kick and get a better feel with each repetition.

So just a quick recap feel free to experiment and just take one or two repetitions where you point your feet and feel how there is absolutely zero leverage in the water you're almost kicking the air and then finish it with the complete opposite and get more leverage by feeling that resistance off the bottom of your feet.

Enjoy     
Richard