Effortless Form: Breaststroke

Module One - Kick

In this first module, weʼre going to learn how to kick in breaststroke with power, while keeping good body position. Some swimmers naturally have a good kicking technique, while others may need to work harder it. Before we begin with the kick, it helps to warm up and stretch before doing breaststroke, particularly if you a prone to sore knees and joints.

I recommend a light land based warm up of a short jog, squats and breaststroke stretches. The main stretches are your groin, hamstrings and gluts.

Speed and power in breaststroke come largely form the kick which is why there are several drills in this module. Once you become comfortable with breaststroke kick, a great way to develop your kick is to do vertical kick on a regular basis.

Breaststroke Kick On Back

The first drill is breaststroke kick on the back. We do this drill to make sure our knees are not coming out of the water, which would create resistance if weʼre on our front. If youʼre new to breaststroke, grab a kick board and hold it on your chest for this

drill. It will keep you balanced in the water.

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Hand To Heel Kick

This drill is commonly used by elite breaststrokers. To do hand to heel kick, kick on your front with your arms by side. With each kick your feet should be touching your hands. We do this drill for two primary reasons. By touching our feet with our hands, we make sure our feet come

all the way up to our bum so we don't miss out on any kick. The other reason hand to heel kick is important is because we need to balance our body so our legs don't sink after each kick. It forces us to push down with our upper body to bring the legs close to the surface. Itʼs important to take the kick slowly and let your legs raise after each kick.

One Pull Two Kicks

This drill is a commonly used drill because itʼs easy to do, and itʼs a good way to practice your kick and work on good body position. This drill is the same as normal breaststroke but you add an extra kick at the end of your stroke. Be sure to stay under the water during the second kick, keep

your arms streamlined and lengthen out your body.

One Pull Three Kicks

With the next progression of this drill, add another kick in to make it one pull three kicks. You will need to work hard to control your breath and stay under the water during all three kicks, but it makes good practice.

One Pull Four Kicks

Now the most challenging progression of this drill is doing four kicks to one pull. I choose to limit this drill to 25 or 50 meters at a time because it requires a good amount of oxygen to stay under the water for all four kicks. Itʼs

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important to slow down and not rush this drill, as our goal is still to practice our kick and body position. Itʼs good practice for swimming breaststroke when youʼre tired and you need to maintain your technique at the end of a race.

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Module Two - Pull

Breaststroke pull can be broken down in to three stages. The outsweep, insweep and the recovery (also known as the drive forward). In this module weʼre going to go through several drills that will help you practice each stage of the pull and put them together for a smooth yet powerful breaststroke pull.

To go further into it, the outsweep starts with your hands shoulder width apart, thumbs pointing down. Sweep your hands out past your shoulders. The goal of the outsweep is to move your body from under the water to the top of the water, preparing you for the insweep where you will pull yourself forward. The insweep starts by moving your hands down and keeping your elbows high, this is what we call ʻgetting on top of the strokeʼ. Once your hands have lifted your head and shoulders out of the water, squeeze your arms close to your body and bring your hands close to your chest. This is where you start the recovery phase. Your hands will drive forward, moving from your thumbs pointing out, to pointing inwards. Your head will face the bottom of the pool during this stage as you stretch out and streamline forward. Now for the first drill.

Out Sweep Scull

This is a drill we regularly do in training as it helps you get a feel for the catch position of each of the strokes. Itʼs particularly good for

breaststroke as we are isolating the outsweep stage of the pull. To do this drill, kick horizontally on your front with freestyle kick, and scull with your arms extended out in front of you. The method is thumbs down during the outward scull and thumbs up during the inward scull. This drill isnʼt done fast so donʼt rush it, just practice feeling the water.

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In Sweep Scull

This is similar to the previous drill, except weʼre now practicing the second stage of breaststroke pull which is the insweep. Rather than

sculling out on front, weʼre now sculling underneath our chin. The same method applies to thumbs up and thumbs down, but now weʼre familiarizing ourself with the feeling of the insweep. Again, take this drill slowly for maximum benefit.

Breaststroke Pull

This is a drill you may be familiar with. Breaststroke pull with fly kick is a good way to strengthen your pull. To do this drill you will be doing butterfly kick instead of breaststroke kick. To start with I recommend using fins for this drill so you get a good feel for what a strong pull feels like. I usually teach

swimmers to do two butterfly kicks per pull because it keeps you in a better rhythm, but one kick is also fine.

Quarter Pull

The next four drills are a drill progression designed to get the most out of your pull. We begin with a quarter pull. Swim breaststroke as you normally would but instead of doing a full pull, I want you to pull only a quarter of the distance, and then

drive forward. Over the next few drills we are going to increase the amount of pull.

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Half pull

Now we increase the pull a touch more to half pull. These initial drills are helping to develop a strong a catch, which is why weʼre only pulling to a half distance at the moment.

Three Quarter Pull

Now weʼre almost at a full pull but we stop at three quarters and drive forward. Youʼll notice its hard to distinguish between half, three quarter and full pull by looking at Jeremy in these drills. What weʼre aiming for is going for the feeling, so as long

as you feel like your pulling to three quarters thats the important thing.

Full pull

Now itʼs time time to unleash your full stroke, so youʼre pulling right back and feeling the power of a full breaststroke pull. After these drills you should feel strong and like your catching a lot of water. Thats the goal.

One Fly Kick / One Normal Kick

As the name suggests this drill is just like normal breaststroke but for every second kick we substitute in a butterfly kick. This drill is another

good one for increasing strength and power in breaststroke, and by mixing in breaststroke kick and fly kick, weʼre able to improve both kick and pull power.

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One High Pull / One Normal Pull

This drill is good practicing a clean pull which gets you high out of the water and sits you high when you start your kick. To do this drill, you pull yourself higher out of the water than normal on every second stroke. Itʼs hard to notice when watching a swimmer do this drill, but once

again weʼre just going for the feel of it. So if you feel like your getting higher on the 2nd stroke, thatʼs what weʼre aiming for.

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Module Four - Breaststroke Swim

Now we put together everything weʼve learnt from the drills. Normal breaststroke swim isnʼt much different to what weʼve been doing, the key is now to get the timing right. Hereʼs how it goes together. Start your stroke with the outsweep, moving your body to the surface, you then begin the insweep and start your

kick by lifting your heels to your bum. and then as you begin the recovery with your arms and drive forward, thats when you finish your kick by snapping your legs away from your bum and bringing your legs together. I find it helps if you donʼt think too much about it, but rather make small adjustments during your stroke.

With these drills and exercises you will be able to develop a smooth and fast breaststroke. With regular stretching, strength training and a consistent training regime you can dramatically improve your swimming. I wish you all the best in your swimming.

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