Breaststroke as a swimming style is the most commonly used style in the sport of swimming. Breaststroke is also the most common swimming style among amateur swimmers. This is because it is one of the few styles that can be swum at a relaxed pace. Additionally, it's also the style that kids are drawn to, along with the crawl, which has become more popular in the last few years. However, don't forget that it can also be incredibly hard when swum at a fast pace, as it is in competitive swimming.
Learn to swim breaststroke correctly in 4 steps
Step 1 - Correct starting position
Below you can see what your starting position should look like, it is important that you lie with your legs straight and your instep straight. This is significant to create as little resistance as possible.
Step 2 - Armrest
Now bring your hands down towards your hips. It's significant to remember to keep your palms facing outwards to get the best possible pressure on the water. Then bring your arms back up towards your starting position and when your arms are almost stretched out in front of your body, slowly bring your heels up towards your buttocks.
Step 3 - Leg kick
It is now essential that you give a hard and, more importantly, an oblique kick backwards. This should result in the water between your knees and feet disappearing. While doing this, it's significant that you stay underwater, and this is where you should exhale through your nose.
Step 4 - Breathe
After step 3, you should be on your way back to your starting position. But before your arms are fully extended and back to your starting position, lift your head and breathe before repeating the previous steps again.
Below, in the videos, you can see what breaststroke should look like when swum correctly.
Typical mistakes you just can't make
Just like in the other swimming styles, there are also a lot of mistakes you can make when swimming breaststroke. These will be attempted to be pointed out below along with a solution on what to do instead.
Pulling arms and doing leg kicks simultaneously
Mistake: You try to kick and pull your arms at the same time
Consequence: You lose propulsion as you try to swim with as much water resistance as possible.
Solution: Alternate your arms and legs separately. This ensures the best possible starting position.
Asynchronous kicks
Mistake: Your legs don't move at the same time and you kick crookedly.
Consequence: You ruin your rhythm after you're out of the starting position at two points in time.
Solution: Focus on keeping your legs moving together the whole way. If you're going too fast, slow down the pace.
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This is the swimming equipment you need to improve your breaststroke
To improve and train your breaststroke, it's important to have the right equipment. For example, it makes a lot of sense to get a swim board if you want to practise your leg kick. The swimming board keeps your upper body above water, so you ONLY have to concentrate on getting your leg kick under control. Here are 4 of Watery.ie's most popular items for breaststroke training:
- Swim goggles
- Pullboy
- Swim board for practising the leg kick
- Swimwear
2 exercises to swim better breaststroke
To inspire your swim training, here are three easy swimming exercises to help you improve your breaststroke and avoid making the above mistakes over and over again.
Exercise 1 - Swim economically with a long stroke
As breaststroke is seen by most recreational swimmers as the “easy” style of swimming, which can be swum at a much slower pace and heart rate than the other styles, most people naturally relax. This often results in a very slow swim, where everything moves very slowly.
To counteract this, this video shows what a proper rhythmic breaststroke looks like, where the arm stroke is taken before the leg kick and the body then glides long and streamlined.
Exercise 2 - Speed in the swim
One exercise for this can be to replace the standard breaststroke kick with a fin kick. This aerial leg kick encourages even more movement in the swim, and the frequency of the swim is automatically increased.
Although this exercise may seem to require more effort than usual, it develops your breaststroke so that you move away from the cone swim and get into a fast rhythm instead.