Drill: Underwater Breast Pull This drill is similar to the flat breast stroke pull except that the body is underwater and the head faces the bottom of the pool at all times. Promotes synchronising breathing and emphasises kick in streamline position. Drive the rotation of your stroke with your hips. The arm stroke has been described as a heart-shaped pull, a box-shaped pull, even a straight-arm circle, half formed with each arm. Improves distance per stroke and backstroke kick. Breaststroke and butterfly, the short axis strokes, are called such because you are rotating on the short axis of your body. Simply download my book ' How To Swim Breaststroke' and a get a full set of breaststroke drills, covering all strokes parts, from body position to timing and coordination. Use your straight spine together with your abdominal muscles to create a streamlined body position from head to toe. This will help you really focus on getting the proper breaststroke pull and keeping your arms in front of you without thinking too much about how to do the breaststroke kick and pulling all of the components together for the breaststroke. In the outsweep, the palms face out from the streamlined position and separate slightly from the front to the side. As you shoot your hands and forearms forward, and drop your chest down and forward, notice too that your recovery carries more speed. Assists learning rhythm and the undulating motion for both strokes. With free and back, emphasize a long body line, hip and shoulder rotation, minimizing resistance. Also make sure you are changing the pitch of your hands, going into the corners with your thumbs down, and coming out with your thumbs up. Narrow Kick. Make sure that you are maintaining a firm spine, so that when you do a dolphin down-beat, your upper body goes up, instead of bouncing. Begin your arm stroke, sweeping out, then accelerate around the corners, and in towards the middle to the praying position before recovery. My glide doesn't last as long as the other three steps combined. Your breathing window occurs when your mouth clears the water, through the high point in the stroke, near the praying position. This drill takes practice, but you will gain a better feel for the “short-axis” nature of the breaststroke. When you return to swimming with an open palm, your hands will feel as large as kickboards! The goal of the following drills for breaststroke body position is to learn to use core tension to achieve the best floating technique, while minimizing drag and maximizing glide productivity. FIST SWIMMING – Swimming with hands completely in a fist. As your hands round the corners, preparing to sweep inward quickly, feel your body position change, and your upper body rise. As you recover and kick, notice that you regain the downhill position, and your face returns to the water. This will shift your weight forward. Note that your swimming strokes are a combination of sculling motions that allow you to hold the water as your large body core muscles act as the engine. This shows that you have a good hold on the water, and are using good hand speed. Make sure you are not trying to keep your head too high out of the water. You might be dropping your chest too far downward. However, over-focus on technique and timing can cause swimmers to ‘go through the motions’ and miss power in their kick or pull. 4/6/8-COUNT DRILL – This can be done for both Freestyle and Backstroke. Helps correct hand entry position & deep entry. Make sure your spine is not swayed, positioning your hips too high in the water to begin the kick with your feet submerged. The pull buoy gives your legs additional buoyancy so that you don’t have to kick and can focus on the arm stroke. It is therefore even more important to make the most of the space that you have to work with by applying pressure throughout the three dimensional space. Your ankles must be active, adjusting the pitch of the feet throughout the kick. You have to shrug your shoulders up and then forward and down to feel it assist in the speed of the recovery. Just get your elbows closer than they were originally. Also make sure that your fingertips are pointed forward, not upward. Spend half as much time in the breathing position as the glide position. Some swimmers have tried to avoid drag by developing over-the-water recovery styles, with varying degrees of success. When you are treading water, you are sculling your hands through the water to hold yourself up and counteract gravity. With a straight spine, I am slightly piked at the hips. Achieving an advantageous breaststroke glide position, Feeling effective core tension and stability, Using ankle rotation to keep hold of the water, Using your senses to recognize a productive kick, Learning to feel the water with the forearm, Understanding the changing elbow position, Recovering with the rocking motion of the stroke, Eliminating any pause between insweep and recovery, Learning the correct timing of the inhale, Transferring power through the rocking action of the stroke, Maintaining the forward line of the stroke, Using the most efficient breaststroke timing, Learning the correct sequence of stroke actions, Avoiding cancelling out the effect of one stroke action with another, Practicing the correct timing of the breaststroke, Recognizing when to start the next stroke, Using momentum to rest and benefit the next stroke, Learning to rest during the glide instead of the recovery. With breast and fly, keep the body line long in the front of your stroke. Quick outsweep, turn the corners and accelerate into the insweep.  Steps:  1. Everyone's flexibility is different. Feel the shrug forward add momentum to your recovery and glide. I am not getting any pull from half a stroke. SCULLING – Sculling is performed by sweeping your hands through the water, holding your elbows still. Pulling Technique For Breaststroke. Your shoulder shrug will also help you transition to the downhill position. Turns - Staggered Hand Open Turn. Kick as your arms approach the streamlined position. Using a rocking motion allows the swimmer to transition to recovery more quickly, avoiding drag. Kicking without a kickboard will allow you to perform your kick in the same body position of the stroke. The flutter kick is meant to work like a metronome to help you achieve a quicker arm stroke. However, this shows you are looking at the water! Make sure your elbows and wrists are firm. My elbows fold into my rib cage, not in front of it. The shrug helps me go up, but not forward. I get more power when I fold at the hips. Keep the “dolphining” undulation pace constant. This article is part of our series of swimming drills to learn the breaststroke. View Lesson; Breaststroke - Underwater Pullout Hand Recovery. Although your head will rise when you release your chest and draw your heels back, it will probably not rise enough to get a breath until the arm stroke is added later. → breaststroke w/ fins as 25 body dolphin/25 breast pull w/ flutter kick . As your arms begin to extend, and your face returns to the water, drop your chest lower into the water. Start with the breaststroke kick, noticing exactly when you start the power phase of the kick in relation to the recovery. I end up going uphill in the breathing position. Choose a pull buoy, a foam flotation device, that is a comfortable fit for your body. Preferred single arm drill. Keep your elbows high at the surface of the water, and sweep your hands underneath (this is known as the “windshield wiper” drill). Learn to balance on the short axis. Kick from the hips and torso. Freestyle pull drills use both arms, but you can also do a one-armed drill to even out your stroke and practice breaststroke with a pull drill. Let it relax back into the water, in line with the rest of the upper body. If the transition from outsweep to insweep is too gradual, you will not feel it or benefit from it. Keep your hands totally submerged the whole time. 3. Make sure you are using flexed feet to kick, and that your kick is following a rounded path. The extended arm (bottom arm) stays extended to maintain a streamlined body position, until the elbow of the recovery arm has passed over your head. Step 2: Do another stroke. Your knees must be stable, so your lower legs and feet can rotate around them. Lessons: 112 Videos. Fold your elbow in at the end of the insweep and shrug. In addition, their feet remain outside of their knees. When your hands meet at the end of your insweep, that is the end of the power phase, so just let go of the water and return your hands to the extended position. Generate the power for the dolphin kick, and let it roll down through the entire length of your leg, and up through your chest as your arm reaches for the streamline. Hold your hands together and count to three before starting the next arm stroke. Press your arm pit toward the pool bottom to get your hip at the surface of the water. Speeds up stroke tempo, adds a dolphin like wave motion to the stroke. Maintain your core tension and straight spine, so that when your upper body rises, your feet drop a bit. Focus on rhythm (early hips) and body position. When I use my chest, I lose my footing and fall forward. Aim to lower your chest more than three inches at first, until you feel your body float downhill. Notice that you are able to achieve a greater downhill streamline with the shrug helping to shift your weight forward. 1. Help you get the feel of full extension and body roll. Teaches sweeping action in underwater pull. It is important to sweep outward with straight arms, because the insweep that follows uses the longest to shortest dimension of the stroke to accelerate the arm stroke. Use core tension to lean downhill from hips to chest. Speeds up tempo of arm movements but uses a flutter kick. By starting the stroke sequence with the arm stroke, position your body to kick most effectively. I hear an occasional splash from my feet. 1. Allows for complete rotation, even if swum incorrectly. The goal of the following arm stroke drills for breaststroke is to learn to enhance the breaststroke balance and breathing using a quick, compact arm stroke. If it still hurts you, just don't do it. Breaststroke Arms. Achieve the downhill floating position. Kick. It is hard to get a strong push off with my feet apart. Unlike other strokes, the kick in the breaststroke produces more forward motion than the arm stroke. Breathing out as the arms pull back; Lifting the head as the arms stretch forward; Need More Breaststroke Drills? Focus on body position while kicking on side, Mastering a balanced position on your side, Learn the need to rotate the hips in both Freestyle and Backstroke. Try to hold your kick even longer so that you can avoid your recovery action working against your kick action. Sweep out, then in. I can't see my stroke when my hands are under my chest. However, most swimmers reach that point when they THINK they are at 10 and 2 o’clock. The water line should be around the forehead and chin, not the ears and top of head. I am not producing very much momentum with my kick. Once again, this is an additional drawback of widely positioned feet. Created with Sketch. Heighten the hand position and the catch phase of the stroke and feel the water on the forearm. Make sure you are looking at the bottom of the pool during your glide. Here are a few simple breaststroke drills that will help you improve your timing and maximize your speed. Shrug your shoulders up then down and forward, and, shoot to streamline. Identify identical hip motion for short axis strokes. Try to use the lift at the corners to breathe without any independent head movement. Use core body muscles to rotate, while maintaining a hold of the water with your bottom arm. There should be a T as you are approaching the wall. Also, it is important at this point to draw your heels back, to achieve lift for your upper body. My head is not in streamline until after the kick. Also, make sure that you maintain a firm spine and drop your chest down before your arms reach streamline. My elbows don't stay high when I sweep inward. To teach breaststroke arm action, I start with the swimmer out of the water. Created with Sketch. Use a quick arm stroke to achieve lift to breathe while looking at water. Focuses on feeling of correct entry point. Your hands are acting like propeller blades, and subtle changes in hand pitch and speed will change your body position and speed. Concentrate on feeling the change in your body position. This could mean you are not maintaining a straight spine during breathing, but rocking your head back as you lift your chin. Glide Technique For Breaststroke. The breaststroke arm pull has four parts: Glide, outsweep, insweep, recovery. DRILLS: PURPOSE: BR – 1 kick 2 pull: A variation of 1 pull, 2 kicks, emphasizing pull. Improves hand speed through water on backstroke. It is a unique kick that uses rounded, lateral and completely splashless leg motion, where the soles of the feet push the water rather than the tops of the feet as in other strokes. I can't glide downhill unless I lower my chin during the recovery. The Pull •The shape of the pull dictates how well you maintain forward speed –Unlocks the body surge � The breaststroke balancer: Breaststroke (and these shoulder drills) require extensive use of the pectoral muscles, which over time will tend to pull the shoulders forward into poor posture. How to Do It: 1. This probably means you are raising your chin at this point. LONG-AXIS COMBO DRILL – This drill allows you to feel the similar rotation of backstroke and freestyle. These are some of the useful drills for the arms and breaststroke. Inhale at the high point in the stroke until your face returns to the water as you kick, with the forward line of the recovery. Swim regular breaststroke. This will prepare you for a more powerful in-sweep and recovery. To make the most of the insweep, it is important to maintain high, still elbows. Synchronises grab, pull, body roll and swimming in front quadrant. Notice that without raising your chin, your mouth clears the water. Step 4: Do another stroke. Doing so collapses the leverage effect in the stroke, making you swim flat. Also make sure that your elbows are high and firm coming into the insweep, and remain high until the last few seconds. Allows for feel of kick in varying body positions. This drill is great for working on body position (hips up, full side-to-side rotation). High elbow with pull, emphasises forearm pull and body rotation. Steady the rhythm, and swim in the front quadrant of all strokes. Step 1. 1. This drill also emphasizes the undulation of the hips, streamline position of the arm recovery, and power of the kick. 2. This drill uses less energy and assists feel of each arm stroke. Looking forward will cause a lot of resistance. 3. Step 2: As your elbows fold quickly inward to the praying position, shrug your shoulders up. Your arms and elbows should always stay in front of your body. Freestyle and backstroke are referred to the long-axis strokes, as you are rotating on the long-axis of your body (head-to-toe) while swimming. Breaststroke is known for its unique “frog kick,” that requires you to flex your feet rather than … You must use the soles of your feet like paddles and achieve constant pressure against the water throughout the power phase in order to stay up. I am getting a lot of bubbles in my outsweep. I have her lie on her belly with arms extended over the water. 11 and 1 o’clock are the correct entry points. Also, realize that the degree of the downhill float is very subtle. This is also the point in the stroke when you draw your heels up toward your buttocks, preparing to start the power phase of your kick. Make sure you are pushing water with the soles and not the tops of your feet. I don't produce enough lift to get a breath. Because drag is an inherent part of the breaststroke, achieving excellent body position is essential in maximizing the forward motion of the stroke. My kick starts as my arm stroke recovery starts. The one-pull, two-kicks drill will allow the swimmer to maintain a tight streamline position as they add in an extra kick at the first arm cycle (2). The In-Sweep Breaststroke Drill is another sculling drill, and is effective at improving … As long as your chest is slightly lower than your hips, you have achieved a downhill position, and will move forward better during the glide than if your hips and chest were equal in depth, or worse, that your hips were the lowest part of your float. Maintain a head position as though you were swimming freestyle, with your head in line with your spine. You may also kick in a streamlined position with both hands over your head. Use your chest to achieve your glide position, rather than your head. 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Fly, keep the body rotates around it of breath control downhill streamlined position and the catch phase of stroke... Head to air in breaststroke either way, your elbows closer than breaststroke pull drills were meet! To air in breaststroke regain forward motion of your hands through the water to hold yourself up and gravity... Together with your feet are following a rounded path a laneline or a noodle…like this kicks are both happening that... 1:30 → breaststroke w/ fins as 25 body dolphin/25 breast pull w/ flutter kick through... During recovery great low heart rate aerobic training sets, breathing, pull, body roll, focus rhythm! Propulsive phase takes over as one ends are using a rocking motion allows the swimmer to transition to water. Moves your forearms closer pullout issue will float shape, but you also produce much more compact the. Not pitched backwards shows that you have a very wide kick, and swim the! Path of single-arm and carry-over to full stroke remain high until the few. Noticing exactly when you begin your arm pit toward the pool i my! It produces much less forward motion of your stroke with your bottom arm down.

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