Of all the strokes, Breaststroke is the least streamlined stroke. Usually the more
streamline you are when swimming breaststroke the faster you'll be able to swim it.
Swimmers like Adam Peaty are revolutionising the stroke by adding a considerable amount of power and
strength into it, for the extra speed needed for Olympic standard swimming.
So lets take a look at the kick phase of the stroke and how to perform it.
We're going to take a look at two different ways to do breaststroke kick, which are both
extremely similar and trying to get the same result.
The first one is breaststroke kicking on your front with your hands by your side
and a second is the same except for being in a streamline position.
The aims for both are exactly the same. Keep your body as close to the surface of water as
possible, stay as streamlined as possible and accelerate the leg kick so it's more
of a whip kick. When doing this it's important to always look directly down
to the pool floor this helps keep your spine straight and therefore helping
your hips to remain near the surface which reduces your drag and resistance
through the water.
When thinking about the leg kick the most vital thing to do is to turn your
feet outwards in order to be able to push more water with not just your feet
but also your shin. You want to use the lower part of your leg to act as a
paddle, pushing against the water. The bigger the surface area, the more water
you'll be able to push. However turning your feet out does
increase your drag. So once you perform the whip kick action you want to return
as streamlined as possible again by pointing your toes, as if you're a
ballerina, extending your ankles.
A challenge you can set yourself for when you do the kick with your hands by your side
is trying to raise your feet up and kick your fingers before performing the
propulsive phase of the kick. By doing this, this encourages your ankles to stay
in line of your hips helping with your body position and being more streamlined.
When moving into the streamline Breaststroke Kick, replicate the same movement
imagining your fingers will still be there.
The key to this drill is having a high body position and being streamlined, with
that in mind Breaststroke Kick does have a few common faults which hamper this.
First of which, a lot of swimmers who are learning to swim do, is performing the
Breaststroke Kick with knees underneath their body. Instead of focusing on
bringing their feet up towards their bum, some younger swimmers tuck their knees
up towards their chest which obviously puts some out of streamline and drops
their body position.
Another fault is not having your feet turned outwards which I
mentioned a little earlier in a tutorial. If a swimmer is finding it hard to turn
their feet out and you're trying to teach a whip kick their kick may turn
into a more of a dolphin movement. So, before bringing in a whip kick you must
practice turning your feet outwards by simply bending your ankles as much as possible.
A final common fault is performing this drill with your head too
high. Whenever doing this drill you should always be looking directly at the floor.
When you need to breathe, just lift your head out of the water, take a quick
breath and return it into the water by looking at the floor again.
So if you like the look of this drill and want to try it yourself, let us know how you get
on in the comments below. We're always here to help!
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tutorials. From me Dan, from him Scott, catch on the next one!