Both the wave and flat styles of breaststroke benefit by putting your head and body underwater at the start of each kick. From US Masters Rule Book Some part of the swimmers head shall break the surface of the water at least once during each complete cycle of one armstroke and one leg kick. Article 101.2.
The breaststroke is one of the most popular swimming strokes. Experienced swimmers, as well as competition swimmers, however, dip their head underwater during the glide phase, which improves their position in the water and reduces drag.
Swimming Breaststroke with the Head Above Water
Generations of swimmers have learned to swim this way. I did so as a child. You swim on your chest in an inclined position all the time so that you can always keep your head above water.
The easiest way to swim with your head out of the water is to swim Breaststroke. The body position for breaststroke allows your legs to be deep in the water and your head, mouth and nose out of the water, and the stroke to still be effective. You will need a strong leg kick to keep you up and moving.
To improve your breaststroke technique your body position should be with your head facing forward in line with your body. Keep your shoulders, hips and legs as horizontal as possible but slope your body slightly to allow the leg kick to stay beneath the water.
Too Much Head Movement
In breaststroke, this means keeping your head in a neutral position as you take your breath, using the pull to lift yourself up instead of bobbing your head up and down. Moving your head around will throw off your body position and sink your hips.
The most important thing is to avoid asymmetric leg motion. Make sure you don't open your legs too wide but keep them parallel, with your knees close. Avoid doing a scissor-kick. In the thrust phase, drive your legs back into a stretched position to propel yourself forward.
When To Breathe? During breaststroke, a breath should be taken every stroke. In other words, you should breathe in and out with every arm pull and leg kick, respectively. Breaststroke can be performed by taking a breath every other stroke, and this is also correct, but it can sometimes be more tiring.
Unfortunately, the freestyle stroke is not as easy to pick up as the breaststroke. It requires proper coordination, of breathing and swimming, to be used effectively. And, you have to know how to hold your breath because you will be submerged in the water for a large portion of your swim.
The push is very simple for natural-born breaststrokers. They can turn their feet out and, instead of wedging with their legs and pushing with their inner thighs (the old-style frog kick), they can grab the water with the inside edges of their feet and push back on the water for propulsive force.
Breaststroke can be divided up into 4 distinct phases, which consists of the out sweep, in sweep, breathing phase, and lunge, extension, or recovery phase.
How often should I breathe? Swimmers breathe every 2, 3 or 4 strokes in general. Most coaches will teach young swimmers to breath every 4 strokes on their left side and every 4 strokes on their right side, so that they develop both sides of the body.
Breaststroke is a much better cardiovascular workout than the other strokes. It helps strengthen heart and lungs while toning thighs, upper back, triceps, hamstrings and lower legs. It helps to work and tone the chest muscles.
By far, breaststroke is one of the hardest strokes to master, and often you are or you are not a natural breaststroker. There are still a lot of very experienced swimmers who can swim everything except breaststroke, and you have very good breaststrokers who can only swim breaststroke.
The reason is most likely due to your kick not being efficient and when you speed up your tempo, you don't change the width of your kick. If you want to go faster, you need to learn to KICK FASTER and to kick faster – you need to kick with a SMALLER kick.
The notion of doing flip turns in breaststroke (or butterfly) might seem strange. The first thing that comes to mind for most swimmers is probably “I'll get DQ'd.” But interestingly, as long as you still touch the wall with both hands, flip turns are perfectly legal in breaststroke and butterfly.
Short arm pulls will result in less distance swum and more energy consumed. If you swim breaststroke then each arm pull and leg kick must be followed by a glide. The power of the stroke comes from the leg kick, and the harder the kick, the further you can glide.
Front crawl: Swimming uses all major muscle groups and boosts cardio fitness and endurance. Despite being the fastest, most continuous stroke, crawl is more economical in energy expenditure than breaststroke. Breaststroke: Breaststroke is the slowest competitive stroke, but uses most energy.
Breaststroke. The breast stroke is the slowest stroke, but also the easiest. It is one of the first strokes taught to young swimmers.
Like all strokes in general, the breaststroke casting is very effective for strengthen stomach muscles. Thanks to the movements of the arms and legs, it also allows you to work the shoulders, waist and buttocks. However, be careful not to overdo it, at the risk of tiring yourself out, especially in the hips and knees.