Breaststroke Arms Get Tired

I can’t really swim. I can only swim in about 2ft of water because when my breaststroke arms get tired I put them on the floor. How can I stop my arms from getting tired and how can I swim in a little bit deeper water Help!

There are two issues that need to be addressed here. Firstly you need to build up your confidence with swimming in deeper water and secondly there needs to be a change made to your breaststroke technique.

Let’s deal with your breaststroke technique first of all. Breaststroke gets its power and momentum from the whip kick leg action. The legs drive back and around to give the stroke its thrust and the arms are there to balance and assist.

Momentum is then maintained with a long glide where the arms and legs are straight and together at the same time.

Many people make the mistake of using their arms to haul themselves through the water. This only makes the stroke less efficient and which then leads to a higher energy consumption. This would explain why your arms are getting tired quickly.

Try kicking your legs whilst holding a float or kick board. This will develop your breaststroke leg kick technique and leg strength and stamina. It will most probably be just as tiring to begin with but in time your breaststroke will become stronger.

Ok, so on to your next issue and I’m afraid the answer is an obvious one: get out of the shallow water and swim in deeper water!


Notice I say ‘deeper’ water and not necessarily deep water. By that I mean swim where you can stand up but not where you are able to put your hands down of the pool floor.

The only way to become more confident and stronger swimming out of your depth is to gradually venture there. Whilst you are swimming in 2ft of water where you can put your hands on the floor, you always will do just that, purely out of habit because you can.

Try swimming in water of about shoulder depth and practice stopping and standing mid swim, just to convince yourself you can stand up. Then challenge yourself to swim that little bit further each time you get tired.

This will push your swimming fitness that bit further each time and together with your new found breaststroke leg kick you will be swimming for longer and off into deeper water before you know it.

Our best-selling book 'The Complete Guide to Swimming Breaststroke' contains aspects of learning to swim plus over 80 separate swimming exercises to help all parts of basic swimming, including breaststroke leg kick and standing up whilst swimming. You can download it, print out the parts you need and take them to your pool to try out. Click the link below for more information.

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