Swim Faster Breaststroke
Could you give me some swimming tips on how to swim faster breaststroke?
Speed in breaststroke comes from a powerful leg kick and an efficient glide.
Breaststroke leg kick has a powerful whip action with the heels and soles of the feet providing the surface area with which to push against the water. The legs and feet then come together to glide momentarily.
You can help to build up the strength and stamina of your leg kicks by holding a kickboard or float and kicking breaststroke legs. The float will cause a resistance and so will force your legs to kick harder in order to generate some movement through the water. Do not be put off if you find yourself not going anywhere. Keep practicing!
To have an efficient glide your head must be face down in the water with your arms extended out in front with hands together. The more streamlined and narrow your body is, the faster and more efficiently it will move through the water.
The timing of the pull, kick and glide is essential to giving breaststroke some efficiency. One of the most common mistakes people make with breaststroke timing is to pull and kick at the same time. This results in very slow movement through the water.
Try to ‘kick your hands forwards’. In other words pull and THEN kick, so that you kick as you extend your arms and hands forwards into a glide. You can then glide for a second or two before pulling again and performing the sequence again.
You will of course need to breathe at some point and this is done as you pull with your arms. The trick with the timing of breaststroke breathing is to pull your head up and then kick your head down again. That way your head is down during the glide phase, making your breaststroke more efficient and therefore faster.
Our best-selling book 'The Complete Guide to Swimming Breaststroke' contains over 20 separate swimming exercises to help all parts of breaststroke, including the leg kick and the timing. 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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Best Practice Exercises & Top Technique Tips
Breaststroke Swimming Technique Made EASY
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