How to Swim Breastroke

Posted by LD on August 16, 2010 under Breastroke | 177 Comments to Read

Used in competitive swimming, the breastroke is one of the most recognizable strokes. It is useful for slowly slinking through the water in your backyard pool, or it can be used to propel you to a win in a competitive race. Beginning swimmers often find the breastroke to be among the toughest strokes to master. While you may need a bit of time to get the hang of it, once you learn the breastroke stroke, you will marvel at how much strength you have gained as a swimmer. You should definitely be comfortable with general water safety and have a basic set of swimming skills before trying to learn the breastroke, just as a general rule of thumb. There should not be any fear of submerging your face, or even your whole body for that matter, underwater. It is important that you are able to breathe rhythmically. Anyone who has not mastered these skills is well advised to seek additional instruction from a local swimming resource. Because swimming is a skill best taught by a live instructor, it would b a sound idea to go ahead and take the basic swimming lessons anyway. All instructors should have their certification through the American Red Cross or some other national authority on water safety. Though private swim instruction may be costly, it is optimal for mastering the breastroke, as the teacher will be able to devote substantial attention to your individual technique, instead of being distracted by keeping an eye of the form and safety of the rest of the class. I enjoyed learning the breastroke as an advanced beginning swimmer. It has become my most frequently used stroke.

The way I learned this stroke.

Review the instructions, and then attempt them while on the floor so that you have a feel for the proper technique prior to entering the water. It is wise to master kicking initially, followed by the arm movements. After you feel that you can do both comfortably, that’s when its time to combine the two.

Learning the Breastroke Kick

1. We start by lying face down on the floor or ground, or on a armless chair, stool or even a bench.

2. Bring both knees upwards to the chest.

3. At this stage, imagine the form of a frog: kick both legs out to each side as broadly as possible, and then shift them into an arc to the point at which they are back together and directly behind you. You should concentrate on making this movement sharp and smooth.

4. If you are having trouble with the kick, try this exercise; Stand, holding onto a chair with your right hand. Then, draw the left knee upward to the chest and arc the knee in an outward direction. The left knee will be splayed leftward. Hold steady, and then drop the leg back down. Next, you will repeat this same exercise on the right side. This exercise is designed to help you get familiar with the feeling of having your legs wide open to the sides. Before too long, you will be able to coordinate these movements.

Learning the Breastroke Pull (Arm movements)

5. While in the prostrate position over an armless chair, bench or stool, draw both hands into the chest in a prayer-like posture, with palms joined and thumbs pointing upward.

6. Keeping those palms together, you’ll need to extend your arms above your head, this is very similar to the exalted warrior pose, if you are familiar with yoga. Now you’ll hold this pose a moment so that you’ll be able to learn it, as this will be part of your glide when you actually do the breastroke.

7. Move the palms in an outward direction away from each other. Rapidly and fluidly send the arms outward to each side.

8. As both arms move toward each side, raise the hands and forearms back up, returning to the prayer-like pose at the chest level. Combining the TWO

9. Remain lying face down on the stool. Draw both legs and both hands as near to the chest area as you can as indicated above.

10. While you are kicking out with your legs, being a frog, bring your hands up into the exalted warrior position listed in number six.

11. Now that your legs have reached the prone position, long and straight out behind you, now hold slightly and bring your arms down and around as described above. Now, as your arms are moving downward, raise your head and chest slightly, to copy the movement you’ll require to be able to breath.

12. Draw both the hands and knees up to the chest area in order to prepare for the next sequence of movements. It was difficult for me to coordinate the arm movements and the leg movements when I was first learning the breastroke. For this reason, my instructor had me practicing on a stool before we even hit the water. A good instructor will be able to assist you in mastering the necessary movements so that you will be prepared to try them in the water. The real thing, in the water

Now that you are familiar and comfortable with these movements on dry land, you’re now ready to try them out in a pool. You may consider doing a little warm up exercise, the standing leg exercise we did earlier would be great. This will reinforce the sensation of what the kick will feel like once you hit the water.

13. You should do some warm ups with floats and possibly some freestyle or backstroke swimming until you feel loosened up and comfortable in the water.
14. Grab the side deck and work on your leg kicks.

15. Now that you’re a bit more comfortable, use a paddle board and practice your kicks; the first step is with your head out of the water. Next, you’ll practice the kicks with your face in the water and your arms extended above your head, similar to the exalted warrior pose we mentioned earlier, and this will aid you in feeling the glide, the portion of the breastroke that gives you the most power.

16. Now that you are comfortable with the kick portion, your instructor ensures that your movements are correct, start practicing the arm movement while standing. When your arms move downward to each side, lift your chest as a way of simulating your breathing motions.

17. When you believe you have learned each of these motions, you are ready to bring them into a unified stroke. Initially, I found this difficult, though my teacher suggested that I envision myself as a dolphin projecting itself from the sea. This was very useful in assisting me with putting the arm movements and breathing techniques together.

The most difficult element of the breastroke is perfecting the timing. The part of the breastroke in which you move forward the most is the glide portion of the stroke. The key is to glide in a forward direction with as much force as you can prior to beginning the next set of movements, because they tend to slow you down somewhat. Intermediate swimmers will likely want to learn how to do a faster breastroke, which is something we will tackle elsewhere.

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