Teach Yourself Breastroke

Posted by LD on September 5, 2010 under Breastroke | Read the First Comment

The breastroke is one of the most distinctive strokes in competitive swimming. 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. The breastroke is also one of the most challenging for beginning swimmers to learn. Although it does take time and practice to learn the breastroke, once you have it down, you’ll be amazed by how much your other swimming skills have improved. 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. Anyone attempting this stroke must be willing to put their entire body and face underwater. You should have a firm grasp of the principles of rhythmic breathing as well. Anyone who has not mastered these skills is well advised to seek additional instruction from a local swimming resource.

It would be a good idea to have basic swimming lessons anyway, since swimming is one of those skills best taught by a live instructor. 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.

As an advanced beginning swimmer, I enjoyed learning the breastroke. It is now the stroke I use the most. This is how I was taught the 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’s generally best to learn the kick first, then move onto the arms. After you have learned them individually, they can be brought together.

The Frog Kick

1. Lie face down on the ground or on an armless chair, stool or bench.

2. Bring both knees upwards to the chest.

3. Imagine a frog, now, kick your legs out to each side, as wide as you are able, then, move them in an arc until they are back together and straight behind you. This movement should be sharp and smooth.

4. Anyone experiencing difficulty with the kick should try standing while grasping a chair with the right hand. Raise your left knee as high as you can get it, to your chest if possible, then circle that knee outward. The left knee will be splayed leftward. Hold and then lower your leg. Repeat 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 Arm Movement

5. While you are still lying face down on the ground or any of the other options, bring your hands to your chest, now hold them in the prayer position, with your palms together and your thumbs up.

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. Quickly and smoothly push your arms to your sides.

8. Just as your arms reach your sides move your hands and forearms upwards so they come back into the prayer position against your chest.

Combining the Two

9. Lie 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. When the arms are in their downward motion, draw the head and chest upward, in order to simulate the necessary breathing technique.

12. Next, bring your knees and your hands to your chest and get ready to do the next stroke. As I began to attempt the breastroke, I initially found it difficult to do the arm and leg movements simultaneously. Therefore, my instructor suggested I use a stool to simulate the movements. Your teacher can help you get the correct positions so you will know what they feel like.

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 want to warm up by doing that standing leg rotation exercise we did earlier. That way, you will know what type of feeling to expect from the kicking movement once you enter the water.

13. Start with some easy floating and perhaps some freestyle swimming in order to get acclimated and at ease with being in the water.

14. Grab the side deck and work on your leg kicks.

15. Once you are ready, take a paddle board to help with kick practice: Begin by keeping your head above water. Then practice them with your face in the water and your arms extended above your head (similar to the exalted warrior pose described earlier.) This will help you feel the glide, the portion of the breastroke where you will get the most power.

16. Once you feel satisfied with your kicking ability, and the teacher is pleased with your movement and form, try to complete the arm movements while standing still. As your arms swing down to your sides, raise your chest to practice taking a breath.

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 is what aided me in coordinating my arm motions and my breathing as well.

The hardest part of the breastroke is learning how to time the movements. You propel yourself most forcefully during the glide segment of the stroke. Although the motions will slow you down a bit, the trick to this is to glide forward as far as you can before you begin your next stroke. If you are looking to swim the breastroke faster, that is covered in our next article, as it is a skill that is for the intermediate swimmer.

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