The breaststroke is competitive\nand recreational swimming style swum body facing down, while arms perform\nsemicircular movements, and the legs doing a frog kick. In the initial learning\nstages, the head usually is above the water for easy breathing. It is the oldest,\nthe most common but the slowest swimming stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read on for details on how to swim breaststroke; the form, kick, pull techniques plus drills. In addition, find more about the benefits in terms of the muscles it works out and the calories you can burn with this stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like most swimming\nstyles, the starting position for the breaststroke is facing down with the\nhands forward and forming a straight line with the rest of the body all the way\nto the feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While each of the\nindividual movements aren\u2019t difficult, it\u2019s their combination that tends to be\ndifficult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The arms move\nthrough three main phases namely the outsweep, insweep, and the recovery phase.\nIn the outsweep, the palms face out from the streamlined position and separate\nslightly from the front to the side. This move turns into the insweep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The insweep entails the movements of the hands downwards and backwards. Ensure that throughout the outsweep and the insweep, the elbows remain on a horizontal plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hands are allowed to move until they\u2019re almost vertical to the floor. The outsweep ends with the coming together of the hands at your chest and elbows close to your body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The recovery phase entails returning to the starting phase of the outsweep. While together, push the hands straight forwards until they\u2019re in line with the rest of the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The speed of the recovery phase is the slowest, increases with the outsweep, and peaks at the insweep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The frog-like\nmovement for this swimming style comes form the movements of the legs. It\u2019s\nknown as the frog kick or the whip kick and has two stages mainly the\npositioning stage and the insweep stage. These stages are different from the\nstarting streamlined position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the streamlined\nposition in which the legs are straight backwards, the feet are brought\ntogether while the knees are still together. The feet then start moving to the\nside and outwards as you prepare for the thrust. Avoid letting the knees sink\ntoo much as this will increase the drag on your body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The thrust stage\nentails pulling the legs together and into the starting point. This way, they\ngenerate thrust forwards. This thrust, together with the movement of the hands\nbackwards, generates double thrust that propels your body forwards. The timing\nof the thrust from the legs should match that of the hands for the best\nresults. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The starting position for the body is the streamlined and flat state. From this state, you coordinate the body such that the arms and legs perform the thrust together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This will require that when the arms are halfway in the insweep phase, the legs are ready to thrust and the head is out of the water for the breathing phase. Your body should be as horizontal as possible during this stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, the breaststroke style requires your body to be horizontal most of the time for the best speed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the thrust of\nthe legs, the arms are in the recovery phase while the body is left to glide\nfor a while. The length of the gliding phase will vary depending on how good\nyou are at thrusting and generating force to propel yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re in a\nsprint, the technique is to spend more time stroking than gliding. The opposite\nis true if you\u2019re covering a long distance. In general, the gliding phase for\neither case is the longest part of the entire stroke. Perfecting these motions\nearns you a major advantage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like all the\nswimming styles, breathing is needed to provide aeration to the body for energy\nused in the propulsion. However, a swimmer is faster when fully submerged than\nwhen getting out of the water to breath in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the breaststroke\nstyle, the breathing is done when your head comes out of the water during the\ninsweep phase of the hands. You breath in through the mouth and out through the\nmouth and nose. While the breathing in can only occur when you\u2019re out of the\nwater, breathing out can occur even underwater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To attain the best\nrhythm as a swimmer for this style, you need let your head follow the movements\nof the spine. As the spine comes up, let the head come up with it too such that\nyou get a period of time in which your body isn\u2019t pushing ahead but taking in\noxygen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n