Swimming breaststroke can feel like swimming uphill. You burn the same number of calories swimming energy-intensive breaststroke as freestyle even though you don't move as fast. Breaststroke provides an efficient workout for your entire body, and it taxes your legs more than any other stroke. By learning proper technique, you can improve your breaststroke times and prevent injury.
Elements
You swim breaststroke on your stomach facing the bottom of the pool. Both your arms and your legs must move symmetrically, and old-style breaststroke resembled the arm and leg movements of a frog. So-called modern breaststroke adapts the traditional stroke, minimizing the backward movement in the scull, or arm pull, and narrowing the kick. A hybrid stroke that uses that flatter body position of the old style along with the more efficient arm and leg movements of the modern stroke can work well for swimmers of all abilities.
Arm Pull
Start out in a streamlined position, arms straight out in front and legs extended straight back and your feet flexed. Ideally, keep your head under the surface of the water, and your back just above the surface of the water. Shrug your shoulders together as you begin your scull outward, palms facing out. Reverse the motion, and perform an inward sweep, squeezing your palms together as they meet under your chin. Then, bring your forearms together as you raise your head to breathe. Immediately extend your arms forward and begin the outward scull again.
Kick
As your hands move forward in the recovery phase of the pull, you start your propulsive kick. Bring both feet up to your backside, with the soles of your feet facing outward. Kick down and back, straightening out your legs and bringing them together. Keep your hips high in the water to avoid creating drag as you bend your knees and bring them back up to start the kick cycle again. You can overlap the kick-pull cycle to go faster, or glide for a moment, outstretched, before you begin your sculling motion again.
Drills
Strengthen your sculling by using your arms only to move across the pool. You can use leg floats or pull buoys to keep your legs afloat during the pulling drill. You strengthen your legs by performing an eggbeater kick, which water polo players use to stay on the surface of the water. It mimics the motion of a breaststroke kick, but you remain vertical in the water. In the two-up and one-down drill, you focus on your body position in the water. Keep your head high in the water for two full stroke cycles and then return your head underwater as you bring your arms forward for the next stroke.
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