Timing is very important for breaststroke. A good breaststroker also needs a strong kick and good breathing. It's very easy to hyperventilate in breaststroke, due to breathing every stroke, so you'll need a very good control of your breathing.
The Basic Thechnique
The first movement of breastroke is the pull. The palms turn to face the water and push downwards, the elbow still in place. Then bring your arms together infront of you and push them forwards quickly. The kick is often called "frog kick" or "whiplash", due to its speed and power. In breaststroke, 85% of the speed comes from the kick.
My Tips:
My trainer often tells us to do fast, "Jackie Chan" kicks. You should make sure the your knees don't drop to low during the kick, otherwise you'd increase the drag.
The Basic Thechnique
The first movement of breastroke is the pull. The palms turn to face the water and push downwards, the elbow still in place. Then bring your arms together infront of you and push them forwards quickly. The kick is often called "frog kick" or "whiplash", due to its speed and power. In breaststroke, 85% of the speed comes from the kick.
My Tips:
My trainer often tells us to do fast, "Jackie Chan" kicks. You should make sure the your knees don't drop to low during the kick, otherwise you'd increase the drag.
Above are some multiple views of Kosuke Kitajima's breaststroke at the 200m breaststroke finals of the 2012 Pan Pacific Championships.
World Records
Long Course
Men:
Event:
50m Breaststroke 100m Breaststroke 200m Breaststroke |
Name:
Cameron van der Burgh Cameron van der Burgh Akhiro Yamaguchi |
Time:
26.67 58.46 2:07.01 |
Location:
Rome, Italy London, GBR Gifu, Japan |
Women:
50m Breaststroke
100m Breaststroke 200m Breaststroke |
Jessica Hardy
Jessica Hardy Rebecca Soni |
29.80
1:04.45 2:19.59 |
Federal Way, USA
Federal Way, USA London, GBR |