Breaststroke Pull & Recovery

Hello Nubile Natants,

This week my objective is to blog everyday about breaststroke. Much of what I am going to say are things that we work in practice, I want to use the blog as a reinforcement of what we learned, kind of like a classroom where we discuss the theoretical. So today let’s talk about the breaststroke pull and recovery.

Like all strokes our bodies must have a near-perfect horizontal line, in other words we need to have the 4 H’s (Hands, Head, Hips, Heels) at the surface of the water, this is our start position. Palms should be face up at the beginning of the pull (I’ve heard the saying, “Serving the birthday cake.”) The palms rotate out, this is the outsweep of  the stroke. The outsweep should not be too wide, as a matter of fact it should go just outside the shoulders. At the end of the outsweep your fingers must “carve” down into the water. The “carving” is very important, this is where the hands are put into position to catch the water. If a swimmer does not “carve” properly then they are in danger of doing a “slip-&-slide” pull. The slip-&-slide carries no water and is useless. As the fingers “carve” down the elbows must remain at or near the surface of the water. The perfect position is to have the fingers directly under the wrists, and the wrists under the elbows. From this position the arms pull towards the feet holding as much water as they can until they sweep in to begin the recovery. As the hands sweep in press the elbows together (I know there is a new “Rebecca Soni” style that leaves the elbows wide but I do not coach that style, if you look at Kitajima he has a narrow recovery), as the elbows press in accelerate the hands forward in a straight line (No rainbow arcs Hollie and Brooke!) The arms should end with the palms face up and the elbows locked. Elbows locked is VERY important because it reduces your form drag and improves your streamline!!! The pull pattern in breaststroke is small, powerful, and explosive. It needs to accelerate from start to finish and you need to catch and hold as much water as possible to make it affective.

Now that I have lectured about the pull and recovery here is a link to Ed Moses and some great info on breasstroke:
Ed Moses

Ryan’s coach tip of the week: Technique First & Speed Will Follow

Have a swimtastic day,
Coach Ryan