Tips to correct the most common mistakes in Breaststroke

tips breaststroke

Certainly, here are some tips to improve your breaststroke technique:

Strength and Flexibility:

Breaststroke relies on strong leg and hip muscles
Incorporate exercises that target these areas, such as squats and leg kicks, to enhance your power and flexibility

Video Analysis:

Record yourself swimming breaststroke and analyze the footage.
Compare it to videos of professional swimmers to identify areas for improvement

Consistency and Patience:

Like any skill, improving your breaststroke technique takes time and practice
Be patient and consistent in your training, gradually making refinements to your stroke

Seek Coaching:

If possible, work with a swim coach who can provide personalized feedback and guidance to refine your technique. You can Find a swimming coach click on link

Body position

Incorrect body position will increase resistance, which leads to fast loss of speed and fast body fatigue. With this body position, it isn’t easy to swim long distances for beginner swimmers.

What reasons can cause the incorrect position of the body?

Be afraid of putting your head down
The high position of the head during the glide phase
Low amount of air in the lungs
Poor understanding of the centre of gravity and buoyancy

Wrong:

Here’s what to do instead

After the recovery phase of your arms, keep your head between your arms
During gliding, the arms outstretched forward in front of the torso and legs with toes pointed
During the recovery of the arms, make a deep breath
While gliding, keep your body parallel to the surface of the water

Correct:

Tips:

After the recovery phase of your arms, do not keep your head below the line of your components. This will cause your legs to float up and prevent you from making a proper kick
During breaststroke, you do not need to align your arms in line with your shoulders and torso. Hands should be lowered to a maximum of 10 degrees concerning the body

Breathe

During inhale, an excessive lift of the head and torso above the water’s surface will result in high drag and sinking of the lower back with the hips and leg concerning the water’s surface. With such a high position of the head and torso, it will lead to overworking of the lower back and injuries.

What reasons can cause the incorrect position of the breath?

Be afraid of having no time to make enough breath, so athletes lift body too high
Make a downward pull, resulting in a push to the upper body
Shallow leg position

Wrong:

Here’s what to do instead

The correct position is when you can see your palms in front of you while inhaling
When eyes look down-forward
Inhaling occurs during the sweep of the arms when your head and shoulders rise above the water
Exhaling begins when your arms recover forward, and your head and shoulders recover back into the water

Correct:

Tips:

Don’t stop your arms while inhaling
Take a quick breath using your chest and belly

Pull

During the perfect pull, you can achieve up to 40% percent of the speed and minimise forward drag.

What reasons can cause incorrect movement of the pull?

During the catch, the palms are in line with the elbows or shoulder
The palm is deep underwater
The palms turned more than 60 degrees relative to the surface of the water

Wrong:

Here’s what to do instead

During the pull, arms should be wider than the shoulders, and the palms should be wider than the elbow
During the turn of the hands outward, hands are straight and parallel to the surface of the water
Make a pull backwards while moving body forward

Correct:

Tips:

Do not break through the water. If it’s happening, you will lose pressure on the water and not feel the body moving forward
By ending each phase of the stroke, you minimise front drag
During the stroke, keep your elbow near the surface of the water. It will help you get a good catch and push your body forward

Kick

Kicking is one of the basic movements to propel the body forward. Therefore, this element has many mistakes and many unique techniques. We will go through more detail in the next topic, but first, let’s talk about common mistakes.

What reasons can cause incorrect movement of the kick?

Bending the knees to the stomach first
During the kick, the toes to be pointed up
Legs very wide apart of the knees
At the end of the kick, legs are intense

Wrong:

Here’s what to do instead

In the preparatory phase, begin to pull the feet to the pelvis and only then bend the knees
When the knees are bent, the thigh should be as streamlined as possible so as not to increase resistance
When catching the water, the toes point outward
During the kick, the direction of the legs occurs down-backwards
At the end of the kick, the legs should be lifted to the starting position

Correct:

Tips:

During the recovery phase of the legs, try to keep the thigh 130-150 degrees relate to the torso to minimise the water resistance. It will help to maintain speed and strength for the next stroke
If you begin to bend your knees, do not stop in the preparation and propulsive phase, as this will lead to a decrease in speed

Tips to correct the most common mistakes in Breaststroke

Body position

Breathe

Pull

Kick

Stroke correction