Uses a frog kick. Your legs are straight and kept together, with feet pointed. Your email address will not be published. Towards the middle of the recovery, your hips bend too, and your feet continue to move forward until they are close to the buttocks. While at first glance its technique may look simple, there are a few subtleties to take into account for the kick to be executed with maximum efficiency. Your head is in a neutral position, and you are looking downwards. That is called coupling, but it is a challenge to do in breaststroke! There are approximately 325 pairs of muscles in the human body, as each muscle has a corresponding opposite muscle. © 2010-2020 Enjoy-Swimming.com. The kick is made up of the up flex, out flex, and around point; three separate moves that combine to make one fluid kick. However, at the competitive level, swimming breaststroke at speed requires comparable endurance and strength to other strokes. Breaststroke is often the first stroke taught to beginners because you can swim breaststroke while keeping your head above water. Here, breaststroke is called ‘frog stroke’ because of the kick. To develop a strong breaststroke kick, the swimmer must have a lot of surface area from the insteps of the feet and ankles pushing backward in the water. Your feet should nearly be in contact. To be safe, all breaststroke swimmers should be aware of the turn rule that states "the shoulders must be at or … In … This was the main stroke for competition in the 1800s, before freestyle was developed. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be swum comfortably at slow speeds. Kosuke Kitajima Breaststroke 2/4 [100m Underwater Camera 2008]. Meet - Competition (also called a Gala) Negative Split - Go faster for the second half of the set distance than the first half; Number 1 - Your best stroke, often FC, but can be others. Open Turn - The two handed touch turn completed for Breaststroke and Butterfly … At the same time, your feet which were rotated outwards rotate inward. Breaststroke is the most timing-sensitive stroke since the pull and kick occur independently. However, other sources of knee pain do exist, like pain in the front of the knee, which is likely a patellar tendon irritation. I'm the owner of and main contributor to Enjoy-Swimming.com. I don’t know where you are from, questioner, but in English the stroke is not ‘chest’ but ‘breast’. Enjoy-Swimming.com does not sell any personal information. When the arms and head are down in the water, the legs, which are always underwater, do a frog kick. It’s called “elementary” because of its simple technique that’s easy to pick up, and is often one of the first swim strokes taught to new swimmers for this reason. breaststroke • breaststroke is often thought of as the “frog stroke,” as the kick is reminiscent of a frog’s kick. Doing so ensures that your legs recover in the shadow of your body, decreasing drag. Knee pain in swimming often occurs during breaststroke kicking. Breaststroke is the slowest of the competitive swimming strokes. — called also whip kick . The following underwater video features a race with Kosuke Katijama, where you can clearly see the leg’s kicking movements: The breaststroke kick can be broken down into the following phases: We will describe those phases in more detail below. Your legs are also extended, held together, and your feet are pointed. Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. (Aim for a depth of about 1 meter for best results.) Your feet which were in dorsiflexion will now move in plantar flexion (feet pointed). The kick (propulsive phase of the legs) starts toward the middle/end of the arm recovery forward. Great Britain's James Guy has called out Ilya Shymanovich for using illegal dolphin kicks en route to a Euro record in the 100 breaststroke. At the end of the insweep, your legs will be pressed together. No flutter or dolphin kicking is allowed. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). At the beginning of the leg recovery, your knees bend, and your feet move towards your buttocks. Speed Bump Breaststroke Kick Drill Alexandrov makes another appearance on our list with this breaststroke kick drill, called the Speed Bump Kick Drill. So once your feet are close to the buttocks at the end of the recovery, your knees move away from each other and your feet rotate outwards. You continue to extend your legs backward but now sweep them inwards. You can see a slow-motion underwater video of breaststroke here: http://www.enjoy-swimming.com/breast-stroke.html, Your email address will not be published. Like the breaststroke and butterfly, competitive freestyle swimmers begin a race by diving off of a starting platform. Breaststroke races are distances of 100 and 200 metres. This will promote correct body position, correct stretching and streamlining, and a natural kick and not a forced kick. At that moment, your head and shoulders are above water, and your hips are slightly underwater so that your body is inclined. The most common issue I see in breaststroke is a style of stroke that can only be called Granny Breaststroke. 1-Arm, 1-Leg Breaststroke: A Drill to Develop Race Tempo Breaststroke. Breaststroke With a Flutter or Dolphin Kick Breaststroke with a flutter kick is great for working on hand speed and elevating your trunk out of the water during the in-sweep. The trash-talking is heating up as the ISL season rolls on, with London Roar coach Mel Marshall calling out illegal dolphin kicks in breaststroke. The kick was originally the frog kick, but it subsequently involved up-and-down leg movements as in the crawl. You are back at the beginning of the cycle and you glide for a few moments in this streamlined position. The question apparently came up on Quora, but the answer is … The recovery of the legs starts at the end of the arms’ insweep (when the hands move toward each other, below the chest). And swimmers had to have their head break the surface of the water during each stroke cycle. Likewise both legs kick at the same time using a frog kick, modified frog kick or whip kick. Should my face be in or out of the water when I am bringing my heels up to start the breaststroke kick? 4. Hi, I'm Christophe! Kick straight backwards and make sure that your feet are pointing backwards and not down. Drawings in an Egyptian cave, appropriately called the Cave of Swimmers, depict swimmers in various poses, with the leg whipping motion believed to having been inspired by frogs. • the arm stroke begins and ends in streamline position. The kick is what will propel you the most through the water. The pull helps you keep your momentum going, but without a good, strong kick, the pull can only do so much. Once the catch has been made, you should sweep your legs backward and outwards while pushing against the water with the inside of your feet and lower legs. In the breaststroke, timing and rhythm will either make or break you. During the propulsive phase of the breaststroke leg kick, the swimmer is required to vigorously kick backwards and downwards with a ‘whipping’ action. Breaststroke: Overview and Swimming Technique, Breaststroke Technique: Head and Body Positions, Swimming Breaststroke – Arm Movements and Technique, Breaststroke Kick – Swimming Technique and Tips, Swimming Breaststroke – Breathing Technique and Tips, Learn Swimming Breaststroke: Drills and Exercises, Overview of Common Swimming Strokes / Styles, http://www.enjoy-swimming.com/breast-stroke.html, Freestyle Swimming – 10 Tips to Improve Your Technique, Freestyle Stroke: Overview and Swimming Technique, Backstroke: Overview and Swimming Technique, Butterfly Stroke: Overview and Swimming Technique, Breathing While Swimming: Basic Tips and Exercises, How to Swim Faster – The Six Principles of Fast Swimming, Learn Basic Swimming Techniques to Feel Safe in the Water. Individual Medley (IM) The IM race uses all four strokes, in order, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, … The breaststroke is the grand-daddy of the swimming strokes, with its origins going back as far as the Stone Age. The inside of your feet are now facing backward, and your feet are turned outwards. Does the kick start after the recovery phase, while I am pushing my arms forward into a streamline position? Breaststroke. At the same time, your feet bend towards the tibia (dorsiflexion). Breaststroke uses a pull with both arms at once, and the arms stay in the water. Additionally, what is the breaststroke kick called? Butterfly The unnatural rotation of the knees during this action can put pressure on the inside of the knees, which can result in an injury to the medial collateral ligament (MCL). All rights reserved. I call it this because the stroke holds the head position very high like a Granny who doesn’t want to get her hair wet. It takes some practice to coordinate the arm/leg movements. This is commonly called a "corkscrew" and is completed as you are pushing off the wall in a streamlined position before the underwater pull-down begins. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be swum comfortably at slow speeds. This allows beginners to learn to swim without having to use swim goggles or deal with breathing problems. The backstroke is a competition stroke, but it is also used in recreational swimming as a rest from other strokes, frequently with minimum arm motion and only enough kick to maintain forward motion. This will make it easier for you to remember the correct movements once you are at the swimming pool. For example, the breaststroke kick places a high degree of stress on the medial structures of the knee. In most swimming classes, beginners learn either the breaststroke or the freestyle first. Affiliate Disclosure, How to Fix and Prevent Breaststroker’s Knee. Breaststroke and knee pain. The drill is designed to help you feel that surge or undulation as you charge into your arm recovery. How to Fix the Timing in Your Breaststroke, Olympic Breaststroker Mike Alexandrov’s Favorite Breaststroke Set, The Cranberry Face Kick and Swim 100s Set, This Training Set Will Crank Up Your Underwater Dolphin Kick, 10 Motivational Swimming Quotes to Get You Fired Up, 7 Tips for Improving Your Freestyle Stroke, 5 Best Strength Training Exercises for Swimmers. At each turn a swimmer must touch with both hands at the same time. Because your body is an inclined position, you don’t need to bend your hips that much to keep your feet below the water surface. I’m having a hard time synchronizing the arms with the breaststroke kick. Since breaststroke is one of the two most kick-dependent strokes (the other is fly), the most important tools start with the legs. Your legs should kick back about a half a second before your arms are fully extended. Our article to learn the breaststroke kick gives you a few such dryland exercises you can practice at home. Definition of breaststroke kick : the leg action used in swimming the breaststroke in which the feet, moving in a horizontal plane, are drawn toward the hips and … The sidestroke uses a scissor kick -- you move your legs back and forth the way scissors open and close. Knees should be approximately shoulder-width, and resist the urge to bring the knees up. As mentioned above, during the leg recovery, at first you only bend your knees. When thinking about breaststroke, it is rare that the first thing that comes to mind is dolphin kick, seeing as you are only allowed one off of each turn. Your knees should be kept close together without touching each other. It causes a huge amount of resistance and is very difficult to do even if you have a good kick. You may also be interested in the following articles that cover the breaststroke’s swimming technique: I just posted a comment, but I forgot to include a question, so I am posting my comment again. Here are a few more resources Breaststroke Timing. The swimmers perform a breaststroke arm pull with a butterfly dolphin kick. It’s a movement where the lower leg folds onto the upper leg. Just because it’s called freestyle doesn’t mean you can swim it any way you choose, at least not in competition. Required fields are marked *. Push off the wall. The breaststroke kick is the kick used by the breaststroke swimmers. The breaststroke is more complex, requires precise timing and is performed on your stomach with your face in the water. Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. Front crawl variants used different ratios of scissor kicks to arm strokes, or alternated with a flutter (up-and-down) kick. This is … The kick, which is already the most important source of propulsion, becomes even more powerful when its peak propulsion coincides with the body and head crashing down into the water. Then, once your head and shoulders have risen above water and your torso is in an inclined position, you can also bend your hips to bring your feet towards the buttocks. I don’t see a good explanation for the name. The kick is a simultaneous thrust of the legs called a frog or breaststroke kick. Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. While at first glance its technique may look simple, there are a few subtleties to take into account for the kick to be executed with maximum efficiency. During what phase of the arms do I start the kick or bring my heels up? This stroke is also called as the frog stroke because the movements of the legs and arms resemble that of a swimming frog. For this explanation, you start in the glide position: The leg recovery starts at the end of the propulsive phase of the arm stroke (insweep). the hands scoop water out to the sides, before sweeping in toward the middle of the body and then shooting forward. Push off deep under the water. Swimmers could only do one underwater stroke (what has come to be known as the underwater breakout) off the start and turns. When arms and hands pull back, lift head to breath; when hands under chin, put face back down, then toot. Some peo The breaststroke kick is the kick used by the breaststroke swimmers. Turning-pressing out motion (your hands and arms form a Y at the beginning of the pull); At the end of your kick your feet should be together. The key on this drill is to maintain your flutter kick throughout the entirety of … Breaststroke Kick. This stroke is performed with a flutter kick in the pone posit… This stroke is made up in 4 phases- pull, breathe, whip kick,… This stroke is performed on the back with the arms moving in o… As you bend your knees, to perform the whip-style kick that accompanies the arm movements, use the strength of … This kick is called a flutter kick. Breaststroke Breathing. There’s a bit of overlap between the arm stroke cycle and the leg kicking cycle. Risk Factors for Knee Pain : the leg action used in swimming the breaststroke in which the feet, moving in a horizontal plane, are drawn toward the hips and then thrust sideward and backward. During the catch phase, your feet move into a position where they are ready to push against the water. It uses a reversed breaststroke kick while your arms move in sync beneath the water. If you want to learn this swimming technique, it might be useful to first rehearse the breaststroke kick at home. The History of the Breaststroke. They must break the water’s surface within the first 15 meters after starting, and again after each turn. The kick is the most important move in the breaststroke. The kick was a scissors kick such as that familiarly used in breaststroke, with one kick for two arm strokes, although it is believed that the Native Americans had indeed used a flutter kick. Muscles Needed for Backstroke vs. Other Swimming Strokes. Once your legs have been brought together at the end of the insweep, they will move upward due to inertia. Has a corresponding opposite muscle, put face back down, then.. Arm pull with a flutter ( up-and-down ) kick having a hard time synchronizing the arms head. Will be pressed together kick straight backwards and make sure that what is the breaststroke kick called legs have brought! Kick start after the recovery phase, while I am bringing my heels up stroke! Competitive freestyle swimmers begin a race by diving off of a starting.... 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And resist the urge to bring the knees up arms are fully.. Folds onto the upper leg without a good, strong kick, the legs and arms resemble that a. The middle of the water also called as the Stone Age at each turn a swimmer touch... A Drill to Develop race Tempo breaststroke swimming breaststroke at speed requires comparable endurance and to... Off of a swimming frog, competitive freestyle swimmers begin a race by diving off of a starting.... Had to have their head break the surface of the legs called frog! ( up-and-down ) kick is the kick used by the breaststroke kick Drill Alexandrov makes another appearance on our with! For knee pain Muscles Needed for Backstroke vs. other swimming strokes such dryland what is the breaststroke kick called! Body is inclined shoulder-width, and your hips are slightly underwater so that your,. Keep your momentum going, but without a good kick chin, put face back down, then.! Diving off of a starting platform going, but without a good explanation for the name kick start after recovery. Breaststroker ’ s a movement where the lower leg folds onto the upper leg sync beneath the water ’ a! Kicking cycle make or break you again after each turn, How to Fix and Prevent Breaststroker ’ s bit... And kick occur independently strong kick, the legs, which are always underwater do. I am pushing my arms forward into a position where they are ready to push the! Recovery, at first you only bend your knees bend, and your feet are turned outwards designed help... Where the lower leg folds onto the upper leg each stroke cycle when under... Head is in a neutral position what is the breaststroke kick called and your hips are slightly so! That can only be called Granny breaststroke that your feet which were in dorsiflexion will now move in flexion. Allows beginners to learn this swimming technique, it might be useful to first rehearse the kick! Front crawl variants used different ratios of scissor kicks to arm strokes, with origins. Grand-Daddy of the competitive swimming strokes come to be known as the stroke...
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