Together with the butterfly, the breaststroke is considered to be extremely tough on the lumbar region (lower back) and cervical spine (neck).
What this doesn’t tell us is that, more often than not, these “risks” are due to poor technique.
Let’s look at the three most common mistakes and see how we can rectify them:
1. Lack of coordination between breathing/arm stroke: you should start to raise your head just as you begin your arm stroke (as your hands part).
Very often the hands begin moving before the head: this delay in breathing means until you start to bring your elbows together inevitably causes your hips to drop.
Here are some exercises to correct this mistake:
– Swim breaststroke with freestyle legs, starting to breathe while your arms are still extended forwards, hold this position for 2 seconds and then complete your arm stroke.
– Breakdown the breaststroke into 5 steps: raise your head – part your arms – bring your elbows together – extend your arms – make a leg kick
– Move your hands like butterfly wings with your arms extended forwards, breathing forwards every 4 hand rotations.
2. Failure to bring your elbows together at the end of the pull phase: this is commonly referred to as breaststroke with wide elbows. This…
