The first thing to recognize with breaststroke, is that is it’s the slowest of the four strokes and the least efficient. It is the stroke in which you are most likely to stop and start, rather than flow continuously. It also has the highest amount of resistance and the one with the least efficient use of the way our levers are designed to work, biomechanically, the least efficient. So we have a problem, breaststroke isn’t designed to be fast.
The thing we have to ask ourselves, is not how can we get faster, but how we can be less slow. These are not necessarily the same thing.
Many coaches get it wrong with the thinking of how to increase propulsion, whereas the starting point in my opinion, should be how to reduce resistance.
The first thing all breaststrokers should consider, is that every time a part of your body pokes outside of your bodyline, you are potentially slowing yourself down. If you are going to do this, you have to do it in the narrowest way possible, in other words, the least outside of your body cylinder as possible, for the shortest amount of time. For example, when you are drawing your heels up to start a breaststroke kick, it’s really important to not let your knees get pulled underneath your body, it is the most natural…
