How to swim 100m breaststroke

Hi Ande, Allen - thanks for helping! Ande, you said my first 50 should be a second slower than my all out 50, so for me this means about 37 (or 38 according to my old 50m time). Is it usual to slower swimmers (i.e. non professionals)? It sounds great, but I'm afraid of starting the second 50 with no air. Allen, if I'll swim the first 50 like Ande said (37s) and the second 50 like you said (4s slower than the 1st one) I'll make it to the team. What can I do to make sure my second 50 isn't more than 4 seconds slower than the 1st 50? Any specific workout? I thought maybe swim 50m fs or br and then sprint back or is there something else? One more thing - I read Wayne McCauley's article about breathing every other stroke cycle, what do you think about it? Thanks again. P.S Already started reading Ande's Threads. Thanks :) It depends on how much of a sprinter you are,drop dead sprinters should go out slower,but 1 sec slower is a good rule of thumb. I love Wayne and love how he is always looking for an edge,but for most BR swimmers breathing every stroke fits in the rhythm better.You might experiment though,the stopwatch doesn't lie.I tried it and it was slower for me and I know of no top flight BR swimmer who does it but YMMV.

Hi Ande, Allen - thanks for helping! Ande, you said my first 50 should be a second slower than my all out 50, so for me this means about 37 (or 38 according to my old 50m time). Is it usual to slower swimmers (i.e. non professionals)? It sounds great, but I'm afraid of starting the second 50 with no air. Allen, if I'll swim the first 50 like Ande said (37s) and the second 50 like you said (4s slower than the 1st one) I'll make it to the team. What can I do to make sure my second 50 isn't more than 4 seconds slower than the 1st 50? Any specific workout? I thought maybe swim 50m fs or br and then sprint back or is there something else? One more thing - I read Wayne McCauley's article about breathing every other stroke cycle, what do you think about it? Thanks again. P.S Already started reading Ande's Threads. Thanks :)

Try these as pacing exercises: Broken 100s at the 25, @ 50 pace Broken 100s at the 50, @ 100 pace 10 seconds rest after each 25 or 50 inside the broken swims. In between broken 100s: 100-200 of active recovery freestyle or drill, plus 30 seconds to a minute of pure rest. Figure out what your stroke count is for the first 50 of a good fast 100, and try to hold that stroke count on the broken swims. For a continuous 100, try to only increase your stroke count by 1 on the 2nd 50.

Another is to work on tempo.You want to feel relaxed but fast that first 50.Practice various stroke rates and Distances Per Stroke until you find the fastest tempo you can hold for 100. Generally a 4 sec drop off between the first and second 50 is considered good for Breaststroke. I agree with this. You cannot be churning up the water like you life depends on it. Then you'll die in the second 50. You need to be fast and smooth, making sure to complete your kick before taking your next pull. Hard to describe it better. Watch the master: YouTube - ‪Kosuke Kitajima 100m Breaststroke Under Water Camera‬‏ Practicing is the best prescription for success, though many people go slower in practice even if they are trying their best so don't sweat it if you're a few seconds slower per 50 than you will be come race time. Just work on your tempo and endurance. Good luck!

Hi Gal mag, you have to swim 100m br in less than 1:22m in 2 months & your 50m br PB is 37.11 you're looking for tips, ideas, drills and workouts to help you swim under 1:20 or at least 1:22. What split-technique suits what swimmer? the first 50 of your 100 *** should be around a second slower than your all out 50 GET STRONGER GET FASTER work on your breastroke kick every day focus on your 25 & 50 speed focus on easy speed race a 100 br 2 or 3 times a week the safest thing to do is GET FASTER if you can go 34 or 5 in the 50 *** that gives you a wide margin of error for your 100 *** why not obliterate that 1:22 time? Swim Faster Faster Index Ande

I definitely agree with Ande.Also read his Swimming Faster Faster thread and the Breaststroke Lane thread. One main thing to work on is maintaining streamline off your starts and turns and through the stroke,especially at the end of the arm recovery through the kick and into the next pull. Another is to work on tempo.You want to feel relaxed but fast that first 50.Practice various stroke rates and Distances Per Stroke until you find the fastest tempo you can hold for 100. Generally a 4 sec drop off between the first and second 50 is considered good for Breaststroke.

I'm not much of a breaststroker but I do have to do it for an IM. When planning for a race in general I'll: Do some time trials to get an idea of where I'm at. As mentioned above, you may swim slower in practice than in a meet. I definitely swim slower, as much as 6 seconds on a 100yd free. But I think it'd be very prudent to time yourself (even from a push) to have the best idea of where you're at time-wise, and also to figure out what your best pace/strategy would be for the 100. One thing that has helped my breaststroke has been learning to do pistols, or basically one-leg squats. If you can do these then you've got some serious quad/ham and qlute strength, which helps with the start and turns, and maybe more on the breaststroke kick than the other 3 kicks. Not sure how to explain it (and maybe it's psychological), but after beginning these I felt more power or snap in my kick. You can work up to doing pistols by beginning one-leg squats with one leg resting on a bench or chair as you develop the coordination/balance/strength. You can do a youtube search to find what the exercise looks like. Good luck:banana:

Cross your fingers and pray that the meet referee skips over the event... :bolt:

Cross your fingers and pray that the meet referee skips over the event... :bolt: Also a good time to go get a sandwich. :D

Also a good time to go get a sandwich. :D With beer! :bump: