Please help I'm teaching a few people to swim and there seems to be a problem with their breastroke kick. This is my main stroke and I don't seem able to give it over to them. They manage a push off, glide, hands, but their legs seem to lack power. Any tips? Any videos any1 can recommend?
Maybe you can get them to hold on to the gutter or the ladder with their hands, and you can hold and guide their feet, so that they learn what the outward turning of the feet feels like.
Breaststroke used to be the first stroke you learned in Norway. Nowadays they teach pushoffs, streamline, floating and crawl, but in the seventies only the kids on swimming teams ever learned anything besides ***. My classmates looked at me in confusion and envy when I'd swim freestyle.
My parents' generation tells stories of learning to swim lying on their stomachs on a kitchen stool, practicing breaststroke for considerable time before they were allowed near water. It may be worth a try, if only for the entertainment. The problem is that they won't get to feel the push when they do it right.
Maybe you can get them to hold on to the gutter or the ladder with their hands, and you can hold and guide their feet, so that they learn what the outward turning of the feet feels like.
:applaud: Perfect! I wish I had learned this way. The only instruction I received in breaststroke prior to joining the high school swim team was back when I was a young kid in an American Red Cross swim class. We were told, "Up, out, together" and learned a wide frog kick.
When I joined the high school swim team (my first time competitng experience), I learned breaststroke kick by swimming behind the only other breaststroker on the team. I would watch her and copy what she did, because our "coach" didn't know how to swim; she was a P.E. teacher stuck with the swim team. :afraid:(Of course, we didn't realize she didn't know how to swim until we threw her in the pool after beating our rival, my senior year. :eek: )
Being the last stroke for me to learn (not too long ago), I developed difficulty kicking a legit br kick. I finally manged to get it right with a drill where your hands drag behind and your feet touch them on the retracting part of the kick. I used a snorkel to keep this up for lengths.
This, and tons of other drills can be viewed at go-swim.tv
I've been teaching them using the ladder. I don't understand how you can teach them on the deck - ie in the prone position. You have to get the legs underneath you , bringing the knees towards the stomach? Is that not right? Someone who is an expert in breastroke teaching, Help?
:hijack: Hey Steve, that's an interesting new avatar! I think you win the award for the most new avatars in the shortest period of time. :applaud: Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised if That Guy chimes in and challenges you to an avatar :duel:. But, having said that, I hope he doesn't, because his current avatar is a hoot! :banana:
Ce n'est pas un avatar.
:hijack: Hey Steve, that's an interesting new avatar! I think you win the award for the most new avatars in the shortest period of time. :applaud: Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised if That Guy chimes in and challenges you to an avatar :duel:. But, having said that, I hope he doesn't, because his current avatar is a hoot! :banana:
Back on topic, King Frog is right about the kick. Watch this: http://youtu.be/3sjjv-vNExs . Yes, the thighs do go down some on the kick, but not underneath the stomach.
Is there anything that I can think about to help with the rhythm of pull to kick, with that undulation thrown in? I need to work more on the feet to fanny bit, and it seems like a whisper of a dolphin kick in there are the feet return to streamline. Is that right?
