Hi,
36 years ago, I competed in butterfly and backstroke, and my breaststroke was severely slow. I've returned to swimming for about one year and now is as fast in freestyle as back then. However, my breaststroke is now faster than backstroke and butterfly is the slowest of the three. The 100m pace of my breaststroke now is faster than my 1k freestyle, which is surprisingly satisfying (for me).
What does this physiologically indicate? I just look to see what are missing for swimming butterfly and backstroke.
Thanks
I wonder if you have less flexibility extending your foot than flexing it. Extension flexibility is important for flutter and dolphin kick, whereas flexion flexibility is more important in breaststroke. If this is true, your free is probably less affected than fly and back.
Update. I believe I found the issues. Breaststroke technique improves over decades ago so it's faster. Upper-body strength/power drops significantly from decades ago, so fly and back are significantly affected. However, fixed fly technique and now it is faster than breaststroke.
