Why some breaststokers are terrible at

My first thought would be that your coach back when you were an age grouper did a poor job of teaching you backstroke. On my latest coaching course, the tutor told us that "you can judge how good a teacher/coach is by how well the kids swim backstroke". What he meant is that backstroke is a very 'subtle' stroke. It is vital to have correct head and body position, correct kicking action and perfect timing of the arms to move well through the water. The mistake I most often see is people trying to swim 'on their backs'. The stroke is really swum from one side balanced position to another, with hips and shoulders moving as a unit ( no twist at the waist ). I focus a lot on teaching backstroke to my kids. I think that backstroke teaches core body rotation and the timing of the catch to the hips better than any other stroke. It is no accident that most of the best freestylers are also very good backstrokers.

I have to agree that I am terrible at backstroke also. I guess I'd have to say the only stroke I do well is breaststroke. I'm not sure that it involves coordination, because outside of my breaststroke I don't have any corrdination.

Clearly, the more relevant question is "why are backstrokers so bad at breaststroke?" :D My excuse (as a backstroker) is that I can't kick, especially not breaststroke. It seems like breaststrokers tend to have shorter legs for their height than most swimmers (but not always), and maybe it's harder for us longer-legged folks to kick efficiently in breaststroke. The real reason is probably that breaststroke requires coordination, of which I have almost none, while backstroke require more than the ability to stay streamlined on your back. -Victoria

Well, I probably did have some mediocre coaching or the lessions I was taught thru Red Cross didn't stress some right way of swimming backstroke. Also, I'm short legged and have to wear short pant lengths.

Its interesting to note that backstroke is the only stroke where you don't visually focus on your hands and arm movements because you literally can't see them while doing it. Just an observation. I liken backstroke to going on a kayak journey. Except you can't see where your going! Back to the thread... That was certainly a good point about body types. Breaststrokers can actually do quite well despite being shorter in many cases. Short strong legs can certainly power a torso through the water very nicely. Not saying that being tall has an advantage, but it can help for freestyle, and in acquiring some impressive distance on the turns. As an age group swimmer, our coach would single out various people and proudly announce that they were to join the ranks of flyers, backstrokers, or breaststrokers. Being over six foot two at fourteen years old, he surmised that I would excel at backstroke which indeed I did. Breaststroke was never exactly my specialty, but probably because it hadn't been "assigned" to me. I would argue that there are no bounds for learning the different strokes. It's just that some of us are built with the right design for doing certain strokes very well.

This is true, I consider breastroke to be my best event, and I can't do backstroke to save my life. In college, I was a 45 (free) 49 (fly) 56 (***) and what kept me from being an IMer, 1:01 (back). I could not do it! and still can't today. I blame it on the fact that my face is out of the water in backstroke. I start to daydream, looking at the clouds (or counting tiles on the ceiling) or worst of all, trying to make heads and tails on what those cannucks were thinking when they build the Olympic Park natatorium, there's not a striaght line to be found on that ceiling. :D

As a kid I once did a 1:16 point something in backstroke and at 15 years old I then swam it at 1:24. The breaststroke usually was between my best at 1:16.1 my best and 1:18.0. as a teenager.

I don't *get* the breaststroke at all. Short of going backwards. Backstroke just clicked for me, like, oh, yea that feels just right. I don't know fly yet. Will be going to a clinic at the beginning of october. I'll let you know how it goes. I like the fly kicking, that part I know how to do.

Originally posted by Gareth Eckley My first thought would be that your coach back when you were an age grouper did a poor job of teaching you backstroke. Yes, I too can swim breaststroke well (my best) but can't swim backstroke (my WORST BY FAR). I like the previous excuse: It's my coach's fault. I actually can't blame my age group coaches because I did not swim age group. I learned swimming by watching fish and frogs - I never saw any swimming on their backs. (Any fish I saw on their backs were not swimming.)

The best time in my life I swam backstroke was when I was 12 to 14. I had a coach that did a lot of it. Then I switch teams and they emphazied more freestyle swimming and since my best stroke was breaststroke and my second was butterfly, I workout on them much more than backstroke. I probably also did have poor instrucation as a kid with the Red Cross. Now as an adult I workout the most on free and ***, then butterfly and back.