Originally posted by Blue Horn
For those that think breaststroke is easy, you aren't doing it right. When swum correctly it is as difficult or harder than butterfly. Try a 20 x 100 (LCM) on the 1:30 and tell me that breaststoke is a lazy stroke.
Correctly? Well, I reckon everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this is the kind of attitude that makes some people think this is an "elite swimmer only" message board.
Were it not for the lazy version of breaststroke then I may never have been able to return to swimming. For me it is 100% correct.
Maglischo's book Swimming Fastest shows why breastroke and butterfly are so demanding to swim fast - these strokes have significant accelerate/decelerate cycles that tax your body much more than free/back.
For me - fast *** is just about as tiring as fast fly, but it is possible to ease up on *** and swim slow for distance. I can't swim fly slow. That doesn't mean I'm fast, but there just is no such thing as nice and easy fly for me. Unless I have some speed, my body sinks and my arms don't clear the water. But nothing feels better to me than a good 25 fly.
I have to say modern breastroke is not a beauty to watch. It is often jerky and up and down. A few elite breastrokers seem to have a style with an amazing surge of forward motion during their arm recovery.
Nothing is worse for me than backstroke. I can't swim straight and I can't get my kick to actually help me move forward.
Originally posted by bud
Correctly? Well, I reckon everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this is the kind of attitude that makes some people think this is an "elite swimmer only" message board.
Were it not for the lazy version of breaststroke then I may never have been able to return to swimming. For me it is 100% correct. I think there are not that many elite swimmers on this forum, lots of have beens not many elite swimmers. very few top 10 swimmers here.
Breaststroke is, by far, my favorite stroke. It's graceful and powerful at the same time, and it takes rhythm to know how to swim it efficiently. To anyone who says it's a lazy stroke, you're not doing it right.
Originally posted by Gulf Coast Swimmer
Breaststroke is, by far, my favorite stroke. It's graceful and powerful at the same time, and it takes rhythm to know how to swim it efficiently. To anyone who says it's a lazy stroke, you're not doing it right.
OK, OK, I will admit that there have been times when I do body dolphin *** stroke (i.e. *** with a fly kick) with fins that I feel just a little bit like an actual *** stroker. I kinda, sorta feel that whole grace and power thing, and I can understand why some folks get a little loopey over it.
It's just that the *** strokers make themselves such EASY targets, rather like soccer (oh, sorry "futbol") fans who write sonnets about the sublime beauty of 0-0 ties.
Matt
An Unbiased Analysis of the Four Strokes
This piece is an objective look at the four strokes as seen through the eyes of a breaststroker. The reviews of the strokes themselves are presented in no particular order.
FREESTYLE
Oh yes, let us begin with the aquatic F-word, freestyle. Truly a dull and unimaginative stroke. Left arm, right arm, left kick, right kick. We detect a pattern here. What kind of person finds intellectual stimulation in this sort of repetition? Clomp, clomp, clomp. Freestyle is an elephant's stroke, all apologies to elephants. It is a stroke for people who stop at yellow lights and excel at algebra. Informal polling has led us to conclude that, to a person, freestylers prefer Windows to Macintosh, Kenny G to Miles Davis and day to night. Coaches wanting to see eyes literally bug out of sockets need only move a freestyler to the breaststroke lane. Yes, Virginia, there is more to life than catch-up drills and flutter kick.
Breaststroker's recommendation: Use this stroke for warmups only.
BACKSTROKE
We have many questions to ask of the world's backstrokers. First, what is the matter with you? That's right, you heard us. What is your problem? Do you not realize that you are upside down? Does light not shine in your sinister eyes? Are you reptiles with a second pair of eyelids, opaque in nature, that protect you from the sun's rays? Speaking of eyes, what about the ones in the backs of your heads, allowing you to spot the wall? Is it true that you can see through Speedos? And what of your start...crouched in front of the blocks as if praying to your "god." Who sent you to Earth? What have you done with Elvis? And why, when you grab at our private parts in practice, do you pretend that it is an accident?
Breaststroker's recommendation: Skip this one altogether; it is wholly unnatural.
BUTTERFLY
Good Lord. When will this most violent of strokes be committed to an insane asylum? With a recovery that emphasizes arms oustretched and hurling dangerously through the air, we wonder how many more breaststrokers have to be smacked across the face by an errant flier's paw before this experiment gone awry is canceled. Butterfly is a bad seed, borne out of breaststroke and mistakenly given its own place in the medley relay. The loud uncle of swimming, butterfly boorishly hogs the remote control, making all the other strokes watch football on Thanksgiving Day. We cannot help but think that witnessing butterfly is like babysitting a spoiled child who constantly screams, "look at me!"
Enough, butterfliers, enough. It's time to grow up. You are making a scene. You are hereby grounded to your room, where you shall consume copious amounts of Ritalin and think about the turbulent waves your savage dolphin kicking has caused decent, hardworking breaststrokers.
Breaststroker's recommendation: Swim only if you want to scare little kids out of your lane.
BREASTSTROKE
Breaststroke is all that is noble and good in this cruel world. Many deities, including God, Allah, and John F Kennedy Jr, enjoy the solitude of this most subtle of strokes. Unlike its neanderthal brethren, breaststroke has refined tastes. It reads the New Yorker and paints abtracts with oil. It hates both Demi Moore movies and the first half and last fourth of the IM. Breaststroke, we suspect, enjoys a martini now and again. (Contrast this with the alcoholic butterfly, which pounds Budweisers from cans, shoplifted from a 7-11). It soothes the inner beast and acts as a gentle tonic on a troubled heart. In fact, whenever we use our upgrade coupons to fly first class, just thinking about breaststroke drowns out the moaning of the rabble back in coach.
Breaststroke, you see, is in harmony with the universe; its pull and kick chase one another in playful symmetry. And if that weren't enough, breaststroke also boasts the crown jewel of competitive swimming, the pulldown. Comprised of a long sinewy pull followed by a spry frog kick, the pulldown is a holy moment of shrouded watery silence. Breaststrokers go to chapel during the pulldown, (often giving thanks that they are not backstrokers), and break to the surface only when their brave lungs are nearly burst. We have yet to see the fishkick or streamline that invokes such spiritual repose. Breaststroke is Yin and Yang, Rum and Coke, and the Captain and Tennille. Man does not go to breaststroke, man waits for breaststroke to come to him. Amen, brothers and sisters.
Breaststroker's recommendation: Join us.
By Laurie Kilmartin: www.kilmartin.com/.../fourstrokes.html
:bow:
Reading this just made my day! I no longer feel like the lame duck of the pool!
Is it safe to assume that one's favorite stroke is also the one he/she is best at? Any exceptions?
Breaststroke is my favorite, but time-wise I am better at fly.
