Breaststroke has always been my favourite stroke, but I've had these questions/problems for the longest times, could someone answer them for me? By the way, I'm 15.
1) How in the WORLD is it possible to do that ankle snap thing? I've been trying to turn my ankle out and in but it just wouldn't budge. It's just stuck there, and it cannot move side to side. I've seen some pictures of breaststrokers' feet turning 90 degrees in, but how can I do that? What are some exercises to improve side-to-side ankle flexibility?
2) I have a pretty narrow kick, and I think it is decent. However, I never feel the "explosion" everyone's talking about. I try my hardest to kick hardest, accelerating, but my legs just feel like pasta at the end of each kick. I can get pretty far with my kicks, but I feel like I can do better - I sometimes don't feel a lot of water resistance against my feet.
3) I've been having a bit of trouble with slipping recently. When I'm doing a 50 or 100m *** at a faster pace, my hands will sometimes fail to grab water, and sometimes a foot, sometimes both feet! I think it has to do with my pulling too fast, but I dunno.
4) When I go into a wall during ***, I am usually not tired, not even in a sprint (Short Course). However, the minute I complete my turn and start my underwater pull out, all hell breaks lose. I feel like my lungs will explode, and right after my first breath every single muscle begins hurting like never before. All fatigue comes at this one turn, and worsens every turn, until the last turn my underwater pullout is much shorter than my first pullout (from pushoff, I can usually do 10 meters from the pushoff while still maintaining a decent speed).
5) What are some workouts I can do to improve my sprint 50m and 100m breaststroke (short course)? I think I can do a near 40s 41s for 50m short course breaststroke from pushoff, but I want to get close to and under 35s.
6) What are some dry-land exercises I can do to improve my breaststroke?
7) Any other advice for faster sprint breaststroke?
Thanks A BUNCH to everyone who replies. I am really frustrated right now. Thanks again.
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Former Member
Thanks a lot for your reply.
I do a lot of eggbeater, not just for breaststroke but for lifesaving lessons you need to do them all the time.
I feel it difficult to visualize hip flexibility, although I know the term and I know its importance. Could you elaborate just what a person with a flexible hip can do that a person with a stiff hip can't do? Thanks.
I've watched a lot of slow-motion underwater videos of breaststrokers as well as race videos played frame by frame and full speed. I've watched them so much that I can memorize and recite the commentary for the 100m and 200m male breaststroke events in 2005 Montreal, as well as other videos. But the point is, I haven't caught what an ankle snap is supposed to look like. Is it a snap from the usual position to straight or overbent, like in flutterkick? Or is it a snap from the soles of your feet facing outwards to facing each other like when you are clapping??
And one more question for the underwater pullout. Is it because of my poor lung capacity that I'm so tired after one of these? Because I feel about 500 times more tired coming out of a turn than when I was going into the turn. I usually feel almost no pain in the legs going into a turn during a Short Course 50m sprint, but coming out of the turn my legs start hurting like hell. Is it all because of my lung capacity??
Thanks very much to everyone who replied and will reply in the future.
Thanks a lot for your reply.
I do a lot of eggbeater, not just for breaststroke but for lifesaving lessons you need to do them all the time.
I feel it difficult to visualize hip flexibility, although I know the term and I know its importance. Could you elaborate just what a person with a flexible hip can do that a person with a stiff hip can't do? Thanks.
I've watched a lot of slow-motion underwater videos of breaststrokers as well as race videos played frame by frame and full speed. I've watched them so much that I can memorize and recite the commentary for the 100m and 200m male breaststroke events in 2005 Montreal, as well as other videos. But the point is, I haven't caught what an ankle snap is supposed to look like. Is it a snap from the usual position to straight or overbent, like in flutterkick? Or is it a snap from the soles of your feet facing outwards to facing each other like when you are clapping??
And one more question for the underwater pullout. Is it because of my poor lung capacity that I'm so tired after one of these? Because I feel about 500 times more tired coming out of a turn than when I was going into the turn. I usually feel almost no pain in the legs going into a turn during a Short Course 50m sprint, but coming out of the turn my legs start hurting like hell. Is it all because of my lung capacity??
Thanks very much to everyone who replied and will reply in the future.
