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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Thanks. What about my other question, about the toes turning out? I'm still very unclear on the kick and the ankle positions to grab most water. Can someone please break it down for me? For me now the toes point most downwards throughout the entire kick, and I know that's not right.
Also, my time. 41.04, is that a mediocre time, a novice time, or a slightly above average time for my age? Is there a lot of room to improve? I'm planning an all out work-to-death year next year to try to bring my 50 *** time down to less than 33s and close to 32 or 31s. Is that possible in a year?
One more question: how can I improve my underwater pullout? The winner of this year's meet, he pulled at least 10m off the turn in a 50m SC event! He came into the turn a body length ahead and came out 2 body lengths ahead. It was absolute dominance by him (33.86s). So what does it take to get a good underwater pullout besides practice practice and practice? Any drills, workouts or tips for the underwater pullout?
Thanks. What about my other question, about the toes turning out? I'm still very unclear on the kick and the ankle positions to grab most water. Can someone please break it down for me? For me now the toes point most downwards throughout the entire kick, and I know that's not right.
Also, my time. 41.04, is that a mediocre time, a novice time, or a slightly above average time for my age? Is there a lot of room to improve? I'm planning an all out work-to-death year next year to try to bring my 50 *** time down to less than 33s and close to 32 or 31s. Is that possible in a year?
One more question: how can I improve my underwater pullout? The winner of this year's meet, he pulled at least 10m off the turn in a 50m SC event! He came into the turn a body length ahead and came out 2 body lengths ahead. It was absolute dominance by him (33.86s). So what does it take to get a good underwater pullout besides practice practice and practice? Any drills, workouts or tips for the underwater pullout?
