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.
Wayne has a theory that swimming breaststroke without breathing is faster. I think for some people it is. It doesn't seem to be for me. Try it, results may vary. I don't exhale continously underwater in the pullout ,nor have I seen any videos of world class breaststrokers who do. I don't see how doing so would decrease CO2 build up. Its not the CO2 in your lungs that is the problem,it's the CO2 in your blood stream. A rapid exhale just before inhaling will work at least as well.Stored O2 in you lungs will also continue to supply some oxygenation so you don't want to get rid of it until you can replace it.( See the video referred to on another thread of the guy setting the underwater distance record,he held his breath throughout.)
Wayne has a theory that swimming breaststroke without breathing is faster. I think for some people it is. It doesn't seem to be for me. Try it, results may vary. I don't exhale continously underwater in the pullout ,nor have I seen any videos of world class breaststrokers who do. I don't see how doing so would decrease CO2 build up. Its not the CO2 in your lungs that is the problem,it's the CO2 in your blood stream. A rapid exhale just before inhaling will work at least as well.Stored O2 in you lungs will also continue to supply some oxygenation so you don't want to get rid of it until you can replace it.( See the video referred to on another thread of the guy setting the underwater distance record,he held his breath throughout.)
