Confused

We just recently did a week focusing on each of the strokes after our coach got back from a workshop in Fort Lauderdale. She showed us a great video that had some logical explanations for looking down in the breaststroke. I wish that I could remember the name of the video... Anyway, in the video footage, it appeared to me that during the breath, the head doesn't strictly face the bottom of the pool but the gaze does look down. On the glide the head does face down. I haven't done breaststroke since I was a age-grouper, so I really can't tell you which method is better. However, I did find that the looking down theory works much better with a contemporary breaststroke. I tend to be stuck in the rut of when it was illegal to submerge your head (my head just barely goes underwater and I have very little dolphin motion), and it's really hard to look at the bottom with the old-style stroke.

Neither Hansen nor Kitajima keep their heads particularly down,but more importantly they do not raise their heads up. They keep them basically in a neutral position and they look slightly foreward because they have lifted their upper bodies.Letting your body raise your head is generally not a problem. Raising your head by arching your neck will cause your hips to drop and slow you down.

Re; your question,does forcibly dropping your head slow you down? Probably! For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,so if you force your head down something,usually your rear,will come up. Some people can use this as part of their undulation(wave),but most will have too much up and down motion.

It helps for me to think that my head and spine are a seesaw, that comes up together then flattens out together so the neck and head don't move, and everything moves as one. Also, think about the power coming from the hips.

Thanks Allen Stark! That explains everything. I didn't understand when my coach wanted us to look down when I wasn't looking up. My head was kinda like Phelps's, at about a 30 degree angle to the water. I don't lift my head. I have one more question tho :). Still in the Olympics and Worlds I see Hansen and Kitajima, when taking their side views, look as if they don't move their heads at all. With a close up and slow motion I see that their heads turn downwards very close to the water with their body. However, some Olympians actively bring their heads down before entering the water again during recovery (they are usually the slow ones :D). Does this slow you down?

I think the key is keeping your head in line with your spine. As you do your arm stroke, you are pulling yourself up to breath so your head looks like you have lifted it up when actually your spine is just in a different position. If you can see someone moving the head and arching their neck when the breathe then they are not swimming in proper form. Try moving/not moving your head when you practice and you will feel the difference. If you keep your head up the whole time and look forward to the end of the pool, you will notice that your arm stroke is causing you to bob and only your kick is pushing you forward. Then try swimming with your head down and you will feel your arms pulling your forward. I like to practice the head alignment by putting on some Zoomers and doing a butterfly kick with a breaststroke pull. I have noticed a huge difference in my breaststroke, plus it is really fun. It feels weird at first, but that's only because you need to teach your brain to make it a habit. Sort of like wearing your watch on your left arm instead of your right (or vice versa). It feels really strange at first, but you get used to it after awhile.