When I swim *** stroke and stick to proper technique, I get much more winded then when I swim Freestyle or Backstroke (but not as winded as when I swim butterfly).
In fact, I don't even know if I could finish a 200 yd *** stroke race.
Why is this?
Related to the last post about the kick--a good *** kick drill I've learned is to put your hands behind your back just above your butt, and kick with your legs trying to get as high as your hands. Of course they won't get that high, but you know what I mean. Start with doing 25s of this on an interval with 10-15 seconds rest then increase this to 50s. This is tough.
Another drill is to swim but try to pull yourself as high out of the water as you can. Again, start out small with 25s and increase.
I've always liked *** from when I was a kid, and although I never swam competitively before masters, I'm on the fringe of the top 10 in my age group now for the 100 and 200.
A good endurance set--we've done something like a 2x (50, 100, 150...up to 400) with one free, one non-free. I've done the non-free ***, and a 400 *** is pretty tough. Certainly not something you'd do every day, but a few times a month will keep you in shape for your non-free stroke.
Former Member
The articles I read about breastroke say it uses more energy than any stroke including fly. I'm not convinced about the comparison with fly...because I think fly is very tiring, especially over longer distances (for me - anything over a 50).
The reason breastroke and fly are such energy pigs is that these strokes have far greater variation in velocity compared to free/back. You are constantly fighting to accelerate after you slow down.
Former Member
Those explanations both make perfect sense.
Now that I know why - what do I do about it? Is it just a matter of conditioning/endurance?
Former Member
I believe it is Wayne McCauley on this website who has a quotation on his posts referrring to breaststroke..."It's not how fast you swim, it's how fast you slow down". Breaststroke can be heavy on drag and the key to being fast (one of the keys anyhow) is to reduce the drag. I am not much of a breaststroker right now but I do know that avoiding the urge to look up when you breathe helps significantly by keeping your hips a little higher in the water. Another thing that helps is to practice kicking *** on your back. To do it right you don't want your knees to break the surface of the water (I'll admit that my knees tend to protrude a half inch or so from time to time) as you kick. This will help modify your kick to avoid drag when swimming full stroke. In full stroke, the further your knees drop the more drag you create and the harder you have to swim to maintain your pace.
I think Wayne's username is breaststroker...send him a PM and I am sure he will be glad to offer some more pointers.
Former Member
When using one of those belts with a stretch cord attached to the side of the pool most people can get further swimming breaststroke than freestyle. This implies you are able to generate more force with breaststroke than freestyle. The fact that freestyle is normally much faster can I think be explained because with the stretch cord you aren't moving forward through the water, so the drag component has been removed. In normal swimming the larger propulsion generated in breaststroke, which requires more effort by the swimmer, is being used up overcoming the greater drag.
Former Member
I race *** now when I never did in high school a long long time ago. I have been diligently working to modernize my stroke. And I'd have to say the biggest area of improvement so far is reducing drag. When I swam in high school we tried to get faster by improving strength and conditioning. I never saw a breastroker swim with their elbows in or recover with their hands above their elbows.
I marvel at good breastrokers that seem to surge forward during their hand recovery. Their kicks are phenomenal. So another area of attention is the kick - both for power and to reduce drag.
With the, "hands behind the back," drill, I usually breathe once for every 2 kicks. You can breathe every kick, but takes a bit to keep yourself up that high.
We do a very similar drill called "Butt Drill"
Put your hands on your butt, palms up, and you should be able to hit your fingertips with each kick. This is a good drill for checking for asymmetry in your kick too. I know I have a harder time getting my left foot to touch than my right. I usually breathe every kick. The once every 2 is a good idea... I'll have to try that.
Former Member
Tim, thanks for the drill work ideas.
How/when do you breath during the drill keeping your hands behind your back?
