The latest threads clearly reveal that the vast majority of masters swimmers wish breaststroke did not exist (except Peter, Allen, Aquafeisty, and a possiblely experimenting SCY freestyler). So why does everyone hate breaststroke? :mad:
I'll go first. I hated it when I was young because it was too slow, I never learned how to do it right, and I never learned the wave action because it didn't exist when I was young. I can't seem do get the timing right now. And I have no excuse. Unlike my shoulder, my knees are fully intact. Not sure I have the gumption or time to put in 100,000 yards for a complete overhaul on a stroke I don't swim in meets. But I'd like to be able to fake it in IMs ...
I was OK at breaststroke as a youngster but a knee injury pretty much wiped it out. The nerve damage makes it so I can't totally feel what that leg is doing and the scar tissue keeps it from bending much; plus the hamstrings that were harvested for spare repair parts mean I have no strength. It hurts and I rarely go more than about 10 yards w/ the correct kick, although I'll slog through it for an IM in a meet, rarely.
But the stroke is defective anyhow. It's too easy to be a hurry-up-go-slower stroke. The kick is dangerous kicking other people and the wall. There is that weird pocket of turbulence over the lower back. It can be ugly to watch even fast swimmers that look like inchworms thrashing across the pool
In practice the slow underwater recovery just makes me want to switch over to butterfly.
I have to say when Amanda Beard and Brendan Hansen swim breaststroke I think it's beautiful ...
I was OK at breaststroke as a youngster but a knee injury pretty much wiped it out. The nerve damage makes it so I can't totally feel what that leg is doing and the scar tissue keeps it from bending much; plus the hamstrings that were harvested for spare repair parts mean I have no strength. It hurts and I rarely go more than about 10 yards w/ the correct kick, although I'll slog through it for an IM in a meet, rarely.
But the stroke is defective anyhow. It's too easy to be a hurry-up-go-slower stroke. The kick is dangerous kicking other people and the wall. There is that weird pocket of turbulence over the lower back. It can be ugly to watch even fast swimmers that look like inchworms thrashing across the pool
In practice the slow underwater recovery just makes me want to switch over to butterfly.
I have to say when Amanda Beard and Brendan Hansen swim breaststroke I think it's beautiful ...
