Best Breaststroke "Feel" Drills

Two kicks one pull is a great drill. I don't find fist swimming helps my breaststroke like it does my free. I think the catch for the kick is important so I do what I call the 2 inch breaststroke kick. With a snorkle(so you keep good body position) bring your legs up to the catch position, start the first 2 inches of the kick, repeat for 25 to 50 yd. It's good for loosening up the knees and ankles.

I guess Jeff and Carrie and Allen will have to answer this since there are a lot of non-breaststrokers out there.:wave: The fastest breaststroker on our team always does breaststroke fist drill in meet warmups to find his stroke and ensure a good swim. I've tried it and think it's a good drill, but it doesn't seem to be the predictor of a great day for me that it is for him. Does anyone else have something they rely on that I might steal? Breaststroke is such a finesse stroke that it would be nice to have something to help everything click in even when I'm nervous. Thanks for any wisdom in advance! A drill I like to use is the count drill. In prax, to get my timing put together, I do a complete stroke and then count 1-2-3 (in the streamline position) and then do another full stroke, 1-2-3-, etc. Meet days, or during races, if my timing gets off, I do the same thing, but with a 1 count. It's pretty close to the real stroke and gives you a chance to get your rhythm back together. :wiggle:

I like the two kicks one pull drill

One thing I do in warm-up for meets is a 400 alternating free and ***. I do the free to relax my mind and loosen my shoulders(and because my attention span isn't long enough to concetrate on more than a 50 in warm-up.) The *** 50's I work on DPS,trying to take one less stroke than the prior 50 while keeping good form.

Underwater breaststroke helps you find the trouble drag spots. A good drill is two regular strokes, then two strokes underwater, with the same hand speed, keeping your head down. Also, try doing a 10-15 yard sprint underwater using only your arms. Legs can do a slight kick.

I also like 2 kicks one pull drill. You could also do breastroke with a dolphin kick to really feel the undulation. Also, you could work on sculling drills.

I am not a breaststroker (knee can't take it) but I love doing BR with dolphin kick wearing fins. Well, of course, fins are good for everything. :)

5 strokes is only when I'm really focussing on long breaststroke. 6-7 is a much more normal, regular practice, type number. If you're taking 7-8 strokes you are already doing great! Most people have a terrible time getting down to this. When I sprint (which for me is a 50... unfortunately my wimpy self does not extend sprinting up to the 100 in breaststroke), who knows how many strokes I take? I'm betting it's not pretty.

I don't know how many I take during a race either. It would be interesting to see. I'm better at the 200 than the 50 or 100, but I like them all. Next time I go to a meet I'll check out the count. It's probably higher since whenever I think about counting, I'm sure I'm stretching out and concentrating on it! :) It helps to know what others are doing, so thank you so much!

Lots of good tips here. I'm going to have to try Jeff's 2 up - 2 under drill; it sounds great. My favorite drill (as stated in another thread) is 3 kick - 1 pull. Other good drills are: Butt drill - lie on tummy, hands palms up on butt, kick and see if your heels can graze your fingertips when you kick. Purpose of the drill is keep the shoulders to knees in a straight line in the water (ie. not pull your knees in towards your chest - this seriously puts on the brakes in breaststroke). Turnover drill - head up, legs don't move, fast fast arm motions. I do this during warmup in a meet if I'm swimming the 50... but never more than 10 yards of it at a time. If you naturally have to fight a short stroke when you sprint, this is probably not a good drill, though! One of my favorite things to do is a progression of (like 3x50, 1 50 each): 3 kick, 1 pull 2 kick, 1 pull regular breastroke, keeping the stroke long Anytime you can practice long, stretched out, streamlined ***, it is a good thing. I'm 5'4" and can do 5 strokes/lap in a scy pool when I'm 'on'. When I'm off, it can go up to 9 strokes/lap and the stroke is ugly, ugly, ugly. At that point, it's probably good to just start doing freestyle!