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!
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!
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!
