I took some video of a friend including this clip of his breaststroke. Unfortunately I don't swim it much myself and haven't studied it much or sought out good videos with model strokes. Could one of you breaststroke experts comment on his stroke?
www.youtube.com/watchwww.youtube.com/watch (same video slow motion)
Also, do you know of any good youtube videos that show good breaststroke relatively close up? Most of the race videos are taken from too great a distance to see a lot of detail.
Thanks!
Former Member
On his kick, and indeed most of his stroke, doesn't it look at lot like this one from swimee?
www.youtube.com/watch
On his kick, and indeed most of his stroke, doesn't it look at lot like this one from swimee?
www.youtube.com/watch
OK, if you look at Ivanov's wind up, his shins and toes move to the outside. This makes a W from toe to knee to groin to knee to toe. If you look at Mark's wind up, his shins are in line with his thighs.
If you look at Ivanov's re-entry, he hunches his shoulders in preparation of an actual dive back into the water. If you look at Mark's, you can see that he's just tucking his head and stretching his arms out.
--Sean
I agree with the other's critiques.I finally saw the feet on his kick,and that is a big problem,he just doesn't have much external rotation at the ankles.Ideally,at the initiation of the kick the toes should point at the sides of the pool.His problem may be a lack of flexibility,or it may be from rushing the kick.I'd suggest doing kicking only working on getting as much external rotation as possible before the kick.If flexibility is the issue,try gently rotating the ankles with his hands several times a day(or if it doesn't hurt too much try sitting on the ground with knees folded under and feet rotated out) and also try keeping the knees farther apart at the recovery position so as to get the feet closer to pointing at the walls.On the pull out he has too much bending at the waist and should use his knees more in the dolphin kick.
Kick recovery seems very slow, and his legs/hips drop during the kick. He might benefit from the kicking drill where you stretch your arms behind you and try to touch your calves on each kick recovery. Also doing BR kick on his back, watching to ensure the knees do not break the surface.
Also it seems like the pull goes too far back. Sort of like mine tends to do :D
looks like he's diving his head too deep on the glide
which is a minor thing
mainly he's not getting much power from his kick or his pull
he might be gliding too much before starting the next stroke
but again it all depends
breastroke is a combination of
technique strength and conditioning
what's his 25 speed?
