I'm still working on my Breaststroke, and have improved greatly from USMS forum feedback on a video of me several months ago. I have a new one, this time taken underwater. I'm going about 80-85% speed, taken at the end of a long practice.
I'm swimming a 1:13-1:14 100YDs, and a :32-:33 50YDs, but have goals of a 1:10 and/or a :30, and think I should be able to get there.
I noted that my head raises too soon in the breakout, and I wonder about having too deep of an angle in the pullout. Any and all feedback would be very welcome - I greatly appreciate and try to apply the advice I get here!!
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Former Member
Brendan Hansen's technique has been described many times as "textbook", so it might not hurt to look at his stroke. If you watch this video (from about 0:08 until 0:16), you get a good shot of how his hips are up, and his body lunges more forward than down. Even though his upper body is angled down in the water, he is still moving forward rather than down. Also, you'll notice that there isn't the pronounced undulation you have in your stroke that I think is more characteristic of butterfly as someone else pointed out. Your kick doesn't look like it's really too late, it just isn't pushing your hips up and forward like it should be. If you're kicking properly, you should feel like your hips are going to pop out of the water. Don't worry so much about undulating and just focus on the hip/leg action and staying streamlined for a tad longer (i.e., ride the glide).
Also, the others are right re: the timing of your underwater pull. You shouldn't be down there for longer than 3-4 seconds. If you watch Kitajima, Brendan Hansen, any of those guys, they all have pretty much the same timing. You should streamline for a second, maybe a little more, then the pull and kick, and by the 0:03, you should be doing your breakout with your first stroke no more than 4.5 seconds after you push off the wall. You can see this in pretty much any video on YouTube.
Another thing I noticed is that your head comes up too early. Looking at your video, you pick your head up before you even start your outsweep. Your head should start to come up after you've started your outsweep with your head breaking the water just before you start your insweep. If you notice, your head breaks the surface really early (unless that's just the glare from the water).
Brendan Hansen's technique has been described many times as "textbook", so it might not hurt to look at his stroke. If you watch this video (from about 0:08 until 0:16), you get a good shot of how his hips are up, and his body lunges more forward than down. Even though his upper body is angled down in the water, he is still moving forward rather than down. Also, you'll notice that there isn't the pronounced undulation you have in your stroke that I think is more characteristic of butterfly as someone else pointed out. Your kick doesn't look like it's really too late, it just isn't pushing your hips up and forward like it should be. If you're kicking properly, you should feel like your hips are going to pop out of the water. Don't worry so much about undulating and just focus on the hip/leg action and staying streamlined for a tad longer (i.e., ride the glide).
Also, the others are right re: the timing of your underwater pull. You shouldn't be down there for longer than 3-4 seconds. If you watch Kitajima, Brendan Hansen, any of those guys, they all have pretty much the same timing. You should streamline for a second, maybe a little more, then the pull and kick, and by the 0:03, you should be doing your breakout with your first stroke no more than 4.5 seconds after you push off the wall. You can see this in pretty much any video on YouTube.
Another thing I noticed is that your head comes up too early. Looking at your video, you pick your head up before you even start your outsweep. Your head should start to come up after you've started your outsweep with your head breaking the water just before you start your insweep. If you notice, your head breaks the surface really early (unless that's just the glare from the water).
