Breaststroke faster than crawl

I'm going to just answer everyone in one message. Pwolf: I do a 2-beat kick, so that might have something to do with it. I try to incorporate a 4-beat kick in there, but it doesn't feel natural. I'm also not that great at SDKs, so I just do 2 or 3 and then surface. JimRude: I'm 24. I can do breaststroke all day and not get tired, but I do a moderate 400 free and I'm done for the night (which is sad because that's part of our warmup, haha). George: Thanks for the advice. I think I probably need someone to give me closer attention as far as crawl goes. I can do the stroke at an easy to moderate pace fairly efficiently, but when I try to speed up, it all goes to hell. Our team has a lane that gets more attention from the coaches because people who can't swim a stroke go there to get critiqued. Midas: I've always felt the most comfortable doing breaststroke. When we do mock races at practice, everyone does the front crawl, but I do the breaststroke and half the time I'm the first or second in. alphadog: You're right, my time is VERY slow, haha. I try to keep myself as efficient as possible, but you're probably right that I need to be willing to sacrifice some of that in order to increase speed and turnover. Mctrusty: I meant "like Grant Hackett" in that I watched a ton of his videos, so I model my stroke after his. I didn't mean that I was as fast or as good as him, just in case that's what you got from my post. Thrashing Slug: I can maintain that speed in the free for probably 400 right now if it's at the beginning of practice. If it's near the end, then probably only 50-100. I've never counted my strokes for a 28s 50 BR, but I take about 7 strokes on the way out and about 8 or 9 on the way back, so whatever the math is there. As far as the ankles go, do you mean pointing them down or turning them out? I can flex my ankles about 180. I'm working on going more (my coach calls it negative), but I can't do it without straining. As far as turning them out, I can go pretty far. If I turn both ankles out, it's like 210 degrees or something. I didn't use a protractor, but it's past 180. aztimm: My first meet is Aquapalooza in October. I will definitely post the results here. I'm afraid the times might not be as good due to nerves and the fact that I've only jumped off the blocks a couple times, but if I can get past that, they should be pretty good. I'm 18-24 until next year, btw. ourswimmer: I've had my coaches watch me swim many times, and they all love my breaststroke. I try to stay focused throughout the swim so that I make sure I don't do anything illegal in training with the idea that if I train legally, I'll swim legally in competition. We'll see if it works.

Are your coaches really telling you that your technique for swimming crawl is great??? It can not be that good if your time is 35 seconds. If you are going to race a 50 freestyle you should just swim you version of breaststroke. My coaches have watched my technique for both strokes, and they said that my front crawl technique is great. I'm probably taking about 10 strokes per 25 yards. The only thing I can think of is that my front crawl looks almost identical to Grant Hackett's, even when I'm trying to sprint. I think you're supposed to stay flat when you sprint, but it doesn't feel natural to me.

It might not be that slow; I didn't use a stopwatch, just the clock on the wall. I don't plan on doing any competing in freestyle, I just want to make it better. If I eventually get a decent time, I may try it at an event, but right now I'm focusing on the breaststroke. When doing the workouts with the rest of the guys, I'm usually one of the faster swimmers in the lane. Now that I think about it, I timed myself near the end of practice, so it might be faster than that. I'll time myself tonight at the beginning and get back to you.

You're probably right. It depends on the event, I guess. At Aquaplooza, we're only allowed to do one 50 event, and I wanted to do the 50 BR. If I can improve my crawl, I'd like to train for some distance events. We'll see how it goes. I'm really frustrated with the fly right now, but I think that's too much to focus on.

What I would like to see are a couple of videos. One swimming towards the camera and one from the side.

hahahahahahaaaa :lmao: I would die for a 50y time of :35. When you get to the DC area, let me know. I guarantee you there are several folks (myself included) in the area that can help you get much faster.

Well, I was wrong. We timed my 50 free at the beginning of practice, and I did it in 27. I took more strokes and kicked like hell. I also kept my body fairly flat and just powered my way through the water. How do I get videos underwater? Are waterproof cameras really expensive? That's more along the lines of what I would expect you to swim. As to cameras, no they are pretty reasonable at about $250-$300 for a decent one.

What is your kick? Are you doing a 2, 4 or 6 beat kick? How about your starts and turns? It's very unusual to have that sort of time diff. My breakdown is 23.6 - free, 26 - fly, 28 - back and 31.3 - ***

If you can maintain that speed for a 400, then it's not your real 50 speed. A 50 should be an all out sprint. Even the best distance swimmers have a notable difference between all-out 50s and 50 splits during a 400. Others will probably disagree, but I think a 6-beat kick is essential for getting the most out of your freestyle. How fast can you flutter kick a 50 with a board? If you can kick reasonably fast.. then it's just a matter of integrating the kick with your stroke. If not it could be an ankle flexibility issue, or technique, or endurance. Regardless of what the issue is with the freestyle times, 28s is great for a 50 breaststroke. If I were you I would focus on breaststroke. Also I think 35s is a pretty good 50 time for 10 strokes and little or no kick. That shows that you must have a fairly efficient and powerful stroke. With the right turnover and a good 6-beat, you can probably bring it down under 30 without too much of a problem.

Well, I was wrong. We timed my 50 free at the beginning of practice, and I did it in 27. I took more strokes and kicked like hell. I also kept my body fairly flat and just powered my way through the water. How do I get videos underwater? Are waterproof cameras really expensive?