Hip movement on breastroke

RE: Hip movement on breastroke

Former Member — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:44:41 GMT

In general, yes, undulation during breaststroke definitely helps your overall movement through the water. With regard to the videos, I would say that the two that you should be concentrating on are Hansen and Kitajima since Phelps isn't really "known" for his breaststroke (it's his worst stroke while swimming the IM).

RE: Hip movement on breastroke

Allen Stark — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 07:54:08 GMT

It is easy to get too much hip movement and go up too high.Just playing around now on land I am guessing I go about 6 in.(as 3 forward and then 6 back and then 3 forward to get back in streamline.)The big difference between Kitajima this year vs last is last year he went much higher in the water.

RE: Hip movement on breastroke

Former Member — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:19:21 GMT

When I move my hips a lot like Phelps, I find that I go farther per stroke. If I really stretch it out and do a nice wave, I can go 25 yards in 5 or 6 strokes.

RE: Hip movement on breastroke

Midas — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:01:10 GMT

I am trying to figure out how much hip movement to employ in my own breastroke. When I swam in college (85 - 89) we still had to keep some part of our heads above water during each stroke. So, the stroke tended to be more flat compared to breastrokers today. I used some hip movement on the end of my kick back then, but really very little. Now, since the head can go completely under water during each stroke, it seems to follow that there is more hip movement. I'm talking about an almost sinuous movement to the stroke - getting some benefit of a dolphin kick at the end of each kick, as you feet go up to follow your hips. However, how much hip movement seems to vary from swimmer to swimmer. At a glance, it seems that the higher a swimmer brings his head out to breath, the more hip movement seems to be used. I'm wondering if the hip movement itself is an advantage - or if it is used to adjust for a breastrokers breathing style? Would appreciate hearing any other thoughts on the subject. For example, Phelps seems to have the most hip movement (due to extensive work with fly and dolphin kick ? ) www.youtube.com/watch Hansen seems to have very little hip movement www.youtube.com/watch www.youtube.com/watch and Kitajima seems somewhere in the middle www.youtube.com/watch Good question. I've always felt it's about keeping your hips high, as do Hansen and Kitajima. When doing that, it actually feels like a lot of hip movement to me, though it doesn't look like it.