It seems to me that over the last few years there has been a real revolution in the breaststroke. During the 90's nearly everybody was swimming (or trying to swim) the dolphin *** stoke with the upper body nearly perpendicular with the water surface and the swimmer trying to leap forward. During the last few years I have noticed a return to the more classical breaststroke, particularly in the 200m. in general there seems to be more of a mix of *** strokes. Has anybody else noticed this?
Go to breaststroke.info and read Wayne's articles on "WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THE WAVE BREASTSTROKE" and "WHAT WENT RIGHT WITH THE WAVE BREASTSTROKE".Then look at video of Barrowman from 1992 and see he didn't have an exaggerated up and down motion.My opinion is that coaches thought the undulation was propulsive enough to try to maximize it,but it isn't.The really important improvements of the"wave" are keeping your head down all the time and recovering your legs by bending at the knees,not the hips.This improves streamlining,whereas extreme up and down motions break streamlining.Some undulation seems to help many breaststrokers maintain rhythm and may even provide a tiny amount of propulsion so don't totally give up on the concept.Just remember"moderation in all things."
Go to breaststroke.info and read Wayne's articles on "WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THE WAVE BREASTSTROKE" and "WHAT WENT RIGHT WITH THE WAVE BREASTSTROKE".Then look at video of Barrowman from 1992 and see he didn't have an exaggerated up and down motion.My opinion is that coaches thought the undulation was propulsive enough to try to maximize it,but it isn't.The really important improvements of the"wave" are keeping your head down all the time and recovering your legs by bending at the knees,not the hips.This improves streamlining,whereas extreme up and down motions break streamlining.Some undulation seems to help many breaststrokers maintain rhythm and may even provide a tiny amount of propulsion so don't totally give up on the concept.Just remember"moderation in all things."
