Leisel Jones's breaststoke

Originally posted by mattson But is it the fastest distance? You need to also consider if undulating gives you enough extra speed to offset any extra up and down motion. I agree with mattson that the shorter line is not necessarily the faster line. This is simply because you are against more resistance going through in water than going over water. I don't necessarily think flatter is better either. If you swim wave breaststroke, you also get momentum by coming out of water and lunge forward. The key is to lunge FORWARD not DOWN. If you keep yourself flat in the water, there is more drag resistance and you use more energy. But obviously Jones is doing very well. Perhaps she is Superwoman. :) Another difference is the amount of power you generate from your feet that allows you to glide more underwater. How fast you can travel underwater is more important than how flat or how undulating you are. I think Jones broke the world record in World Champs not because she is flatter but because she is gliding better. If you look at the Olympics finals where she was caught up by Beard, she was rushing her strokes toward the end and wasn't gliding as long. Another person I'd like to point to is Jessica Hardy. She swims the undulating wave breaststroke with very fast stroke rate. She is faster than Jones in the first 75. She was only caught up by Jones because she was tired in the last 25 and could not keep the same stroke rate. I think she would be faster if she glides slightly longer. I personally prefer the undulating wave breaststroke than the flat one simply because it's easier and faster for timing and streamlining. Let me tell you it is DIFFICULT to swim flat breaststroke. More tiring and harder to get hands in front. I just recently switched to the wave style. The problem with wave breaststroke is that it's much easier to forget the importance of gliding. One can easily get into a habit of simply focusing on undulating, and nothing else.

Originally posted by mattson But is it the fastest distance? You need to also consider if undulating gives you enough extra speed to offset any extra up and down motion. I agree with mattson that the shorter line is not necessarily the faster line. This is simply because you are against more resistance going through in water than going over water. I don't necessarily think flatter is better either. If you swim wave breaststroke, you also get momentum by coming out of water and lunge forward. The key is to lunge FORWARD not DOWN. If you keep yourself flat in the water, there is more drag resistance and you use more energy. But obviously Jones is doing very well. Perhaps she is Superwoman. :) Another difference is the amount of power you generate from your feet that allows you to glide more underwater. How fast you can travel underwater is more important than how flat or how undulating you are. I think Jones broke the world record in World Champs not because she is flatter but because she is gliding better. If you look at the Olympics finals where she was caught up by Beard, she was rushing her strokes toward the end and wasn't gliding as long. Another person I'd like to point to is Jessica Hardy. She swims the undulating wave breaststroke with very fast stroke rate. She is faster than Jones in the first 75. She was only caught up by Jones because she was tired in the last 25 and could not keep the same stroke rate. I think she would be faster if she glides slightly longer. I personally prefer the undulating wave breaststroke than the flat one simply because it's easier and faster for timing and streamlining. Let me tell you it is DIFFICULT to swim flat breaststroke. More tiring and harder to get hands in front. I just recently switched to the wave style. The problem with wave breaststroke is that it's much easier to forget the importance of gliding. One can easily get into a habit of simply focusing on undulating, and nothing else.