Breastroke Biomechanics

Base positions

• Chin low, face down, eyes looking to the bottom
• Water surface should be between the hair line and the crown of the head
• Body flat
• Arms extended
• Shoulder width apart on surface of the water, Thumbs pointing slightly down
• Legs together
• Feet inverted and big toes touching

Kick

• Feet sweep (whip) round, outside knees
• Feet dorsi flexed during kick
• Heels: Recover close to water surface up to the bum
• Toes: Toes touch at the end of the kick, curl to shin during recovery
• Remain dorsi flexed during whip (propulsive phase) phase
• Knees: 18 - 24 inches apart during whip

Arms Propulsion

• Out-sweep pulls (sculls) wider than shoulders
• Straight arm pull into high elbow position
• Little finger high
• Pull (catch) with fingers tips, wrists bend
• High knuckles, wrists and elbows
• Initially the out sweep pulls the body slightly down

In sweep

• Hands drive in and up towards chin (strong inward scull)
• Elbows remain high
• Elbows do not pull back passed sternum

Recovery

• Recover close to the surface of the water
• Elbows must remain under the water surface
• Thumbs should cut through surface of water or palms down
• Arms & elbows should recover close together
• Hands should accelerate throughout the pulling action and decelerate during recovery (no pause under the chin)

Timing

• Pull, Breath, Kick and Glide
• Big toes touch, pull starts
• End of the pull, heels start to recover
• Note: The longer the distance to be swam the longer the glide!
• Lifesaving Breaststroke has a long glide
• 200m Breaststroke very small glide (overlap)
• 100m & 50m Breaststroke no glide (overlap)