Breaststroke Swimming

Breaststroke is one of the most basic strokes in swimming. While some people learn freestyle swimming first, I for one learned the breaststroke before and let me tell you, I found it terribly easy!

How to Swim the Breaststroke

Before learning how to swim a breaststroke faster it is important that you learn the basics of the breaststroke. Let us start with the arm movement.

Arms
While swimming the breaststroke your arms go through three main actions: the out-sweep, the in-sweep and the recovery. It is better that you first practice the arm movements with your feet firmly on the ground till you get them right. First, join your palms and have them just about touching your chest. Then push your hands forward. Now separate the palms and then have the back side of the palms touching each other, before making the out-sweep. In the out-sweep you move your hands in a semi circular shape towards the outside. Then you bring your arms together, the in-sweep, quickly and come back to the starting position. All through the motion, your hands have to be half immersed in water and half above it.

Legs
Let us now see the motion for the legs. You can first practice the motion for the legs by simply 'hanging' off a rail in the swimming pool and practicing the movement of the legs till you get it right. The legs go in the similar motion as the hands. Your heels first touch each other, then you kick out and then in-sweep your legs back into position.

In breaststroke swimming, it is important that you perfect the movement of the arms and the legs individually because it can be difficult for beginners to swimming to be able to do both. So first make sure that you have the motion of the arms perfect and then the motion of the legs before trying the breaststroke.

How To Swim Competitive Breaststroke

Of course, if you're in a swimming competition, it is crucial that you swim the breaststroke faster than your opponents. So, how to swim breaststroke faster? Here are some great tips.

• First tip. When in water, a lot of people tend to panic, in an attempt to swim faster, and move their limbs incorrectly and too fast. Wrong. To swim faster you need to concentrate on the motion of your limbs and in fact push the water slower. Now by slower, I don't mean you compromise on the power. Give a hard push to the water as you move, but do not haphazardly flail your limbs as this will only make you swim a lot slower and moreover consume more energy.
• The second very important tip is the balance. While doing the breaststroke, remember that the leg motion helps you stay up and propels you a bit, while the motion of the hands gives you direction and the thrust to move forward. So if you feel that your lower back is unbalanced or you're uncomfortable, then it means your leg movements are found wanting somewhere and aren't coming out quite well. And, if you're unbalanced, you will not be able to swim fast. If you're finding trouble balancing, it is better to go to the basics and practice the leg movements over again.
• Third tip. Breathing at the correct time is crucial to breaststroke swimming. So, when you have done the out-sweep with your hands, bring your head up from under the water, take a deep breath and continue the motion. Breathing properly will help you optimally utilize oxygen and will help you swim faster.

The breaststroke is supposed to be one of the best whole body workouts as it exercises so many muscles. This style involves the use of your calves, thighs, triceps, back, chest, shoulders and arms! It benefits too are aplenty as it is a good cardiovascular exercise and helps you lose weight and improves your stamina.