Swimming Technique: Breast Stroke

In this technique, the torso of the swimmer doesn't rotate and the head remains out of the water for most of the time. Although, in this method the swimmer moves forward slowly, it provides great stability. It is taught to those who are new to swimming. However, mastering this technique at a professional level is not an easy job. The hand movement in the breast stroke resembles a 'sweeping' movement, while the legs move like a 'frog kick'. The breast stroke technique has been improved by professional swimmers by making the use of hips and abdominal muscles in powering the 'frog kick'. The 'frog kick' is also know as the 'whip kick', because the legs are stroked like a whip during the breast stroke.

Technique
The breast stroke involves the forward movement of arms and the legs. The sweeping action of arms includes the following three movements.

• Outsweep: The outsweep starts with the swimmer's palms facing each other and placed near the chest. The hands are then outstretched with the palms still facing each other; which resembles an arrow. The hands are now stretched to their full length. The sweeping action starts with the palms rotating along the wrists to face away from each. The hands part away from each other to sweep the water without bending the elbows. Until the outsweep is completed, the hands remain parallel to the surface.
• Insweep: During the insweep the water is pushed backwards. For this to happen, the hands need to point downwards and push the water. The hands that were in a horizontal plane during the outsweep align themselves in a vertical plane. At the end of the sweep, the palms come back to the position of facing each other in front of the chest.
• Recovery: In the final phase, the hands come back to the original position and again with the palms facing each other.

The movement of legs during the breast stroke involves the following actions. At the initial position, the legs are stretched outwards while the knees stay together. Now, the feet move towards the posterior while maintaining the knees together. It is the precursor of the thrust motion. When the legs are thrust downwards, they move away from the posterior in an elliptical path. The above cycle repeats during the breast stroke. While performing the whole activity, the knees shouldn't sink much in the water as it increases the drag. During the breast stroke, the idea is to produce the maximum thrust by the legs and to face the least possible drag.

Styles
The different styles of the breast stroke swimming include the undulating style, the wave style and the flat style. The wave style focuses more on the insweep as compared to the conventional style. The undulating style is used by flexible swimmers. The conventional flat style makes use of powerful outsweeps as compared to the wave style.

History
The history of the breast stroke can be traced back to the stone age. Pictures found in the 'Cave of Swimmers', a cave located in southwestern Egypt, depict the use of the breast stroke.

The first book on swimming, 'Colymbetes' was written by Nicolas Winman of Germany in 1538. It presented systematic ways to learn breast stroke swimming.

Around 1800 A.D., the breast stroke technique was introduced in the arena of competitive swimming.

Captain Matthew Webb swam across the English channel in 21 hours and 45 minutes, using the breast stroke technique.

Various Competitions
The swimmers compete in various categories of breast stroke swimming such as 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m and 4 by 100m relay.

Noted Breast Stroke Swimmers
Some of the noted breast stroke swimmers are enlisted below

• Victor Davis from Canada
• Alexander Dale Oen from Norway
• Amanda Beard from the United States
• Leisel Jones from Australia
• Kosuke Kitajima from Japan
• Luo Xuejuan from China

The technique of the breast stroke has survived for a long time despite the rise of various other techniques. Many new techniques have evolved in swimming without reducing the importance of the breast stroke. Unlike other swimming techniques, which improve the speed, the breast stroke has relied on its potential to stretch and power various muscles of the body; and the most important function of providing stability.