The Breaststroke Lane

[robertsrobson]

Thanks,that worked.Robert,you are still going a little down with your arms on the recovery.A good drill for that is to recover with your thumbs up and have the thumbs break the surface.At the end of your recovery you move your hands out keeping the palms nearly horizontal.While this positions you to get into a good catch,it is non-propulsive.I had a velocity analysis of my stroke and I was doing pretty much what you were with my hands and there was a noticeable drop in velocity.I found that digging my hands in at the beginning of the pull eliminated the velocity drop.

Brilliant, thanks. Much appreciated. I'll try this, though I'm struggling at present with the slight change in timing.... Swam a tolerance set last night and was 4 seconds slower per 100m. Probably should have done another stroke, but then my f/c is also in bits following the video session!

[melinda]

Hello, fellow froggers! I have spent the last 5 days reading from start to finish every posting in this wonderful forum. I will be posting a few videos of my breast (er, I mean, breastSTROKE) in my next posting. Just wanted to introduce myself first.

[melinda]

Here are my videos for your expert dissection! I will be 60 yo for Nats in May, and will be swimming 50 and 100 BR, amongst other events (50 & 100 FR, 100 IM). I am currently following Leslie Livingston fabulous HIT workouts. I do not seem to get much propulsion from my K. I have been continuously plagued this season by leg "issues", eg - hamstring, groin, glut, quadricep muscle "pulls", so I'm not able to do a lot of BR K in practices. I think my elbows come back too far. I think I may be tilting my head back too much on breath.

Go at it, folks! Analyze and diagnose and advise, please!!


http://youtu.be/R64_e7Zt1K8



http://youtu.be/sUhYPfZS4Fw



http://youtu.be/TTu1Do5SkhM



http://youtu.be/sm5-LRneAzI



http://youtu.be/wHvknu9DoxM



http://youtu.be/LjWBMlaSkfg

[ElaineK]

Hello, fellow froggers! I have spent the last 5 days reading from start to finish every posting in this wonderful forum. I will be posting a few videos of my breast (er, I mean, breastSTROKE) in my next posting. Just wanted to introduce myself first.

It's always nice to have new frogs join us on the lily pad!

[ElaineK]

Here are my videos for your expert dissection! I will be 60 yo for Nats in May, and will be swimming 50 and 100 BR, amongst other events (50 & 100 FR, 100 IM). I am currently following Leslie Livingston fabulous HIT workouts. I do not seem to get much propulsion from my K. I have been continuously plagued this season by leg "issues", eg - hamstring, groin, glut, quadricep muscle "pulls", so I'm not able to do a lot of BR K in practices. I think my elbows come back too far. I think I may be tilting my head back too much on breath.

Go at it, folks! Analyze and diagnose and advise, please!!

I will leave the expert dissection to King Frog, but, in my opinion, you have a nice breaststroke; much better than mine!
As for your leg issues, . you have my complete empathy- and, sympathy! I, too, have had the same problems; mostly with the sartorius and adductors. Swimming any significant breaststroke yardage two days in a row leads to serious soreness and re-injury, so I have baby my legs along. I am going through physical therapy now (with a USMS breaststroker), though, so I hope to put my leg issues behind me!

Good luck at Nats. and let us know how you do. I won't see you there, but I will be at Mission Viejo and hope to meet you there!

[smontanaro]

It's always nice to have new frogs join us on the lily pad!

Shouldn't that be "in the pond" instead of "on the lily pad?"

[Allen Stark]

Hello, fellow froggers! I have spent the last 5 days reading from start to finish every posting in this wonderful forum. I will be posting a few videos of my breast (er, I mean, breastSTROKE) in my next posting. Just wanted to introduce myself first.

You have a very nice rhythmic breaststroke.Everything I have to say is really fine tuning.
You are too angled down on the pushoff and your back is too arched during the pushoff.Your pull is very good,but you could get a bit more high elbow.
In your arm recovery you angle down a bit and then bring your hands back up to initiate the pull.If you could recover straight forward it would be better.The thumbs up drill is good for this.
It is hard to see but it looks like maybe your head is a little up all the time.
On the kick,I think you would get more power if you recovered your heels higher.If you could turn your feet out a little more that would also help.Your feet are too near the surface and you catch air sometimes.If you arch your back a little more as you breath that may get your feet lower and solve that problem.
You really have a good BR.See you at Indy.

[ElaineK]

Shouldn't that be "in the pond" instead of "on the lily pad?"

Yeah, you have a good point there!

[swimBRCT]

I haven't been on this thread in many months, but I thought I'd stop by and mention that Coach McCauley (King Frog?)'s idea proposed in this page is fantastic

http://www.breaststroke.info/Rethink...aststroke.html

If you swim the 50 BR in races, seriously consider trying out leaving your head in the water every other stroke. It takes about a week to get used to, but the results should speak for themselves. You can practice in as short a distance as 1 lap... and the USRP "Rushall" style training discussed in the thread I just attempted to revive elicited the change for me within 2 weeks.

[Allen Stark]

Wayne is an amazing resource.I wish he would post here more often.
I keep playing with the every other stroke breathing and no breathing BR for sprints in workouts and I just can't get it faster than every breath BR.I do think every other breathing is a great drill for keeping the head down and transferring momentum forward.

[ElaineK]

I haven't been on this thread in many months, but I thought I'd stop by and mention that Coach McCauley (King Frog?)'s

No, sorry; it's Allen Stark! I named him King Frog after he broke the world record in 200 breaststroke at Auburn Nationals. And, he is the king advisor on this thread.

[melinda]

New forum-ite checking in after her meet this morning. I focused on your suggestions to my videos yesterday, specifically, head position and pull-out and streamlining. I swam 37.5 for 50 BR, which is my best THIS season. It felt very smooth. Thanks, all.

[Allen Stark]

New forum-ite checking in after her meet this morning. I focused on your suggestions to my videos yesterday, specifically, head position and pull-out and streamlining. I swam 37.5 for 50 BR, which is my best THIS season. It felt very smooth. Thanks, all.

Excellent!!!!! You are a fast learner.

[ElaineK]

New forum-ite checking in after her meet this morning. I focused on your suggestions to my videos yesterday, specifically, head position and pull-out and streamlining. I swam 37.5 for 50 BR, which is my best THIS season. It felt very smooth. Thanks, all.

Congratulations!

[Allen Stark]

After watching a video of Breeja Larson swim the 200 BR using the early dolphin kick on each turn I decided to try it again. I got it to click and it was faster.The key for me seems to be to start the dolphin when I would take my first dolphin kick if I was swimming fly and then immediately finish the pulldown after the kick.I had been starting the kick when I would have started the pulldown,making it 3 distinct motion:separate hands and dolphin,pulldown,BR kick.doing the dolphin earlier and letting it flow into the pulldown makes me feel like I am carrying my speed from the pushoff further.YMMV.

[fdtotten]

doing the dolphin earlier and letting it flow into the pulldown makes me feel like I am carrying my speed from the pushoff further.YMMV.

Completely agree. Not an individual event breastroke swimmer, but I work on it often as part of my future 400 IM event in SCM this year. Was doing the DK at the start of pulldown, which never was consistent or felt very reliable. Observing underwater video at 2012 Summer Olypimics, and a proficient dolphin kicker, I switched to doing a single strong dolphin undulation during the streamlining position after the push off the wall followed by the standard breastroke pulldown. The overall flow process of sustaining the speed from the wall push off is smoother, more effective and consistent.

[smontanaro]

I had been starting the kick when I would have started the pulldown,making it 3 distinct motion:separate hands and dolphin,pulldown,BR kick.doing the dolphin earlier and letting it flow into the pulldown makes me feel like I am carrying my speed from the pushoff further.YMMV.

I'm having a hard time understanding where your hands are when you do your dolphin kick. Does it now precede separation of your hands?

[Allen Stark]

I'm having a hard time understanding where your hands are when you do your dolphin kick. Does it now precede separation of your hands?

You must separate your hands before the DK or you will be DQd, but a hand separation is all that is necessary.You can separate your hands,DK,then finish the pulldown(yes FINA decided that 2 distinct hand motions were really one motion.I guess math isn't FINAs strong suit.)

[knelson]

Isn't there some way we can get the title of this thread corrected? I cringe every time I see it.

[pmccoy]

Isn't there some way we can get the title of this thread corrected? I cringe every time I see it.

Wow! Never noticed that until now. I wonder how long the bastrokers have been snickering behind our backs.