General fitness, health and nutrition · Public discussion

New Breaststroke

Dakitty · 2003-09-15T14:22:16+00:00

"DaKitty" wrote in message news: ... I know about the website with the videos of textbook breaststroke? Any good breaststroke pointers? Links? My Masters coach did the same to me with butterfly. I don't do the fly. I felt so stupid thrashing in the water going nowhere. Anyway some breaststroke pointers.... During the whole arm stroke, do sculling motions, i.e. do not pull back on the water. Your hands must always be in front of your shoulders at all points in the stroke. At the start, shrug your shoulders a little, then slowly try to part the water in front of you with a push to the sides. With shoulders shrugged, your elbow will end up higher than your hand during the rest of the stroke. The second half of the stroke is a violent pull on the water as your hands come together under the chin and your shoulders shrug again. This will bring your upper body up above water for the breath, as your legs recover to start the kick. When starting the kick, try to "grab" water with the soles of your feet and inside of your legs. As you kick, drive your hands forward, point toes back and glide. As your legs come together (with feet performing a whipping motion), press your chest on the water (experiment how much) and your bum should lift along with your legs. I once saw a video of Janet Evans doing a demo of the arm stroke. IIRC, she's imagining a big bowl full of cake icing in front of her. During the arm stroke, her hands go around the rim of the bowl picking up the icing. Her hands stay on the rim, which keeps her shoulders and elbows up and prevents her from "pushing back on the water". As her arms go together under her chin, she "licks" the icing off her hands as she drives them forward. 😉 Sorry I don't remember where I saw the video. Ed

Started by Dakitty · 15 September 2003 · Last activity 15 September 2003 · 5 posts · 930 views

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Original section: General fitness, health and nutrition
Published: 15 September 2003
Last activity: 15 September 2003
Original author: Dakitty
Posts: 5
Discussion status: Public discussion
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Original post
Ed Alban
Archived post

15 September 2003, 14:23 UTC #2

"DaKitty" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<LKT2b.20279$S_.7230@fed1read01>...
Quoted message said:
I know about the website with the videos of textbook breaststroke? Any good breaststroke
pointers? Links?
My Masters coach did the same to me with butterfly. I don't do the fly. I felt so stupid thrashing
in the water going nowhere.
Anyway some breaststroke pointers.... During the whole arm stroke, do sculling motions, i.e. do not
pull back on the water. Your hands must always be in front of your shoulders at all points in the
stroke. At the start, shrug your shoulders a little, then slowly try to part the water in front of
you with a push to the sides. With shoulders shrugged, your elbow will end up higher than your hand
during the rest of the stroke. The second half of the stroke is a violent pull on the water as your
hands come together under the chin and your shoulders shrug again. This will bring your upper body
up above water for the breath, as your legs recover to start the kick. When starting the kick, try
to "grab" water with the soles of your feet and inside of your legs. As you kick, drive your hands
forward, point toes back and glide. As your legs come together (with feet performing a whipping
motion), press your chest on the water (experiment how much) and your bum should lift along with
your legs.
I once saw a video of Janet Evans doing a demo of the arm stroke. IIRC, she's imagining a big bowl
full of cake icing in front of her. During the arm stroke, her hands go around the rim of the bowl
picking up the icing. Her hands stay on the rim, which keeps her shoulders and elbows up and
prevents her from "pushing back on the water". As her arms go together under her chin, she "licks"
the icing off her hands as she drives them forward. 😉 Sorry I don't remember where I saw the video.
Ed

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F.J.
Archived post

15 September 2003, 14:44 UTC #3

"DaKitty" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<LKT2b.20279$S_.7230@fed1read01>...
Quoted message said:

I know about the website with the videos of textbook breaststroke? Any good breaststroke
pointers? Links?
There are several web sites that post competition videos:
1. buehlerbluemarlins.netvideos.html This is the new site Donald Graft is running. He
is the one who digitized most of the videos on the various web sites.
2. wa.swimming.org.auvideos This is essentially a "mirror" site of the
first one.
However, to learn the basic of breast stroke, I would suggest the third site:
swim.eeindex.html
Go there and look for Penny Heyns Videos. You can see both the front and side views above and
under water.

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Mark Miller
Archived post

15 September 2003, 14:44 UTC #4

"Ed Alban" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
"DaKitty" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<LKT2b.20279$S_.7230@fed1read01>...
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
I know about the website with the videos of textbook breaststroke? Any good breaststroke
pointers? Links?
My Masters coach did the same to me with butterfly. I don't do the fly. I felt so stupid thrashing
in the water going nowhere.
Anyway some breaststroke pointers.... During the whole arm stroke, do sculling motions, i.e. do
not pull back on the water. Your hands must always be in front of your shoulders at all points in
the stroke. At the start, shrug your shoulders a little, then slowly try to part the water in
front of you with a push to the sides. With shoulders shrugged, your elbow will end up higher than
your hand during the rest of the stroke. <<snip>>
Excellent description. I don't hear the 'shrugging' motion described / discussed / debated / or
coached much in breast stroke and almost never regarding freestyle. And yet I believe it's one of
the most significant differences in stroke efficiency a swimmer can make. It's the difference
between a catch that primarily lifts your front half vs. a catch that propels one forward. That
little shoulder shrug completely changes the angle of the hand-forearm plane from horizontal to
vertical 6 to 8 inches in advance of a flat-shoulder catch. Considering the most powerful portion of
a stroke in freestyle is less than 36 inches, the simple shrug can yield a 20% efficiency
difference. The efficiency difference is even greater in breast stroke because the effective stroke
length is shorter.
Quoted message said:
I once saw a video of Janet Evans doing a demo of the arm stroke. IIRC, she's imagining a big
bowl full of cake icing in front of her. During the arm stroke, her hands go around the rim of
the bowl picking up the icing. Her hands stay on the rim, which keeps her shoulders and elbows up
and prevents her from "pushing back on the water". As her arms go together under her chin, she
"licks" the icing off her hands as she drives them forward. 😉 Sorry I don't remember where I saw
the video.
Isn't that a perfect metaphor?
-- Mark

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Dakitty
Archived post

15 September 2003, 14:44 UTC #5

"Ed Alban" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
"DaKitty" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<LKT2b.20279$S_.7230@fed1read01>...
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
I know about the website with the videos of textbook breaststroke? Any good breaststroke
pointers? Links?
My Masters coach did the same to me with butterfly. I don't do the fly. I felt so stupid thrashing
in the water going nowhere.
Well, I felt silly and awkward, but at the sime time glad I did it, and glad i didn't put a fight
trying to resist doing it. I just thiought, oh [censored], I knew this day will come, and here we
GOOOooooo.....
Quoted message said:
Anyway some breaststroke pointers.... During the whole arm stroke, do sculling motions, i.e. do
not pull back on the water. Your hands must always be in front of your shoulders at all points in
the stroke.
Ah! Thanks. Is that a stroke rule or a technique? As in, it will probably keep me faster, but will I
get DQ'd for that?
Quoted message said:
At the start, shrug your shoulders a little, then slowly try to part the water in front of you with
a push to the sides. With shoulders shrugged, your elbow will end up higher than your hand during
the rest of the stroke. The second half of the stroke is a violent pull on the water as your hands
come together under the chin and your shoulders shrug again. This will bring your upper body up
above water for the breath, as your legs recover to start the kick. When starting the kick, try to
"grab" water with the soles of your feet and inside of your legs. As you kick, drive your hands
forward, point toes back and glide. As your legs come together (with feet performing a whipping
motion), press your chest on the water (experiment how much) and your bum should lift along with
your legs.
Hey, I like that description a lot 🙂, gives me stuff to try, and the idea of how iot should feel 🙂
Quoted message said:
I once saw a video of Janet Evans doing a demo of the arm stroke. IIRC, she's imagining a big bowl
full of cake icing in front of her.
Heh, I can do that! drool 😉
Quoted message said:
During the arm stroke, her hands go around the rim of the bowl picking up the icing. Her hands
stay on the rim, which keeps her shoulders and elbows up and prevents her from "pushing back on
the water". As her arms go together under her chin, she "licks" the icing off her hands as she
drives them forward. 😉 Sorry I don't remember where I saw the video.
neat! Combination of cake decorating, and paw licking. I think I can copy that visual 🙂 [guess it
helps to have a twisted mind]
Thanks for the pointers, I'll try that at the next practice.

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Dakitty
Archived post

15 September 2003, 14:44 UTC #6

"F.J." <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
"DaKitty" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<LKT2b.20279$S_.7230@fed1read01>...
Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I know about the website with the videos of textbook breaststroke? Any good breaststroke
pointers? Links?
There are several web sites that post competition videos:
1. buehlerbluemarlins.netvideos.html This is the new site Donald Graft is running.
He is the one who digitized most of the videos on the various web sites.
2. wa.swimming.org.auvideos This is essentially a "mirror" site of the
first one.
However, to learn the basic of breast stroke, I would suggest the third site:
swim.eeindex.html
Go there and look for Penny Heyns Videos. You can see both the front and side views above and
under water.
Cool, thanks a bunch 🙂

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