Breaststroke – Arm Only

BRA01 Category: Single Arm Breaststroke (no kick)

Description:

Arms only breaststroke with a single arm at a time.  

Purpose: 

Allows swimmers’ to  focus on the quality of their catch. You can use these drills to practice the conductor/sculling. Attention should be given to develop a 90 degree arm angle on the catch.   The recovery should not pause on the finish of the insweep.   There should be minimal resistance on the recovery with the most speed as possible.

Variations:

 

BRA01-01 Side-of-Pool Drill (to train the high elbow EVF catch only)  (GIF)

        • Lay on the edge of the pool  with 1 arm hanging over the side
        • Break the arm stroke into 3 steps so the swimmer STOPS at each step (the coach can correct each step until the swimmer gets it right)
          • Start with arm out of the water and in streamline directly above the head
          • 1st  “OUTSWEEP”  – keep the hand facing down to the water and slice the hand away from the water so it is over the pool water
          • 2nd ‘BEND” – Drop the hand straight downward into the water but keep the elbow high and forward (the coach can touch the back of the elbow to help keep it in position)
          • 3rd  ‘RECOVER’ – recover the arm by rotating the hand so they cut/slice through the water to finish directly in streamline out of the water (above the head)

 

BRA01-02 Single arm  (w/ or w/o Buoy between thighs or ankles)

      • Use the 3 steps from BRA01-01, but in the water for a single arm
      • Focus on the details of each arm and watch for bilateral problems with individual arms
      • It is best to start with a buoy between the thighs for maximum stability without a kick
      • Then move the buoy between the ankles for more advanced practices to focus on front-to-back and side-to-side balance along with the stroke quality
      • Having no buoy will help create a better balance and chest press to support legs
      • Add Glide paddle to focus on stroke recovery phase

 

BRA01-03 Alternate Single Arms  – 2 or 3 on each side  (2/2 or 3/3)

      • Same as  BRA01-01 but alternate arms after 2 or 3 on each side
      • This is a good version to practice just before adding the kick to focus on the timing of the stroke cycle
      • For advanced swimmers, this can be a great drill by holding the pull buoy between the ankles with the 1FlexBand for the ultimate in balance and technique training

 

BRA01-04 Alternate Single Arms and dual arms (2/2/2 or 3/3/3)

      • Same as  BRA01-03 but add dual arms at similar intervals as the single arms
      • Again this is good to practice with and without the kick as a way to focus on the quality of technique on each arm as well as the rhythm of the entire stroke.
      • For advanced swimmers, this can be a great drill by holding the pull buoy between the ankles with the 1FlexBand for the ultimate in balance and technique training

 

BRA02 Category: Dual Arm Breaststroke (no kick)  (w/ or w/o  buoy between thighs or ankles)

Description:

A natural progression of BRA01-03 with dual arm breaststroke without a kick.

Purpose:

Allows swimmers’ to  focus on the quality of their catch.  You can use these drills to practice the conductor/sculling.   Attention should be given to develop a 90 degree arm angle on the catch.   The recovery should not pause on the finish of the insweep.   There should be minimal resistance on the recovery with the most speed as possible.  The buoy between the thighs is the easiest way to practice this without the kick.  Moving the buoy between the ankles requires much more balance and control.

Variations:

Variables that can be incorporated into all variations:

        • No buoy at all (which can improve the T-press of the chest)
        • Buoy between thighs
        • Buoy between ankles with 1Flexband as safety strap
        • Power Bags on feet to train to keep feet high and hidden behind body

 

BRA02-01 Dual Arm Breaststroke arm only  – adding 2 or 4 sec Glide (GIF)

        • Incorporate the steps of BRA01-01 but with both arms in tandem
        • The dual arm stroke should involve a long glide in order to train a fast recovery into a tight streamline.
        • Swimmers should maximize their glide as the critical phase to learn without the added benefit of the kick
        • Power Bags on feet to train to keep feet high and hidden behind body

 

BRA02-02 Dual Arm Breaststroke arm only – add ‘skate chin’ to train timing of breath (GIF)

        • Same as BRA0201, but lift the head (at the neck) as engage the arm pull, skate chin just at surface until arm recover under chin.  Drop face into the water as arms extend and lock elbows forward
        • Focus on getting the ears between the biceps on streamline glide before sculling and pulling again
        • Add the Glide Paddle for more power, longer glides, and improved recovery

 

BRA02-03 Vertical Arm Stroke (no kick) (aka Wipe the Bowl)

      • In deep water with legs below (no kick). Stroke the arms pressing outward to the sides of an imaginary bowl, wiping the sides of the bowl with the arms.

 

BRA03 Category: Breaststroke arms – Sculling Conductor drills

Description:

Elbows should be out front and close to the surface with the forearms hanging downward toward the bottom of the pool.  Scull hands outward and inward (open the pinky as scull outward, open the thumb as scull inward) with both arms together in a conductor motion. Focus on your thumbs sweeping out and back in.  Arm position should be at 90 degree at the elbows with elbows close to the surface.  Can also combine with 1+ full strokes after several sculls to help train the EVF catch.

Purpose:   

Sculling drills with breaststroke can help train better arm angles and positioning, better stroke time, better EVF catch, body position, balance and power development

Variations:

BRA03-01 With buoy and NO kick Breaststroke Sculling

        • This can be used as part of a stroke development progression
        • Ideal way to learn how to scull and how to incorporate sculling into training
        • By not kicking the swimmer can confirm that their scull is pulling them forward and not moving from any kick propulsion

 

BRA03-02 Free or Breast kicks with Breast Sculling hands

        • Helps add variety to improve catch, balance, and body position with Breast sculls

 

BRA03-03 Breast Sculling With Flat paddles, no straps    (GIF)

        • Once comfortable with sculling in general, flat paddles without straps can maximize the feedback to the hands by ‘enlarging the hands’
        • It is important to keep the elbows up high with a 90 degree bend, and the hands pointing downward
        • The flat paddles WITHOUT straps ensures you are sculling properly

 

BRA03-04 Heads up above water  (with flat paddles and no straps) (GIF)(Full Video Link)

        • This drives more pressure to the hands and requires more engagement of the forearms
        • Be sure to focus on the pressure on the forearms and wrists more than the hands

 

BRA03-05 With Precision or Precise Paddles (heads up… then heads down) (GIF)(Full Video Link)

        • Displacement paddles will take the force from the hands and require the swimmer to focus on the pressure to the forearms and wrists
        • By raising up the head above the water only forearm/wrists hold the water.  This develops better balance and power from more than just the hands
        • The use of displacement paddles can be deceiving as merely only technique devices but swimmers will quickly learn that they are much harder to use (due to their instability in the pull phase) and will develop a much better range of muscles when used regularly
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