Take your breaststroke to the next level
Head-up breaststroke is a pretty enjoyable way to swim in the open water – it allows you to look around and have a chat with your fellow swimmers. It is also the traditional winter swimming stroke as it means your head doesn’t get cold! But swimming with your head permanently out the water puts strain on your neck and back and is not an efficient way of swimming – especially if you are wearing wetsuit designed for front crawl. If you want to progress from head-up to head-down breaststroke here are some key things to think about.
Face the Fear
One of the main reasons people swim head-up breaststroke is that they don’t like putting their head in the water. This is totally understandable as natural water isn’t as warm or clear as swimming pool water! If this is you, think about how you can face your fears. If submerging is the problem, practise putting your head under the water in your local swimming pool. Make sure you are wearing goggles – it makes a huge difference! Once you are confident in the controlled environment of a pool, you can start practising in the open water. Try to reframe your fears – instead of being unsure of what is under the water, treat putting your head under as an opportunity to explore the natural world.
Streamline not Starfish
In head-up breaststroke you need to use your arms and legs at the same time to keep you afloat – this puts you into a starfish position in the water, with arms and legs extended at the same time. With your head out the water you will also be almost vertical in the water. In head-down breaststroke you want to spend as much time as possible in a streamline position with your arms stretched out in front of you, hands together and your legs straight behind you, and you want to be more horizontal in the water. This creates much less drag. Once you have perfected putting your head under the water, practise in the pool pushing off the wall into a streamline position. Notice how good it feels and how far you can go with little effort!
All About Timing
Breaststroke can be broken down into three stages: kick, glide, pull. Breaststroke is a kick driven stroke: around 80% of your propulsion comes from your kick, so you want to make the most of that power by getting into streamline and staying in that position as long as possible so you can glide through the water.
Small Arms
If only 20% of propulsion comes from your arms you don’t need a big arm stroke: think small arms. Visualise you are scooping out a bowl in front of you. Ideally you want your hand movements to stay in front of your shoulders and the elbows should be nice and tight. They might sneak under your shoulders but they shouldn’t go too far back: think about finishing with your hands under your head rather than under your shoulders – this will help keep the elbows a little more forward.
Putting It All Together
Keep the sequence ‘kick, glide, pull’ in mind. Lift your head, breathe, then back into streamline. Unless you are Adam Peaty, don’t lift yourself too high out of the water when breathing – think about keeping a neutral spine and maintaining a streamlined position.
