Breaststroke

About Breaststroke

Breaststroke is a swimming style swum on the breast. It is the most popular recreational style due to its stability and the ability to keep the head out of the water at all times. In most swimming classes, beginners learn either the breaststroke or the front crawl first. But in competitive swimming, the breaststroke is regarded as one of the most difficult strokes, requiring comparable endurance to other strokes.

Breaststroke is the slowest of the three official styles in competitive swimming. The fastest breaststroke swimmers can swim about 1.57 meters per second. Although it is the slowest of the four competitive strokes, it is commonly agreed that it is the most difficult when done correctly. It is also often the hardest to teach to rising swimmers due to the importance of timing and the coordination required to move the legs properly.

Breaststroke is swum while leaning on the chest, with the arms only breaking the surface of the water slightly and legs always underwater, while the head is underwater for the second half of the stroke. The kick is sometimes referred to as a "frog kick" because of the resemblance to a frog's kick, but when done correctly it is more of a "whip kick" due to the whip-like motion that moves starting at the core down through the legs.