Effortless Swimming · Breaststroke
TL;DR: Breaststroke is the most timing-dependent stroke: pull, breathe, kick, glide, in that order, every cycle. Most of the propulsion comes from the kick, most of the speed loss comes from rushing the glide. This guide covers the stroke in order, how to build the kick (the part most adults skip), head position, the drills from our Effortless Breaststroke program, and the start-and-turn details that took one of my swimmers to a 30.48 50m.
Breaststroke is a timing stroke
Breaststroke is the slowest of the four strokes and, for most adults, the one they swim most. It’s also the stroke where good and bad technique look most alike from the pool deck: both swimmers pull, both kick, both glide. The difference is when.
The sequence is simple to say and hard to feel: pull, breathe, kick, glide. The arms and legs don’t work at the same time. The pull lifts you to breathe, the kick drives you forward into a glide, and the glide is where the distance actually happens.
Swimmers who are slow in breaststroke almost always do one of two things: they start the next pull before the glide has travelled, or their kick isn’t producing enough to glide from. Both are fixable.
The breaststroke cycle, in order
- Glide. Arms extended in streamline, legs together and straight, head between the arms, body flat and just under the surface. This is both the end and the beginning of the cycle.
- Outsweep. Hands turn slightly out and press out and back, a little wider than the shoulders. Elbows stay high.
- Insweep and breath. Hands sweep in and under the chest, fast. The shoulders rise, the head comes up with them (not before), and you breathe. This is the highest point of the stroke.
- Recover arms, draw the heels up. Hands shoot forward under or at the surface as the heels come up toward the backside. Knees stay roughly hip-width, feet turned out.
- Kick. Feet sweep out, back and together in a circular whip. The head drops back into line between the arms as the kick fires.
- Glide. Legs squeeze together, toes pointed, arms extended, and you travel. Hold it until you feel yourself start to slow, then begin the next outsweep.
The two places most swimmers lose speed are the glide (cut short) and the kick (too narrow, too slow, or feet not turned out). The rest of this guide is mostly about those two.
The breaststroke kick
Breaststroke kick is important if you want to be a good breaststroker. It generates most of the stroke’s propulsion, so it deserves dedicated work rather than being something that happens while you think about your arms.
What a good kick does:
- Heels to the backside first, not knees to the chest. Drawing the knees forward under the body creates drag and kills the glide you just earned.
- Feet turned out before the kick fires. The soles and insides of the feet are the paddles. If the toes point back, the kick is a flutter and does nothing.
- Out, back, and together in one accelerating sweep. The whip finishes with legs straight and feet together. A kick that stops wide is half a kick.
- Finish into the glide. Squeeze the legs together, point the toes, and hold.
There are three ways to improve it, and the fastest progress comes from doing all three:
- Strength. A powerful kick needs strong legs. Squats are the best gym exercise for breaststroke kick.
- Flexibility. Hamstrings, glutes and hip flexors. Five minutes of stretching a day makes a visible difference to how far the feet can turn out and how high the heels come up.
- Kick drills. Breaststroke kick on your back (hands by your sides, heels brushing the fingertips), hand-to-heel kick, and vertical kick. Details below.
Head position and body height
Two things we worked on with Stuart Moffat, a swimmer I coach, in the weeks before he swam 30.48 for 50m breaststroke short course in his fifties, under the then-world record for his age group. They apply to every breaststroker.
Keep the head in line with the upper body. If you look up as you pull and the head moves out of alignment with the shoulders, the stroke loses efficiency. The head rides up and down with the shoulders, not independently. Eyes down and slightly forward at the top of the stroke.
Get a little height from the pull. Stuart is strong enough to muscle his way through the water, but a flat, low stroke creates more resistance than a stroke where the shoulders clear the water at the breath. The pull lifts you; the kick drives you forward and back down into the glide. A bit of height is faster than staying low.
Timing and the glide
The glide is where breaststroke travels. Rushing it is the single most common fault in adult breaststroke.
Here is the test: swim a 25 counting strokes. Then swim it again, holding each glide a full second longer than feels comfortable, and count again. Most swimmers drop two to four strokes and swim the same time or faster.
The drill that fixes it is one pull, two kicks (below). The cue that fixes it is “kick into the glide, don’t pull out of the kick.” Finish the kick, feel the travel, then pull.
The other timing fault is the opposite one: pulling and kicking at the same time. That cancels the kick and drops the hips. If you feel like you’re bobbing on the spot, this is usually why. Separate them: arms, then legs.
Breaststroke drills
From the Effortless Breaststroke program. Do them as 25s in a technique set, and finish each drill with a few strokes of full breaststroke.
1. One pull, two kicks
The easiest and most effective breaststroke drill. Do a normal pull and kick, then instead of coming up for the next pull, take an extra kick while still gliding underwater. It teaches you how far each stroke can actually carry you, and swimmers usually take fewer strokes per lap for weeks after. Progress to one pull, three kicks.
2. Kick on your back
On your back, hands by your sides, kick breaststroke so your heels brush your fingertips on each recovery. It forces heels-to-backside instead of knees-to-chest and keeps the kick narrow and fast. Add a kickboard held on the chest if you need buoyancy.
3. Hand-to-heel kick
On your front, arms by your sides, kick breaststroke and touch your heels with your hands on every recovery. If you can’t reach, the heels aren’t coming up high enough.
4. Vertical kick
In deep water, body upright, arms folded, kick breaststroke to keep your head above the water. Brutal and honest: a weak or narrow kick sinks. Start with 15-second efforts.
5. Breaststroke pull with dolphin kick
Swim breaststroke arms with two dolphin kicks per pull instead of breaststroke kick. It isolates the pull, builds a faster insweep, and makes the normal stroke feel slow and powerful when you go back to it.
6. Pull progression
A common beginner fault is a half pull that never gets back far enough. Swim one lap with a quarter pull, one with half, one with three-quarters, one with the full pull, all with normal kick and timing. You feel exactly where the catch and press should finish.
A technique set to put it together
- 4×25 kick on back, 20s rest
- 4×25 one pull two kicks, 20s rest
- 4×25 pull with dolphin kick, 20s rest
- 4×50 breaststroke counting strokes — try to hold the count from the first 50, 30s rest
Starts, turns and finishes (where races are won)
In a short-course 50 the start and turn are most of the race, and the details carry over to every lap you swim in training.
- Dive straight in, not out and down. Angling the body down after a long flat dive is slower than entering the water in one line. Legs follow the body through the same hole.
- Stay deep off the pull-out. After the underwater pull, push down slightly with the chest to hold depth. Coming up shallow throws away the distance the pull-out earned; Stuart got out to about 13 metres this way.
- Hit the wall on a full stroke. From the flags, judge your distance and shorten or lengthen the last strokes so you touch at full extension instead of gliding in or taking a half stroke.
- Don’t wave to the crowd on the turn. Bring one arm back close to the ribs and the other hand around as if answering the phone. A small, fast movement. Swinging the arm over the top is slow.
For the full story of Stuart’s swim, read how to swim a faster 50 breaststroke. For the turn itself in freestyle, see our flip turn guide.
Common breaststroke mistakes
- Rushing the glide. The big one. Finish the kick, travel, then pull.
- Knees to chest. Creates a wall of drag. Heels to backside instead.
- Feet not turned out. The kick becomes a flutter. Turn the feet out before the kick fires.
- Pulling too wide or too far back. The hands shouldn’t pass the shoulders. Wide, slow pulls lift you less and drag more.
- Head up, looking forward. Hips drop, glide shortens. Head moves with the shoulders.
- Kicking and pulling together. Cancels the kick. Arms, then legs.
Breaststroke also teaches things that carry into freestyle: the glide teaches you what a long body position feels like, and the kick builds hip mobility most swimmers lack. For the fundamentals under every stroke, start with the swimming technique guide; for the other short-axis stroke, see how to swim butterfly.
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct order in breaststroke?
Pull, breathe, kick, glide. The arms pull and lift you to breathe, the arms recover forward as the heels draw up, the kick fires as the head drops back into line, and then you glide with arms extended. The arms and legs do not work at the same time.
Why am I so slow at breaststroke?
Usually one of two things: you start the next pull before the glide has travelled, or your kick is not producing propulsion because the feet are not turned out or the knees come forward instead of the heels coming up. Count your strokes per lap; fewer strokes at the same time means you have fixed it.
How do I improve my breaststroke kick?
Three ways together: strength (squats), flexibility (hamstrings, glutes and hip flexors, five minutes a day) and kick drills. The best drills are breaststroke kick on your back with heels brushing your fingertips, hand-to-heel kick, and vertical kick in deep water.
Should my head go under water in breaststroke?
Yes, between breaths. The head rides up with the shoulders to breathe and returns in line between the arms for the kick and glide, with the face in the water. Keeping the head up the whole way drops the hips and shortens the glide.
Is breaststroke good exercise?
Yes. It is lower intensity per lap than freestyle, which is why many adults can swim it for longer, and the kick works the hips, glutes and inner thighs in a way the other strokes do not. Swum with a long glide it is also one of the most relaxing strokes to swim.
The goggles I swim in
Breaststroke is the one stroke where you look at the wall every cycle, so a fogged or leaking lens is more than an annoyance: you lose the ability to judge your finish and your turn.
The NanoClear Strike is the pair I point our swimmers to. The anti-fog is bonded into the lens itself rather than coated on top, so it doesn’t wash off after a few weeks. Soft contoured gaskets hold a light, even seal through the up-and-down head movement of the stroke.
Three nose-bridge sizes fit narrow to wide faces, and the wide field of vision works in the pool and open water. One pair for every session.
