A Question For TL On Breast Stroke.

Hi All,

I'm interestead in Breast Stroke technique, specifically the inward skull in the pull phase.

Our club coach is very much following the TI style of wide skull followed by an inward skull
with elbows kept close to the surface. I can see the logic of this but it doesn't appear to be
getting results.

For example:- My son (aged 12) would have a best 50m time of around 43 secs. Since changing his
style he's lost almost 9 seconds, whereas all his other strokes have improved. I can understand a
small loss in time when changing fundamental styles but this is more than significant.

I am an assistant coach and always check anything I ask the swimmers to do myself to see how the
excercise should feel. As I am recovering from crutiate ligament re-attachment I can't do breast
legs so do breast arms with butterfly legs to test the excercises. A large outsweep followed by a
deep skull with elbows at the surface is efficient as far as distance per stroke is concerned - but
the effort required for the inskull tires the arms very quickly.

What I find more efficient is a wide outsweep (say 6 to 8 inches outside the shoulder) followed by
an inskull that keeps the arms to a maximum of around 45 degrees to the surface of the water, with
the hands curved almost like an aerofoil. The hands thern naturally rise towards the surface as the
hands come together before lunging forward.

In terms of time I keep to around 53 seconds per 50m using both styles and around 14 strokes per
length, but the second is far easier to keep going and strains teh arm and shoulders less.

From the videos I see most of the olympic swimmers also insweep at around 45 degrees to the surface
so the first method over-extending the skull? Although the swimmers skulling has improved since
trainiing mainly on skulling a few good times have slipped quite badly and I'd like your opinion.

Out of interest I'm a 46 year old who swam crawl and fly but was garbage at breast when I was
competitive - which is why I don't trust my judgement on the stroke.

Thanks to you all for your input.

Wayne
--
DrClean www.DrClean.co.uk The Best Fabric Cleaning Resource on the Web

Wayne We're not teaching a "wide" outscull. It should be an individual matter, determined by the
swimmer's strength. A stronger swimmer can maintain leverage on a wider outsweep. A less strong one
should sweep only wide enough to maintain leverage. The primary focus on the insweep should not be
the depth of the hands, or the angle of the arms to the surface -- who brings a protractor to the
pool anyway? Main focus on insweep should be:
1. Keep the hands in front of the chin at all times.
2. No pause at the chin. When I teach I instruct swimmers to "spin your hands directly from the
corners to their fully extended position."
3. The elbows should snap in with great speed driving the hands forward. I've noticed that the
fastest swimmers also have the fastest elbows. Swim for health and happiness, Terry