Breaststroke Drills

When doing drills, the main focus should be breaking the stroke down and perfecting it. Don't rush drills -- good technique is the important factor.

Blind Drill I Dream of Jeannie Drill

Kick Drill Pull Drill

2+2 Drill Short Axis Drill

Blind Drill (25's @ :20 rest)

This drill works with all strokes and checks your position in the water as well as helping maximize swimming effort. It is diagnostic in nature. Many people swim with a very uneven stroke that pulls to one side which reinforces bad habits and creates an imbalance during the swim. BE CAREFUL OF OTHERS IN YOUR LANE! Let them know what you're doing ahead of time.

• Find out how straight you swim with your eyes closed and limited breathing. Start very easy. If you are able to swim straight without running into the lane line, pick up the speed.
• Sight-breathe one or two times per length to check how straight you are swimming. Try not to lose your rhythm as you sight.
• If you find yourself pulling to one side or the other, ask your coach to watch you swim to identify the cause of the unevenness.

I Dream of Jeannie Drill

This drill is for breaststroke and is named for the character in the old TV series "I Dream of Jeannie" where Jeannie used to fold her arms in front of her when performing a task. The drill enables swimmers to maintain better balance with hips high in the water. Doing the breaststroke kick with a kickboard often causes your hips to sink because of the unnatural flotation given to the upper body. The drill also provides additional frontal resistance and a method for maintaining high elbows while kicking. It discourages sculling and pulling during the kick.

• Fold your arms in front of your head so each hand is lying on top of the opposite elbow. Keep your elbows high so your forearms are parallel to the surface of the water. Now kick breaststroke while holding your arms in this "Jeannie" position.

Breaststroke Kick Drill

This drill encourages a narrow, propulsive breaststroke kick.

• Push off the wall and pull your arms to your side. Leave them there and kick the length of the pool, touching your ankles to your fingertips during the recovery.

TIP: A wide breaststroke kick may feel stronger because your legs encounter more resistance than with a narrow kick. However, it is the propulsion that counts, and a narrower kick focuses more energy on propelling the body forward.

Breaststroke Pull Drill

This drill works on developing a wave motion breaststroke

• Swim the length of the pool breaststroke, but use a single dolphin kick to replace the regular breaststroke kick.

Breaststroke 2+2 Drill

This drill works on the similarities between the breaststroke and butterfly: the undulation, on the outsweep catch on the pull, and on getting a deeper insweep for the breaststroke.

• Do 2 strokes breaststroke with breaststroke kick, then 2 strokes butterfly with the dolphin kick. Try to keep a steady rhythm going for the entire length of the pool.

Short Axis Drill

This drill encourages you to use your body in the breaststroke and butterfly and to get used to releasing the arms from all of the responsiblity of moving you along. It's also good anerobic training because you will not be raising your head to breathe during the cycle.

• Give a gentle push off the wall or bottom to get a little momentum going. Stay balanced in the prone position with your arms back at your sides.
• Push downward into the water with your chest, allowing your head to relax up to the surface. Don't dive your nose into the water.
• Allow your hips to follow your chest down into deeper water. This will begin to force yoru chest back up to the surface. The legs will follow the hips and you will get a little forward movement. DO NOT KICK! Allow your legs to follow you through the water.
• Your body will begin to rebalance, so get ready to start the process all over again. Do this drill with constant rhythm through the core of ytour body and don't hesitate during the cycle.

You are not going to go fast in this drill. In fact, you'll go very slowly. So focus on mastering the technique. Then in another part of the practice, think about the drill as you practice breaststroke or butterfly.