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 The breaststroke starts with the swimmer lying in the water face down, arms extended
straight forward and legs extended straight to the back.
Arm movement
There are three steps to the arm movement: outsweep, insweep, and recovery. The movement
starts with the outsweep. From the initial position, the hands sink a little bit down and
the palms face outward, and the hands move apart. During the outsweep the arms stay almost
straight and parallel to the surface. The outsweep is followed by the insweep, where the
hands point down and push the water backwards. The elbows stay in the horizontal plane
through the shoulders. The hands push back until approximately the vertical plane through
the shoulders. At the end of the insweep the hands come together with facing palms in
front of the chest and the elbows are at the side at the body. In the recovery phase the
hands are moved forward again into the initial position under water. The entire arm stroke
starts slowly, increases speed to the peak arm movement speed in the insweep phase, and
slows down again during recovery. The goal is to produce maximum thrust during the insweep
phase, and minimum drag during the recovery phase.
As a variant, it is possible to recover the arms over water. This reduces drag, but
requires more power. Some competitive swimmers use this variant, in competition.
Another variant is the underwater pull-down, similar to the push phase of a butterfly
stroke. This stroke continues the insweep phase and pushes the hands all the way to the
back to the sides of the hip. This greatly increases the push from one stroke, but also
makes recovery more difficult. This style is well suited for underwater swimming. However,
FINA allows this stroke only for the first stroke after the start and each turn. In late
2005, FINA has also introduced a new rule which allows you to perform a single downward
kick after the push off the wall.
Tips: arms start slowly and speed up during the phases, similar to a motorcycle
accelerating after standing on a red light. The arms are never paused until they reach the
front and the swimmer is in the glide. You can learn more in this detailed arm stroke
description.
Leg movement
The leg movement, colloquially known as the "frog kick", consists of two phases:
bringing the feet into position for the thrust phase and the insweep phase. From the
initial position with the legs stretched out backward, the feet are moved together towards
the posterior, while the knees stay together. The knees should not sink too low, as this
increases the drag. Then the feet point outward in preparation for the thrust phase. In
the thrust phase, the legs are moved elliptically back to the initial position. During
this movement, the knees are kept together. The legs move slower while bringing the legs
into position for the thrust phase, and move very fast during the thrust phase. Again, the
goal is produce maximum thrust during the insweep phase, and minimum drag during the
recovery phase.
As a variant, some swimmers move the knees apart during the preparation phase and keep
them apart until almost the end of the thrust phase. Moving both knee and foot outwards
like a real frog avoids the extreme rotation in the lower leg.
Another variant of the breaststroke kick is the scissor kick, however, this kick violates
the rules of the FINA as it is no longer symmetrical. Swimming teachers put a great effort
into steering the students away from the scissor kick. In the scissor kick, one leg moves
as described above, but the other leg does not form an elliptical movement but merely an
up-down movement similar to the flutter kick of front crawl. Some swimming teachers
believe that learning the front crawl first gives a higher risk of an incorrect scissor
kick when learning breaststroke afterwards.
Breaststroke can also be swum with the dolphin kick in butterfly, yet this also violates
the FINA rules. One kick is allowed, however, at the start and at the turn providing that
it is part of the body's natural movement.
The harmonic movements of the dolphin kick and flutter kick are in contrast to the
breaststroke whip kick, which really deserves the name kick. Scissor kick and frog kick
are intermediate. Humans have strong muscles in the legs and would need swimfins (like a
frog) to bring all their power into the water and stand with the sole of the feet on the
water. Rather the leg grabs almost as much water as the foot and a small amount of water
is accelerated to high kinetic energy, but not much impulse is transferred. The toes are
bent, the feet point 45° outwards, the sole points backwards, to mimic a hydrofoil. While
closing in a V shape to the rear a small “lifting” force can be felt. Unlike in
the other kicks, the joints are moved into extrema. Before the kick the knee is maximally
bent and the upper leg is rotating along its axis to its extreme outer position and the
lower leg is twisted to extreme, at the end of the kick the ankles are maximally turned to
the inside so that the soles clap together to achieve a nozzle effect like in a jelly
fish. Therefore training involves getting flexible in addition to fitness and precision.
The sudden sideway stress on knee at the kick can lead to uncomfortable noise and feeling
for the beginner and to wear for the senior.
On recovery the lower leg stays in the wake of the upper leg. Around 2000 the distance
between the knees in the recovery phase was reduced to harmonize it with the optional body
undulation.
  
Breathing
The best way to breath during breaststroke is to let your head follow your spine. When
your elbows have reached the line of your eye and have begun to rise your head starts to
lift. If you use your high elbows as a hinge for the inward sweep of your hands and
forearms, you'll create the leverage you need to use your abdominal muscles to bring your
hips forward. When your hips move forward, your chest, shoulders and upper back will
automatically lift up. Breathing is usually done during the beginning of the insweep phase
of the arms, and the swimmer breathes in ideally through the mouth. The swimmer breathes
out through mouth and nose during the recovery and gliding phase. Breaststroke can be swum
faster if submerged completely, but FINA requires the head to break the surface once per
cycle except for the first cycle after the start and each turn. Thus, competitive swimmers
usually make one underwater pull-out, pushing the hands all the way to the back after the
start and each turn. Some people keep their head above water at all times when they swim
breaststroke. This is not only difficult and unpleasant, but also dangerous for the spine.
Swimming with the face held out of the water puts undue strain on the muscles of the neck
and back which can lead to damage of the spine’s interior facet joints.
Body movement
 The
movement starts in the initial position with the body completely straight, the body
movement is coordinated such that the legs are ready for the thrust phase while the arms
are halfway through the insweep, and the head is out of the water for breathing. In this
position the body has also the largest angle to the horizontal. The arms are recovered
during the thrust phase of the legs. After the stroke the body is kept in the initial
position for some time to utilize the gliding phase. Depending on the distance and fitness
the duration of this gliding phase varies. Usually the gliding phase is shorter during
sprints than during long distance swimming. The gliding phase is also longer during the
underwater stroke after the start and each turn.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article
"Breaststroke"
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How to swim the breaststroke with a good technique 
breaststroke Pictures
