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BREASTSTROKE

WORKOUTSBefore EVERY workout I stretch 10-15 minutes. I use a ROM stretch device to get

my shoulders so I can swim a proper streamline, and then I stretch my legs. See my

article on shoulder stretches at Stretching my way to a National Championship. A

swimmer who sworks out breaststroke must stretch your legs before practice and

during practice to prevent pulls to the groin, and to the medial collateral ligament.

I warm up slowly, never kicking hard or pulling hard. Usually I try to do the same

warmup as what I will do at Nationals, this establishes a pattern your body gets

used to and lets you have a preconceived idea for nationals.

Warmup  

Warmup should last at least 10 minutes, with 15 better. During warmup I always

swim some laps underwater. This opens the lungs and allows you to swim at peak 

effectiveness. I try to do a total of 4 lengths underwater at nationals. I always do my

special hand drill during warmup. You start by keeping the arms straight in front,

then pulling the first lap about 10 inches wide. The next lap the pull is 12 inches

wide, with NO pull back. The next lap the pull is 14 inches wide. The next lap thepull will be full race width. This is to emphasize the elbows coming in under the

chest, with essentially no pull back. Also emphasise snapping the hands together

under the face.

Premain Set  

My favorite sets are 75’s, first lenght kick, second breaststroke drill, last length full

stroke. I do these on 90 sec intervals. Closer to a big meet I will extend the time to 2

min., but will swim them all out.

Once my legs feel OK then I will do 75 yard kicks on 2 min. Feel free to get out of 

the pool and stretch your legs if they feel too tight.

An alternate is to do 100 kicks, but even though I can repeat 1:25s, 2 minutes is too

fast an interval. 2 min 30 seconds is perfect for allowing a hard kick. Never use a

board for kick sets, you want to kick one kick underwater, then one kick up to

breathe. When you get used to that, try two kicks underwater, then one up for a

breath. Keep your arms in the streamlined position. Note you cannot kick like this

with a board. I try to do one to two lengths all-out egg beater kicks, to work the

muscles that pull the legs up to the buttocks. After this swim an easy 50 breast.

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I alternate the way I pull breast, one day using a buoy. This is to feel the pain. Try

pulling 4 X 100 all out to get a little pain going, then do as many 200 pulls as you

can before your hands go breast-spasmo; you know when the fingers curl up due to

the lactic acid.

Then the next day I will do pulls with Zoomers on my feet, and no buoy. This pull

set is to work on hand speed and a good catch, not for the pain of lactic acid. Give

yourself lots of time between pulls. I like 50 yards fin pulls, using flutter kick to

work on hand speed, and dolphin kick to work on when to breathe, and when to

shrug my shoulders. See my article on shoulder shrugs at Modern Breaststroke. 

You can also do this set with fists closed, feeling the water pressure on the inside of 

the forearm.

Another favorite pull set is to swim with Zoomers a hard 25 freestyle, then come

back all out pull with a dolphin kick. Do not do this more than once a week, as youwill go extreamly anearobic on this set. I like to do eight of these on 90 seconds, I

will usually Die on the last one.

Main Set  

You must do these, but my least favorite set is broken 200 or 300 breaststroke.

Doing this set 3 or 4 times, emphasing different portions of the 200. You can

emphasise the middle 100, the last 75, or the last 50. When the rest of the team is

doing 200’s, 300’s or 400’s, move to a slower lane and swim them drill breaststroke.

Make every turn a race turn and push off hard underwater. Try to go 11-12 yards

off each wall, and work the first stroke up. Always pull and then breathe, breathing

first is like throwing out a parachute and looses 1 second per length. Try to perfect

where your head comes up just before the catch of the arms, this is worth .3

seconds per length, or 2.4 sec. per 200 breast. Remember the rules requires that

your head break the waters surface before your hands starts the inward scull. Then

swim slowly to the next wall. On a good day I can do 13 to 15 yards off each wall,

usually catching the swimmers who are doing freestlye. This forces me to slow till

the next wall.

Warm down  

Always do at least 200 yards warm down, to get as much of the lactic acid out of 

your body. If you can stay later try doing 400 yards warm down. Unfortunately

most masters have set time constraints in the pool.

Alternate sets in parentheses.

Warm-up

6 x 50 slow freestyle on 50 sec.

4 x 25 underwater on 60 sec.

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4 x 100 Breast slow on 2:30 min

2 x 100 Breast moderate& on 2:00 min.

Pre-main Set

6 x 75 Breast Drill on 90 sec. Kick, drill, swim

6 x 75 Hard Kick on 90 sec.

Horizontal eggbeater 60 sec.

4 x 100 Pull – buoy 2:30 min.

2 x 200 Pull – buoy 4:00 min.

Scull Drills 60 sec.

Pull – flutter kick 60 sec

Pull – dolphin kick 60 sec.

25 free – 25 pull 60 sec.

Main Set

6 x 200 Breast Drills 3:30 min. Work underwater & turns

Warmdown

200-400 Easy – no fins

Total 4100-4300 one hour – 75 min.

To reduce to 60 min. Reduce warmup from 6 x 100 to 4 x 100 breast, reduce Main

set to 4 x 200 Breast. Do not reduce drill sets, they are the most important part of 

breaststroke workouts.