Breast Stroke Workouts

Anyone who’s ever watched the Olympics can tell you that swimming is a great way to get a streamlined, sleek physique. Swimming is a total-body workout: all of your muscles work together to push you through the water’s resistance. The breast stroke, despite being one of the most popular strokes in swimming, is also one of the most deceptively difficult. It’s important to maintain proper form, building endurance and strengthening your back, to prevent injury.

  1. Hands

    • While you swim laps, watch your arms’ form. For 5 minutes, focus exclusively on how your hands move through the water. Without using your feet, practice the appropriate stroke: your arms should be outstretched first, but your elbows should be held up high and your hands should not move any wider than your shoulders. Proper breast stroke technique dictates that your hands should only be helping to break your way through the water as you go, then brought together out of the water toward your face and then pushed forward again, palms together, like you were praying.

    Forearm Stroke

    • Similar to the focus on your hands, paying attention to your forearm’s form while swimming can also help strengthen individual muscles. During this workout, keep your hands tightly held in fists, using only your legs and forearms to push you forward. The workout isolates focus on how the elbows and forearms are moving. Do the drill for 50 meters, repeating three times after 30 seconds to catch your breath between sets.

    Feet

    • For this drill, you’ll start backward -- literally. Turn onto your back and use the breast stroke kicking technique without the use of your hands, and swim for 200 meters. Take a 30-second break, flip backward and then do four sets of 25-meter breast stroke laps, maintaining focus on your footwork. This drill helps you focus on the particular kick of the breast stroke, which has been known to cause injuries even in professional athletes.

    Dry Land Cobra with Dumbbells

    • Not all of your swimming preparation happens in the pool. Adding the cobra with dumbbells to your usual out-of-water workout will help strength the muscles of your trapezius, as those who do the breast stroke have a tendency to slacken their posture as a result of the stroke’s form. While lying with your stomach on the ground and your arms outstretched above you, palm-down, holding a weight in each hand, move into the cobra position with your chest lifted off the floor as you lift the dumbbells out and back. By the end of this exercise, your arms should be flat and parallel to the ground as you hold the position for a second. Do three sets of 12 repetitions.