Breaststroke Body Position Sets

Set 1

(4 times through)

Odd rounds—do 10 seconds of ball float before each repetition

Even rounds—do five ball float to X floats before each repetition

Take 20 seconds rest after each repetition

Take 40 seconds rest after each round

• 25 breaststroke with a snorkel
• 25 breathe every other stroke
• 25 head-up breaststroke
• 25 alternating head-up breaststroke
• 25 breaststroke

Purpose and Focus Points

The purpose of this set is to help you understand the impact of your breathing. By performing multiple different breathing styles in succession, you'll become more aware of your body position and how your breath affects it.

The floating exercises before each repetition help you better feel how your lungs support you in the water and how you can use your lungs to better manage your body position. Don't worry about how fast you're going. Focus on learning how to control your body position as you move through the water.

Set 2

(2 times through)

Take 20 seconds rest after each repetition

Take 40 seconds rest after each round

• 3 x 50s breaststroke—25 breathe every other stroke/25 alternating head-up—take one less stroke per 25
• 3 x 50s breaststroke—descend at the same stroke count
• 3 x 50s breaststroke—25 alternating head-up breaststroke/25 breathe every other stroke—take one less stroke per 25
• 3 x 50s breaststroke—descend at the same stroke count

Purpose and Focus Points

The focus of this set is on learning how your breath affects your body position and how to feel your body traveling through the water. You'll do multiple styles of breaststroke within the same repetition, and you'll be challenged to manipulate your stroke count and your speed. You'll have to be more efficient at breathing to do so.

Speed doesn't matter much on this set (except on the breaststroke swims). Instead, focus on your stroke count.

Set 3

(4 times through)

Perform 4 ball float to X floats before each repetition

Take 30–40 seconds rest after each repetition

• 3 x 75s breaststroke—25 breathe every other stroke/25 alternating head-up breaststroke/25 normal breathing—(1) breaststroke with flutter kick; (2) breaststroke with dolphin kick; (3) breaststroke
• 75 breaststroke—take one less stroke per 25

Purpose and Focus Points

This set features more distance and longer repetitions but is still short enough for you to continue to swim with proper technique. There are different breathing and kick patterns within each repetition. The goal is to help you feel lots of different body positions so you can better understand how you're moving through the water and how to optimize that movement.

At the end of each round, you'll swim regular breaststroke. Aim to be long and smooth, swimming with great body position.

Before each repetition, work on floating to help you better feel how to stay aligned on the surface.

Set 4

(4 times through)

Round 1—flutter kick

Round 2—breaststroke kick with resisted recoveries

Round 3—dolphin kick

Round 4—breaststroke kick

Take 30–40 seconds rest after each repetition

Take 60–90 seconds rest after each round

• 6 strokes FAST breaststroke with a snorkel
• 6 strokes FAST breathing every other stroke
• 6 strokes FAST head-up breaststroke
• 6 strokes FAST alternating head-up breaststroke
• 6 strokes FAST normal breaststroke

Purpose and Focus Points

The purpose of this set is to help you learn how to swim with a great body position at maximum speed. Your goal is to go as fast as possible for six strokes while maintaining great alignment. You'll have to do so with different kicking and breathing patterns. The goal is to maintain great alignment through your breath and then get back into alignment as quickly and as effectively as possible after each breath. By using lots of variations, you get lots of opportunities to figure out how to achieve a great body position. Go FAST!

Set 5

Take 30–40 seconds rest after each repetition

Take 60–90 seconds rest after each round

• 3 x 50s breaststroke—25 breathing every other stroke/25 swim—descend 1–3 to FAST
• 50 breaststroke—FAST
• 3 x 50s breaststroke—25 alternating head-up breaststroke/25 swim—descend 1–3 to FAST
• 50 breaststroke—FAST
• 3 x 50s breaststroke—descend 1–3 to FAST
• 50 breaststroke—FAST

Purpose and Focus Points

This set helps you practice going fast. There is more regular breaststroke than in previous drills to provide more opportunities to swim with great alignment when it matters. By pairing a drill and a swim, you can take what you feel during the drill and immediately apply it to your swimming. If you notice something with your body position or breathing while swimming, you can make the change during regular breaststroke while racing hard.

Descend here so that you can find a groove and then turn up your speed while maintaining proper technique. Your goal is to push the limits of how fast you can swim with good technique.