I'm having swimming lessons and don't understand...

[Foodtom]

I know, i should ask the teacher but I won't see her until Monday.

I joined the class becuase I've never "got" front crawl, and I am improving.

However the teacher says my breast stroke is "technically excellent".

I always understood swimming is all about technique, but if my breast stoke technique is good, why is the woman at my lunchtime swim who swims without getting her hair wet quicker than me?

Fwiw I did 800m in 27:40, which I know is slow (and I can't do proper turns which doesn't help), but the woman with her head up breast stoke kept gaining on me.

I know it's not a competition, it's not that I'm bothered she's catching me, more I wonder what I need to do to be quicker.

It could be a few things

• height, longer people need to do less strokes to get from one end of the pool to the other
• power, a strong kick and strong arm pull propels you further
• rhythm, I notice sometimes that I seem to pause a bit longer between each kick than others do, I let the kick take me further, while they kick again sooner (if that makes sense)

She probably just moves her arms and legs quicker?

Technique is essentially just your form - you can have excellent form but that doesn’t necessarily equate to speed, because speed in swimming is partially technique but also strength and length. Eg someone who is stronger and physically longer than you can be faster than you even if their technique is not as good.

One of the things I like about breast stroke is that I can do it really, really slowly.
I potter along silently like a dowager duchess. No splashing, no drama. It's mindful and I love every moment.

She’s probably fitter and stronger, has a better weight / strength ratio.

You may have good technique but haven’t got the timing right?

The idea for longer distances of breaststroke is a long glide and a good pull into the long glide. Also the timing of your legs kicking as you go into the forwards glide.

if your techniques good you’re already half the way there.

Worth watching a few you tube videos to get the timing right.

Are you a beginner OP? If so, don't compare yourself with a more experienced swimmer. Speed comes with hours, days, weeks , months and years of practice.

One reason I don't like breaststroke is I can't coordinate the timing at all

All this pull and glide business.... I tried going on one of those intermediate classes once to improve the stroke and I just could not coordinate with what I was being told! Maybe if you do it often enough you click into it because I presume it makes you feel like everything is going more smoothly?

I don't know maybe I'll try it again.

Maybe she’s got nice big paddle-like feet.

My swimming technique is good but I’m not fast. I have all the mechanics right but I don’t have the power/strength/speed, particularly over shorter distances. It’s the same with other sports - I have a good tennis technique but I rarely ever won games.

I'm a good swimmer, I can beat my husband in the pool , I went to swimming clubs in my youth . Sometimes I swim with my head out because I don't want wet hair . I'm still fast .

You have to put some effort in and kick and pull against the water.

I’m the same op. Always wonder how those who are not getting their hair wet are faster than me.
But…I like to think that because my technique is better that I’m actually using my body better and therefore toning up and burning more calories than they are. Not to mention the fact that they must get neck ache.

My breast stroke legs technique is bloody amazing. Because I use a particular angle of pelvis and fire my leg muscles in a certain way. One kick gets me across half the pool, really fast, and I am overweight and unfit. i have really high buoyancy due to fat so I expend no energy trying to stay afloat. This all means I have speed, without also needing to have great lung capacity, which seems very lucky to me yet unfair to everyone else!!

On the other hand - my same poor use of my glutes when I am walking around, and over reliance on other muscles, gives me a chunky T-Rex silhouette, plus loads of knee and ankle problems unless I do physio every day basically. My body doesn't work on land and some days I can't walk long distances when I'm unfit, as I am now.

Technically correct is just based on what the teacher can see from the pool side. You can't really see the exact feel on the water, or power input.
To be quicker I would recommend doing drills eg sculling (with a float if needed) to get the feel on the water. You need to kind of have a circular pull almost, like you catch the water in front, then pull it outwards and then squeeze it together. If you put the power on at exactly the right moment of the pull it's a bit like jumping, if you don't put the power on you won't jump high.
Same goes for the kick, you need to get the feel of it.

Also you would need to do shorter distances eg warm up for 10 minutes and then do 25m at a time, setting off for the next one every minute or 1:15.
You might even benefit from some land training eg circuit training or flexibility although I'm not qualified to say exactly what.

And finally if you have the starts and turns good you've won the race already, they are by far the fastest part and you even get one free dolphin kick with your underwater phase!

And finally if you have the starts and turns good you've won the race already, they are by far the fastest part and you even get one free dolphin kick with your underwater phase!

With breastroke you have to touch the side with both hands together so it is not as difficult to learn compared to doing a flip turn.

Speed is more about power than technique, you need to get a lot of energy into the strokes as well as performing it correctly.

What's your stroke rate compared to hers? She's probably more powerful.

The good news is that if your technique is hood, you can build your speed. What other exercise do you do to help your swimming strength?

Watch some Youtube videos on improving speed and also check the technique too. Even things like opening your fingers slightly or adjusting how you push the water with your hands or feet can make a huge difference to your speed.

It’s about power as well as technique. I swim every week and have an efficient breaststroke that’s pretty good technique-wise. But I can switch it up and down speed-wise by how much power I put into each stroke and my stroke rate. Also small tweaks can make quite a difference as PP has said. A common error is to not breathe out properly when your head is down.

At the end of the day though does it really matter how fast you are? If you enjoy it and it’s helping your fitness it doesn’t really matter what everyone else is doing. Incidentally I was in the pool this morning and kept getting overtaken by a bloke doing front crawl. He was quite fast but his technique was all over the shop….every time his arm went in the water it made a huge splash because it was too straight and he was causing tidal
waves with all his excessive rolling from side to side. Flipping awful to try to swim in the same lane as him. Two people got out after a couple of lengths of being sloshed around in his wake! Speed’s not everything!

How many strokes do you do per 25 m? Count your strokes and concentrate on getting fewer per length. Then concentrate on speed. You will get better with fewer strokes because you’ll have to have better technique.
So eg I do 9-11 for breaststroke because I’m good at the glide there. Good strong kick strong pull.

Crawl now at 22 from 27. 18 would mean I’ve cracked the technique and glidiness.

Also video a length and ask ChatGPT. It was fascinating.

I’m quite a quick breaststroke swimmer and don’t dunk my head. I’m knock kneed though so my feet turn out - does that help I don’t know. I once swam next to a broke who I left behind, he made some comment about me being quick I said oh I don’t think so (as I always just assume the other person is slow not that I’m quick) and then saw his face drop as I got out of the pool and he saw I was very heavily pregnant. But it’s just a thing I can do, I’m terrible at other sports and it’s really my only stroke. I can also after not swimming for a year go to the pool and swim 50 lengths albeit slowly. It’s odd.

I’ve been thinking about taking a lesson or two for the same reason. How is it overall?

Yeah that sounds about right.

From push in a 50m pool DS freestyle is about 60 stroke rate so about 32 strokes for the length.