Swimming: Breaststroke SWIMMING INSTRUCTION: THE BREASTSTROKE

The traditional breaststroke underwent radical transformation, leading to a bitter controversy, at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

Swimmers had gradually come to understand that they could decrease their lap times by surfacing less often to breathe, because breaking the surface dramatically increases the coefficient of friction between their bodies against the water, thereby adding unnecessary resistance.(Wipkedia)

Several breaststroke competitors were disqualified that year for swimming much of their laps entirely submerged. In order to get around the rule prohibiting extensive underwater swimming, competitors quickly learned to remain submerged as long as possible after the start, before breaking the surface for the first time. As competitors perfected the technique originally pioneered by Masaru Furukawa, swimmers began losing consciousness completely, while attempting to swim as far as possible before breaking the water surface for the first time after the official start of the race. Ultimately, extensive rule modifications were required, specifically requiring the head to break the surface once in every stroke cycle as well as closing the loophole that had allowed swimmers to remain submerged indefinitely after entering the water, initially.(Wipkedia)

Swim coaches have always focused on minimizing unnecessary water resistance in all phases of the breaststroke, and within that framework, breaststroke technique (since 1956) has also included minimizing friction and drag at the precise point where the head breaks the surface of the water, in accordance with modern rules requiring breaststrokers to do so once per swim stroke cycle.

Teaching The Breaststroke:

Modern breaststroke coaching theory emphasizes friction and drag reducing form, through specific training techniques designed to target each element of the main component parts of the classic compound swimming stroke.

The simplest technique for minimizing friction during the portion of the stroke requiring the head to break the surface is the...

The rationale is that a swimmer can satisfy the one surface break-per-stroke rule by doing so minimally, and only with the crown and forehead, without emerging sufficiently to take an actual breath on every other stroke cycle.(Mills)
In actuality, the elements of the non-breathing stroke are already practiced (at least they should be) during normal training of the breathing portion of the breaststroke. Whether or not the swimmer actually emerges to take a breath or merely breaches the surface to satisfy the rule, the idea is the same: to avoid lifting the head up any higher than necessary. Even during the breathing stroke, breaststroke swimmers are now taught to keep their eyes close to the surface of the water and to capture their breath by propelling the face forward, rather than up, out of the water.

When executed properly, the difference between the breathing stroke and the false breathing stroke is quite minimal, concerning (ideally) only to the few inches between the eyes and the mouth.(Mills)

According to swim coaches like David Salo, Head Coach at the University of California at Irvine, the other crucial element of the breaststroke cycle is the efficient recovery of the streamline position to start each stroke. Tremendous energy is lost where swimmers allow their hands to come out of the water in the transition from the follow-through end position to the streamline position beginning the next stroke cycle.(Salo)

In addition to minimizing unnecessary drag against the hands, streamline recovery training automatically counters the frequent habit of shortening the stroke as the swimmer approaches exhaustion and muscle fatigue. This natural deterioration of the recovery to streamline sacrifices power, because the swimmer starts the next stroke cycle from less than full extension. Shoulder fatigue exacerbates the problem when the swimmer angles the hands downward on their forward travel, because this also shortens the next stroke, but more importantly, it introduces unnecessary water resistance from above, against the forearms. This…