How To Do The Breaststroke Kick

The breaststroke kick, also sometimes called the frog kick, is the kick used by breast stroke swimmers.

While at a first glance the kick's technique may seem simple, there are some subtleties to take into account for the kick to be executed with maximum efficiency.

Breaststroke Kick Video

Let's first have a look at a video that nicely demonstrates how to do the kick:

Swimming Technique Analysis

Let's now analyze the kick as demonstrated in the previous video. We consider that the swimmer is in a streamlined position on his stomach, with the arms extended in front of him, the legs extended and parallel and the feet flexed forward (plantar flexion).

  • When the leg motion starts, the knees bend, and the feet are brought towards to the buttocks.
  • While the feet are brought towards the buttocks, they also flex towards the tibia (dorsiflexion).
  • During this motion, the knees should stay close together and not be brought forward too much. It's rather a motion where the lower leg folds onto the upper leg. The upper leg only flexes slightly at the hip.
  • Once the feet are at the buttocks the knees separate and the feet turn outwards.
  • When the knees are about two feet apart, the propulsive phase of the kick starts. The legs extend and the feet, while still turned outwards, flex forward again (plantar flexion).
  • Finally, once the legs have completely extended, they are pressed together. The feet turn back inward until they are parallel.
  • A short glide phase ensues before the cycle starts anew.

One might wonder why the legs should flex as few as possible while the feet are brought back to the buttocks. In fact this this is done to keep the legs in the shadow of the body and thus reduce drag.

Learning The Breaststroke Kick

  • If you have trouble remembering the different motions while in the water, it might be useful to rehearse them first at home. Simply lie down on the stomach, then execute the motions following the instructions given on this page until you have internalized them.
  • Rehearsing the motions lying on the stomach is also interesting because you can't flex the leg at the hip to bring the feet back to the buttocks. Instead you learn how to correctly fold the lower leg onto the upper leg to bring the feet back to the buttocks.
  • The how to learn the frog kick article gives you a step-by-step sequence of exercises to learn the breaststroke kick.

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