Recovery mistakes during the kick in breaststroke

The breaststroke kick has five phases: the recovery, the catch, the outsweep, the insweep, and the leg lift and glide. Today I'm going to talk about mistakes tha breaststrokers do during the recovery and the other phases will follow in the next few days.

The most common mistake during the recovery is when swimmers push the thighs down and forward against the water. Other common mistakes include: (1) recovering the legs with the knees too wide or (2) with the feet in poorly streamlined positions, (3) lacking the flexibility to make a high catch, and (4) failing to set the feet in the proper catch position before extending the legs.

1. One error swimmers make is recovering the legs forward with the knees too wide apart in the fashion of the wedge kick. Form drag and pushing drag will be increased when swimmers bring the legs forward with the knees too wide. The knees should stay within the width of the shoulders during recovery.
2. Some swimmers also recover the legs with the feet in poorly streamlined positions. This will also increase form and pushing drag. Swimmers should keep the feet streamlined and pointed back and inside the hips until the leg recovery in completed and they begin to sweep the outward.
3. Another mistake occurs when swimmers circle the feet out to the catch position. Some swimmers do not possess the rotational flexibility with the hips, knees, and ankle joints that enables them to flex the feet and turn them out enough to make a high catch. As a resule, they have to push the legs back somewhat before they can get the feet positioned properly to apply propuslive force. This will shorten the propulsive phase of the kick. Swimmers with this problem should do some special stretching exercises to increase flexibility in these joints.
4. A final error some swimmers make is failing to set the feet in a good catch position before they begin extending the legs. Swimmers should circle the legs out gently with a minimum of backward motion near the end of the leg recovery, waiting until the feet are facign back against the water before they begin to extend the legs.