Tips for Improving Your Breaststroke Technique Quickly

Breaststroke is often considered one of the trickier strokes to master because it relies heavily on precise timing between the arms, legs, and breathing rather than raw power. Many swimmers plateau in breaststroke not because they lack strength, but because small technical inefficiencies quietly limit their speed and comfort in the water. The good news is that breaststroke technique responds quickly to focused adjustments. Here are the most impactful tips for improving your breaststroke in a short amount of time.

1. Fix Your Timing First

Breaststroke is fundamentally a timing-based stroke, and the classic sequence is often summarized as "pull, breathe, kick, glide." Many swimmers rush this sequence or overlap phases incorrectly, which kills efficiency.

• Pull, then kick—never together. A common mistake is initiating the kick before the arm pull is finished, which cancels out propulsion from both. Make sure the arms complete their pull before the legs begin their kick.

• Glide before starting the next stroke cycle. After the kick, briefly extend the body into a streamlined position before pulling again. Skipping this glide phase is one of the biggest speed and efficiency killers in breaststroke.

If you improve nothing else, fixing timing alone often produces the fastest visible improvement.

2. Streamline the Glide Phase

The glide is where breaststroke swimmers cover the most distance with the least effort, yet it's frequently rushed or skipped entirely.

• Fully extend your arms and legs into a straight, narrow line after each kick

• Keep your head in a neutral position, looking slightly down rather than forward, during the glide

• Resist the urge to immediately start the next pull—hold the glide for a brief moment, even just half a second, to maximize distance per stroke

Swimmers who feel like they're "working hard but not going anywhere" are almost always skipping or shortening their glide.

3. Improve Your Kick Technique

The breaststroke kick, sometimes called the "whip kick" or "frog kick," generates most of the stroke's propulsion, but it's also the most commonly mistimed and poorly executed element.

• Heels toward the hips, not the glutes. Draw your heels up toward your hips while keeping your knees relatively close together, rather than lifting your knees toward your chest, which creates drag.

• Turn feet outward before the kick. Right before you kick, rotate your ankles so your feet point outward, allowing your feet and lower legs to push against the water rather than slipping through it.

• Snap the kick together. Finish the kick by bringing your legs together in a quick, powerful motion, followed immediately by the glide.

A weak or "wide" kick that doesn't fully snap together is one of the most common reasons breaststroke swimmers plateau in speed.

4. Keep Your Arm Pull Short and Efficient

Unlike front crawl, the breaststroke arm pull is meant to be short and sculling rather than long and sweeping.

• Pull your hands outward and slightly down in a small circular or heart-shaped motion, no wider than just past shoulder width

• Avoid pulling your arms too far back past your chest, which slows the transition to the next glide phase

• Keep the pull relatively fast and compact—this is a "sculling" motion designed to set up the next glide, not a primary source of propulsion

5. Minimize Head and Body Bobbing

Excessive up-and-down head movement is a hallmark of inefficient breaststroke and significantly increases drag.

• Keep your head movement smooth and minimal, rising just enough to breathe rather than lifting your entire upper body high out of the water

• Focus on a slight forward-and-down head motion during the glide instead of an exaggerated up-and-down bob

• Practice with a focus on keeping your hips as high and stable as possible throughout the stroke cycle to reduce vertical movement

6. Sync Your Breathing with the Stroke Cycle

Breathing at the wrong point in the cycle disrupts timing and adds unnecessary drag.

• Inhale during the pull phase, as your shoulders and head naturally rise slightly out of the water

• Exhale during the glide and kick phase, ideally underwater, so you're ready to inhale again without rushing

• Avoid holding your breath for multiple cycles, which often leads to panicked, poorly timed breaths later in the set

7. Practice Drills That Isolate Each Component

Breaking the stroke into isolated drills helps identify and correct specific weaknesses faster than swimming full stroke repeatedly.

• Kick-only sets with a kickboard: Focus entirely on kick technique and timing without worrying about arm movement

• Pull-only sets with a pull buoy: Isolate the arm pull and sculling motion

• 2 kicks, 1 pull drill: Perform two kick cycles for every one arm pull to emphasize the glide and timing

• Streamline glide practice: Push off the wall and hold a streamlined glide for as long as possible before starting to swim, reinforcing proper body position

Spending even 10–15 minutes per session on isolated drills often produces faster improvement than swimming full-stroke laps alone.

8. Use Video or Mirror Feedback

Because breaststroke timing is difficult to feel accurately in the moment, visual feedback is one of the fastest ways to identify problems.

• Ask a coach, training partner, or use a waterproof camera to record your stroke from the side

• Compare your glide length, kick snap, and head movement against video of elite breaststroke swimmers

• Focus on correcting one issue at a time rather than trying to fix everything simultaneously

Common Breaststroke Mistakes and Quick Fixes

Mistake	Quick Fix
Kicking and pulling at the same time	Practice the "pull, kick, glide" sequence separately
Skipping the glide	Count "one-Mississippi" during glide before next pull
Knees too wide or lifted too high	Focus on drawing heels toward hips, not knees to chest
Overly wide arm pull	Keep hands within shoulder-width during the pull
Excessive head bobbing	Minimize vertical head movement; breathe with a smaller lift
Breathing too late or too early	Sync inhale with the pull phase specifically

Final Thoughts

Breaststroke improvement often comes down to timing and technique refinement rather than added effort or strength. By focusing on the pull-kick-glide sequence, tightening your kick, minimizing unnecessary movement, and practicing isolated drills, most swimmers can see noticeable improvement within just a few focused sessions. Because breaststroke is so timing-dependent, working with a coach or reviewing video footage can accelerate progress significantly, helping you identify the specific adjustments that will make the biggest difference in your stroke.