SIP 088: Teaching Breaststroke Kick to Beginners

Swimming Ideas Podast

Breaststroke kick is difficult to do. It is an unnatural motion for many swimmers. There will always be that small subsect of people that have learned how to do it on their own and in fact prefer it to the flutter kick motion. I believe these are people that pushed the water in the "breaststroke way" when they were learning and stuck with it because it makes them move.

Spent a lot of time watching children swim. For a long time I've been a proponent of "nurture over nature" and that genes are actually an expression of nurture over a longer timeline. Swimmers experience stuff in the water, and they build on what they've felt and experienced. Their swimming is a reflection of their trial and error experiences in the water.

We need to replace lots of their habits with better ones through repetition, time, and guidance.

Teaching breaststroke kick to beginners is one of the worst things about teaching swimming; its difficult, its hard, its frustrating, and it is the clearest example of a boring struggle to get kids to do something they don't understand, can't feel, and don't like to do.

We're going to make it easier.

A segment of people have natural breaststroke kick.

These are people that have learned intuitively the powerful force breaststroke kick can provide. You won’t really need to “teach” breaststroke kick to them beyond refinement and gliding after each kick.

Most people struggle with breaststroke kick. This progression will make it easier.

Teaching the breaststroke kick, or the whip kick, is a slog, a long press through swampy struggle that will take significant patience, repetition, and focused feedback and refinement.

Do not be discouraged.

We’ve made it easier.

Begin with “flex.”

Want to see the progression and pictures? Get the book online or join the online course: https://www.swimminglessonsideas.com/product/teaching-swimming-fun-and-effective-instruction/

Physical print book from Amazon:

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