Common Breaststroke Mistakes: Part Five

Analysis by Joszef Nagy

Editor's note: Today, we conclude our five-part series exclusively on SwimmingWorld.com of the most-seen mistakes in breaststroke through the eyes of legendary breaststroke coach Joszef Nagy. This series has presented dozens of ways swimmers and coaches can work together to swim faster breaststroke, despite the stroke's many obstacles to forward movement! Our thanks to Nagy for sharing his expertise.

Click here to view part one.

Click here to view part two.

Click here to view part three.

Click here to view part four.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 8. LET'S finish this list of the most common breaststroke mistakes with a look at errors in breathing and rhythm.

Mistakes in breathing:

1. Breathing too early because the head is lifting too early. (see photo 52)

2. The exhalation of air is not accelerated.

3. Not fully exhaling and the breathing is too shallow.

Here, the most dramatic mistake is very hard to observe. It is when the swimmer does not exhale all of the air before taking the next breath. Before lifting the head up to take a breath, the air must be squeezed out with accelerating power. If this is not done so, the breathing will take longer, and less oxygen will get to the lungs. And if we fall behind on oxygen in every single stroke, in a 200, we will experience dramatic lack of oxygen, mainly in the last 50 meters. If a swimmer unexpectedly “dies” from one stroke to the other by the time of the last 50, even though the start was not hard, it is probably because of this mistake in breathing.

Mistakes in rhythm:

1. The strokes are not continuous.

2. Too long of a glide.

3. Starting the arm pull before the kick is finished. (see photo 53)

4. Leg recovery is too late and that makes the whole kick too late. (see photo 54)

I cannot highlight any mistake. Beyond speed, the biggest challenge and the goal of any breaststroke technique is to ensure continuous swimming!

Photos courtesy Eva and Joszef Nagy.

Joszef Nagy coached Olympic medalists Sergio Lopez (1988, 200 breast bronze) and Mike Barrowman (1992, 200 breast gold), among others. He was the pioneer of the wave breaststroke in the 1980s, which gained immense popularity in his native Hungary before spreading around the world. Nagy is the head coach at the National Swimming Centre in Vancouver, where Olympians Tera van Beilen and Martha McCabe train, as well as 200 breast world record holder Annamay Pierse.

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