Feeling exhausted after swimming just a few lengths of breaststroke? Your stroke technique is probably slowing you down!
It’s easy to hop in the pool and try to swim breaststroke without thinking about proper form, but if you want to swim faster and go further without getting tired, refining your efficiency and improving your distance per stroke is the name of the game.
Read on for a breakdown of the importance of distance per stroke in breaststroke, and a breaststroke drill workout designed to challenge your efficiency and distance per stroke.
What is Distance Per Stroke?
In swimming, your distance per stroke (or DPS) measures how far you move through the water in a single stroke. Distance per stroke applies to all four competitive strokes, and in general, a higher distance per stroke results in more efficient swimming.
When you have a high distance per stroke, you will take fewer strokes per length of the pool.
Breaststroke is the most inefficient stroke of the four, so dialing in your efficiency and maximizing distance per stroke is key to swimming fast and creating less resistance for yourself.
Try This Breaststroke Swim Workout
This breaststroke workout will help you learn to maximize your breaststroke distance per stroke. Our drill set is the main focus here. You’ll do two rounds of eight 25s. On the first 25, count how many strokes you take (not counting your pullout).
Related: How to do a Perfect Breaststroke Pullout
On the second 25, drop one stroke. If you took eight strokes on the first 25, you’ll take seven on the second! Drop an additional stroke on the third, fourth and fifth 25s. By this point, you should have to really stretch out to make it to the other side of the pool.
On the sixth 25, start to build your stroke count back up. Add one stroke per 25 until you’re back to one less stroke than what you started with.
You should feel way faster and more efficient after doing this set! Log this workout in the MySwimPro app for detailed tracking, analytics and personalized intervals.
Warmup
- 1×300 Freestyle Easy @ 5:00
- 4×50 IM Order @ 1:00
Drill Set
16×25 Breaststroke @ :40 (2 rounds of 8×25)
- 1×25 take 8 strokes
- 1×25 take 7 strokes
- 1×25 take 6 strokes
- 1×25 take 5 strokes
- 1×25 take 4 strokes
- 1×25 take 5 strokes
- 1×25 take 6 strokes
- 1×25 take 7 strokes
Main Set
5×100 Freestyle & Breaststroke @ 2:00*
- 100 Freestyle
- 25 Breaststroke & 75 Freestyle
- 50 Breaststroke & 50 Freestyle
- 75 Breaststroke & 25 Freestyle
- 100 Breaststroke
*On these five 100s, focus on stretching out your stroke and maximizing efficiency. Slow down, don’t rush, and think “pull, kick, glide.”
Cool Down
1×100 Freestyle Easy @ 1:30
Improving your breaststroke distance per stroke takes practice, so keep at it! Do the above workout, and other breaststroke workouts in the MySwimPro app, regularly and soon enough you’ll be swimming faster with less effort.
