The following tables identify some progressive activities to develop the components of butterfly (legs, arms, breathing & timing).

For acticities to develop breaststroke body position please refer to body position on the other strokes in the menu above.

It is important to note that the style that suits a competitive swimmwe may not be the same as that for a younger swimmer or adult improver, so it may be best to abide this from the outset as competitive adjustments can be made later on.

breaststroke lEG aCTION

ACTIVITIES
  • Practicing the leg action whilst sitting on the edge of the poolside, feet in the water.
  • Kicking with equipment on the back (noodle or two floats).
  • Kicking with equipment on the front (noodle, two floats or one float).
  • From a push and glide position on the front, kicking with arms outstretched in front.
  • Vertical position with or without equipment.
TEACHING POINTS
  • Bring your heels towards your bottom.
  • Turn your feet out.
  • Draw a circle with your heels.
  • ​Finish with your legs together and toes pointed.
CONSIDERATIONS
  • Be alert to participants bumping their heads on the wall, or colliding with each other when kicking no the back.
  • Ensure sufficient distance between participants to prevent them from kicking one another.
  • ​When using equipment consider the level of flotation it provides as this can be made easier or harder.
  • Keeping the distance short is important to start with, then slowly building the distance to help ensure the quality of the leg action is maintained.

breaststroke ARM ACTION

ACTIVITIES
  • Standing in shallow water, carrying out the arm action (this could be completed on poolside).
  • ​Walking in shallow water, performing the arm action and pushing a floating object along.
  • With a noodle under the arms performing the arm action.
TEACHING POINTS
  • Fingers together.
  • Draw a small circle with your fingers, keep elbows high.
  • Tuck elbows in.
  • Stretch arms forwards, hands close together.
  • Draw a pizza and slice it in half.
CONSIDERATIONS​
  • Participants should be encouraged to place their faces in the water, however if a participant naturally starts breathing in the correct place, allow this to happen.
  • Keeping the time/distance short to start with will prevent the participants from needing to breathe and therefore help to ensure the quality of the arm action.
  • Repeating activities and slowly building the distance travelled will ensure the quality of the arm action is maintained.

breaststroke BREATHING

ACTIVITIES​
  • Standing in shallow water, perform the arm and breathing action (this could be completed on poolside).
  • Walking in shallow water, perform the arm and breathing action.
  • From a push and glide position, full stroke cycle (pull, breathe, kick, glide).
  • From a push and glide position, two full stroke cycles.
TEACHING POINTS
  • Push your chin forwards.
  • Suck the hands in.
  • Blow your hands away as your head lowers.
  • Pull, breathe, kick, glide.
CONSIDERATIONS
  • Repeating activities and slowly building the distance travelled and number of breaths to be taken will ensure the quality of the breathing action is maintained.​

breaststroke Timing

ACTIVITIES​​
  • From a push and glide position, one full stroke cycle (pull, breathe, kick, glide), repeat building the cycles.
  • From a push and glide position, full stroke breaststroke with a pause in the glide position (for example hold for a count of two)
TEACHING POINTS
  • Pull, breathe, kick, glide.
CONSIDERATIONS
  • Slowly building the distance travelled will ensure the quality of the stroke is maintained.

Back Crawl

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