When it comes to swimming, technique is everything. The difference between proper technique and improper technique could be what gets you the coveted blue ribbon or the name at the bottom of the page. With proper technique, you can go farther faster. With improper technique you can end up in the doctor's office sooner with an injury.
In the breaststroke, it is important to keep your body tight. You should not fling your legs out and/or pull your arms way out. After each stroke you should be in a tight streamline. When you stroke, if your technique is correct, your arms will pull toward the body in a heart shape not going much further than shoulder width. While pulling, you should bring your legs up until you are almost in a ball. You should keep your head down so it is facing the water. When your thumbs get under your chin, you push your arms back out to streamline as fast as possible with your pointer finger just over the surface of the water. At the same time you should turn your feet out and kick back. Your feet should not be much further than shoulder width throughout the kick. When you get back to the streamline position, your body should be no more than three inches under the water surface. Then the cycle begins again.
When you have improper technique your arms will tend to pull in a circular motion going all the way down to the belly. When this happens your arms are going too wide and too far down. This causes you to push against the forward motion and will make you slow down. Then you will have to work harder to get your arms pulled back up to a streamline position. This also causes you to work harder to get up for a breath. With improper technique you also tend to have a wide kick and, in some cases, without your feet pointed out. This will also make you slow and can cause knee injuries. At the end of this cycle, most swimmers end up being six to eight inches under the water surface. This causes the swimmer to have to stroke up instead of out or they will have to glide until they get back to the surface.
While to some one who hasn't had experience in competitive swimming the proper and improper stroke technique might look similar, the person with good technique will usually win, use less energy, and won't get injured easily! This is why it is important to have proper technique.
