Thanks goes to the following:
USA Swimming
Spokane Area Swim Team
Spokane County Library District
htmlgoodies.com
dynamicdrive.com
And my friends and family
All swimming strokes take time to be perfected. These descriptions may be able to help you out with some of the fine details.
Breaststroke
Breaststroke is all about timing. Once you get this down, the stroke is relatively easy. All your leg and arm movements must go together correctly, or you could be disqualified. You can only move on a horizontal plane, which is what distinguishes this stroke from the butterfly.
The Pull
The pull begins with your arms together in front of our head. Move them outwards; palms out at first, then turning so the fingers are facing downward, to about shoulder width; then bring them back in towards your chest. The result of this should be your arms move in front of you in a sort of heart-like shape.
When your arms are pulling toward your chest is when you bring your head up to breathe.
Right after your hands get to your chest, thrust them straight forward to a streamlined position again. Your hands can either be palms together or both palms flat, but palms together (like in a praying position) seems to be more common.
The Kick
In this stroke, a lot of your power comes from the kick.
You should start with your legs bent, your heels up by your butt, and your feet turned outward slightly - the soles of your feet should be facing backwards still.
The kick is sort of hard to explain... it looks like a frog's kick. What you basically want to do is bring your feet away from and back to your butt in an almost circular motion.
Other
The timing is what is crucial in this stroke. Basically, the arms recover as the legs pull, and the legs recover as the arms pull. You get the feel for how it works after a while.
You must come up and breathe once every time during the arm recovery, except during the underwater pullout, which is done right after the start, and after each turn.
