Pull, Breathe, Kick, Glide
The breaststroke timing progression: arms first, breathe, then kick, then glide – built step by step to full stroke.
- Stages
- Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7
- Difficulty
- Developing
- Skills
- Coordination, Breaststroke, Breaststroke Timing
- Equipment
- None, Float
- Age
- 6–99 years
- Group size
- 1–14 swimmers
- Time
- About 6 minutes
- In a lesson
- Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
What it develops
- Show an effective breaststroke leg action
- Build continuous swimming distance
- Breaststroke with effective kick, glide and timing
- Swim with fewer, longer strokes
- Breaststroke with strong propulsion and controlled glide
- Improve stroke efficiency on all strokes
- Efficient breaststroke over distance
- Keep technique and stroke count as distance increases
How to run it
- Step 1: pull and breathe, then return to a streamline (no kick).
- Step 2: kick and glide only.
- Step 3: pull-breathe, then kick, then glide – say it out loud.
- Step 4: continuous full stroke keeping the order.
Teaching cues
- Pull, breathe, kick, glide.
- Arms first.
- Kick, then glide.
Make it easier
- Do step 1 and step 2 separately with a float.
- Exaggerated pause between arms and kick.
Make it harder
- Maintain correct timing over a longer distance.
- Two Kicks, One Pull for timing control.
Common faults
- Kick and pull happening together.
- Kicking before the arms have finished.
- No glide.
Corrections
- 'Arms go, then legs go.'
- Slow down and say the words.
- Hold the glide for 'one'.
Assistant / L1 role
- Say the four words in rhythm beside the lane for one swimmer; stop once they keep the order themselves.