Two Kicks, One Pull
An extra kick between arm strokes – forces swimmers to separate kick and pull and to glide in a streamline.
- Stages
- Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7
- Difficulty
- Developing
- Skills
- Streamlining, Breaststroke Kick, Breaststroke Timing
- Equipment
- None
- Age
- 7–99 years
- Group size
- 1–14 swimmers
- Time
- About 5 minutes
- In a lesson
- Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
What it develops
- Breaststroke with effective kick, glide and timing
- Breaststroke with strong propulsion and controlled glide
- Efficient breaststroke over distance
How to run it
- Push off in a streamline.
- Pull and breathe, kick and glide, then kick and glide again.
- Repeat: one pull, two kicks.
- Then back to normal breaststroke, keeping the separation.
Teaching cues
- One pull, two kicks.
- Stay long between kicks.
- Breathe with the pull.
Make it easier
- Kick-glide only with a float.
- Two pulls, one kick with a pull buoy (arms focus).
Make it harder
- Alternate a width of 2-kick and a width of normal stroke with the same glide.
- Count strokes each width.
Common faults
- Arms moving during the second kick.
- Head lifting during the kick.
Corrections
- 'Arms stay glued together for both kicks.'
- Eyes down in the glide.
Assistant / L1 role
- Watch the arms during the second kick and call 'glued' if they stay still.