Breaststroke Pull-Out
After the push-off: one long arm pull to the thighs, one kick, then surface into the stroke – a short, streamlined underwater phase.
- Stages
- Stage 6, Stage 7
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Skills
- Streamlining, Breaststroke, Turns
- Equipment
- None
- Age
- 9–99 years
- Group size
- 1–10 swimmers
- Time
- About 5 minutes
- In a lesson
- Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Keep underwater phases short; swimmers breathe out steadily and surface as soon as they need to. No breath-holding challenges.
What it develops
- Breaststroke with strong propulsion and controlled glide
- Turns with streamlined push-offs and underwater phase
- Efficient breaststroke over distance
- Turns suited to each stroke
- Controlled underwater skills
How to run it
- Push off in a streamline and glide.
- Pull both arms all the way to the thighs and glide briefly.
- Recover the hands close to the body, kick as they shoot forward.
- Surface and begin breaststroke.
Teaching cues
- Glide, pull, glide.
- Hands close on the way back.
- Kick, then surface.
Make it easier
- Practise from a push and glide at the surface.
- Skip the second glide.
Make it harder
- Add a single dolphin kick during the pull.
- Link to a two-hand touch turn.
Common faults
- Staying under too long.
- Kicking before the hands are forward.
Corrections
- Keep it to one pull and one kick.
- 'Hands forward, then kick.'
Assistant / L1 role
- Supervise one swimmer at a time from above and confirm they surfaced after one pull and one kick.