The Race Club – Swimming Camps • Coaching • Competitive Training • Advanced Techniques

In our final Breaststroke video with Noah Snyder Coach Gary helps Noah find his ‘sweet spot’ for his breaststroke stroke rate.  We see the fastest 100 meter  breaststrokers on both the men’s and women’s side with stroke rates near 60.  This is a technique that requires an incredible amount of kick speed and lower lumbar flexibility and strength.  In Noah’s case he is able to find higher stroke rates that are efficient using the late breath breaststroke.  Whether you use a late breath breaststroke or not, finding your optimal stroke rate should be a key part of your training program throughout the season.  

In this video on the breaststroke pullout Gary Sr teaches the late breath technique for the pullout. Combining this technique with the hyper streamline on the breakout can be much more efficient than using a normal breakout. Once you learn the nuance of a late breath breaststroke in this series, you can apply this technique to the pullout for maximum efficiency during the most critical part of a breaststroke race.

Noah is now ready for the Main Set during his Late Breath Breaststroke session with Coach Gary.  After learning dryland exercises and swim drills it’s time to put Noah to the test with this aerobic breaststroke set designed by outstanding swimmer and coach Jeremy Lin.  Jeremy was on the 96 Olympic 4×100 medley relay Gold medal team along with Gary Hall Jr!  This set is designed to improve leg speed and stroke cycle time that is a lot easier said than done.  Find out what this set entails and how Noah’s first go at this set is like!

Coach Gary Hall Sr worked with breaststroker Noah Snyder on improving his late breath breaststroke. In our previous videos we taught Noah some dryland exercises and swimming drills that help emphasize the late breath. We then tested Noah with his new and improved technique and in this video Coach Gary breaks down his Velocity Meter analysis.

This week’s main set
This week’s main set is all about freestyle, with a mostly aerobic workload. You should use a tempo trainer in order to stay with the 86 stroke rate during the longer swims

What is your Sweet Spot for Breaststroke Stroke Rate?

For several reasons, breaststroke is a challenging stroke to excel in. First, breaststroke is the most kick-dependent stroke. Without a strong kick, the breaststroke speed will not be fast, no matter what technique is being used.

This week’s main set

When swimmers come to a Race Club camp, we always measure their dolphin kick speed versus their freestyle swimming speed. Based on the difference in these two speeds, we give them a number of dolphin kicks to take underwater, both on a start and on a turn.