Emily McClellan is no stranger to elite breaststroke. McClellan first broke out on to the national scene at the 2012 Olympic Trials where she finished 6th in the 100-meter breaststroke. She continued to excel capping off her senior year at UW-Milwaukee as the 2014 NCAA runner-up in the 100-yard breaststroke with the third fastest time in history at 57.76! Now training out in Southern California with Trojan Swim Club, McClellan wants to share some breaststroke tips that have excelled her to the level she enjoys today.
1. Finish Your Kick
Really point those toes on the end of each kick. Follow through all the way until your heels come together. This will maximize your kick, promote a strong, tight streamline and help with yourforward movement.
2. Work the Walls
Pullouts are so important! You can use the underwater part of your race to your advantage by being quick off the walls and into your pullout. Work on the glide and streamline off the wall to get the most out of each turn.
3. Keep Your Head Down
Eyes on your own race! Looking around will only waste your time and energy. Watching the person next to you won’t help you swim faster! Make sure to stay focused on your own race. This also means don’t bob your head with each breath. Keep your chin tucked and try not to move your head.
4. Shoot Your Arms Forward
This will help set your pace and tempo in the water. If you focus on getting your hands out in front of you, then you can start the next stroke to keep you moving forward quicker. Of course, you must remember to make sure your kick keeps up!
5. Timing is Everything
You want your arms to be catching the water while your heels are coming up to your hips. Sometimes the timing of the arms and legs are off. To fix this I think about “kicking my arms forward.”
Emily McClellan is an A3 Performance Athlete.
Swim Training is courtesy of A3 Performance.
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Yeah I guess I’m just not seeing “extending forward” during the power phase of the kick unless you mean already being extended and holding that line.
Here’s frame by frame from the first part of the race: http://goo.gl/0nh4q2
I guess we can all agree that sometimes we have to experiment with different techniques as well as different methods to communicate those techniques in order to individualize strokes to fit different athletes.
As a very mediocre breaststroke swimmer in college, my coach stressed all of these points. As soon as, I was able to do all of this in practice, I saw great improvement in my stroke during the 400 IM. I will say if your breaststroke is the worst stroke but you are an IMer, working on your under waters is crucial and cannot be stressed enough.
This was all very well stated by Emily and I wish her luck as she continues her career! Hopefully we will see her in Rio!
When Emily gets tired (2nd 50 of the video), you see the timing of her kick become more delayed. She has a natural kick delay, but it becomes more apparent when she’s tired.
The verbal focus, to Emily, was on shoulders and heels being high, together, so she could extend forward, with the power of her kick. And, we used the word “timing” quite often, because if she waited any longer to lift the heels, it delayed her extension, and her body/hips would drop into the water (she wouldn’t be as fluid).
As coaches, we use all sorts of wording, to get our points across and for Emily, the timing of her kick, with regards to her shoulders and hips,… Read more »
Good discussion. Thanks for the links J-Hawk. Looking at her swim frame by frame shows that she follows the same timing (heels extended back during insweep, heels drawn up as hands shoot forward, and propulsive kick not initiated until hands have extended forward) described by Russell Mark in my original link as well as what’s seen and confirmed by Wave Rider’s information.
That said, I think it’s really interesting that Emily appears to concentrate on a timing and feel that’s not exactly what actually happens in her stroke.
I wonder how many other things require a different feel and/or description that lead to a different effect when put into practice.
There is a lot of variation in pull depth and angles of the elites. As far as timing goes there is a common theme among the best breaststrokers in the world. Whether it’s a 50, 100, or 200. The heels begin to come up at the end of the catch when the hands are underneath the body. When the hands are shot forward and the moment they reach the furthest extended point the legs have reached the deepest pulled back point with the feet turned out. You can see it in the pictures that wrangler posted. The deepest part or the legs pulled back and the arms and hands getting into a streamline position happens simultaneously. Here are some videos… Read more »
Does anybody have some footage where we can see her timing? I’m really interested if that’s just what she thinks about and what it feels like to her versus what’s actually happening with the timing.
Here is the link to her Trial swims (click on #3). Emily is in lane 6.
http://www.sendspace.com/folder/7aeh0p
Emily – Nice job on describing the stroke, in a very simple way, that everyone can understand.
There are so many different styles of breaststroke. It’s definitely not a one size fits all stroke.
This is the way Emily was taught to swim and it definitely has worked for her. She has a wonderful feel for the water and a very strong kick.
This is really interesting to me as her point number 5 is always how I was taught to think about and coach breaststroke, but it seems to conflict with what we see on film in elite breaststrokers. It also contradicts what Russell Mark has to say here:
http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=0&itemid=4246&mid=8712
Thoughts??
That jumped out at me when I read it too. There’s just too many different ways to swim that silly stroke. Apparently this works for her, but it’s definitely outside of the current trend in breaststroke.