SwimSwam Drill of the Month: Breaststroke with Flutter Kick

SwimSwam is proud to present the Drill of the Month for June 2023. Drill of the Month is a SwimSwam recurring feature that brings drills and idea submissions from various creative and innovative coaches at every level all over the world.

This Drill of the Month features “breaststroke with a flutter kick.” Breaststroke with flutter kick is a great drill for swimmers of all levels, as it touches on many of the important fundamentals of breaststroke. The drill is as simple as it sounds: the swimmer does breaststroke, but instead of a breaststroke kick, they do the drill with a steady flutter kick the whole time.

The flutter kick does a few things for the swimmer. First, it keeps them moving forward via the kick the entire time, as opposed to regular breaststroke, where the pull moves the swimmer forward then the kick moves the swimmer forward. Second, the flutter kick keeps the swimmer close the surface the entire time, which allows for an opportunity to work on fast tempo breaststroke. This is also a great drill for working on body line, which is one of the most critical elements of breaststroke. It’s an excellent drill for practicing swimming breaststroke with a lot of length, reaching far out in front of the body on the recovery.

With more advanced swimmers, try putting the focus on using the core to create hip movement, and doing so without a breaststroke kick or dolphin kick.

Here is a video of the drill in action: