The 2 Breaststroke Pull Techniques

All, welcome back to Part II of our series on Breaststroke Undulation. Last week, we discussed the different types of Breaststroke Pull Techniques. This week, we plan to dive deeper into the two Breaststroke Pull Techniques and how that affects your Breaststroke Undulation.

Let’s get started!

With Breaststroke being a short-axis stroke, it requires a swimmer to undulate (or move) around their hips. You have to undulate to swim Breaststroke, but the amount of undulation you do can vary between swimmers.

In last week’s post, we deciphered the difference between the Fast Recovery and DPS Breaststroke Pull Techniques – and I’m sure within both of those techniques you’ve assumed there is a difference in their undulation styles…that is correct!

Because Breaststroke is a short-axis stroke, it requires swimmers to undulate (or move) around the hips. Undulation is essential to swimming Breaststroke, but the amount of undulation varies greatly between swimmers.

In last week’s post, we broke down the difference between the Fast Recovery and Distance-Per-Stroke (DPS) Breaststroke Pull Techniques. Within those two styles, you’ve probably already assumed that the undulation pattern changes as well — and you’d be correct.

Before diving deeper into these two styles, it’s helpful to understand the mechanics of the Breaststroke Pull Technique itself. If you want a deeper breakdown of the catch and pull path, check out our guide on the deepest part of the Breaststroke pull:

You can also review the full progression of the pull with this step-by-step breakdown

These resources explain how the arms create pressure on the water and set up the rhythm that connects the pull, breath, and kick.

The Fast Recovery:

In the Fast Recovery Breaststroke Pull Technique requires a swimmer to swim with a FAST Tempo. The ironic part about this stroke is that most coaches would assume that with a Fast Tempo – swimmers wouldn’t be able to get that high out of the water while swimming, but that’s actually not true.

Swimmers who swim with a Fast Recovery Breaststroke focus on undulating MORE, than swimmers who swim with a more DPS stroke.

Why?

The Fast Recovery stroke is all about turnover and power generation. In order to actually recover with a Fast Recovery, you don’t want a swimmer to politely put their head back down under the water after the breath – you want them to aggressively do that, so they can get to their next stroke!

When you couple the force from throwing the head/chest back down with the legs snapping backwards, swimmers achieve a higher peak speed, than if you did those movements individually or not at all.

The higher a swimmer can undulate the more distance they have to throw their body down, and the ability they have within that distance to generate a bigger speed. It’s a win-win overall!

The faster you go through your recovery, and the higher you can get – means you can achieve a quicker Breaststroke stroke.

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The DPS Stroke:

As mentioned earlier, the DPS (Distance Per Stroke) Breaststroke Pull Technique typically requires less undulation than the Fast Recovery style.

However, you will still see a range of undulation heights within this stroke.

Some swimmers who use a DPS stroke will maintain very minimal undulation, while others still incorporate a moderate amount.

The video below shows a great example of different undulation styles within a DPS Breaststroke stroke.

Swimmers who use more undulation often do so for reasons similar to Fast Recovery swimmers — generating additional momentum through the body wave.

Meanwhile, swimmers who stay lower in the water tend to do so in order to conserve energy and maintain a longer bodyline, allowing them to glide further between strokes.

This approach often helps swimmers maintain efficiency over longer distances.

What’s best for you?

Hopefully after last week’s post, you’ve figured out whether you are a Fast Recovery or DPS Breaststroker. Within that, you either need to be on A LOT of undulation if you’re a Fast Recovery Breaststroker or you need to find that sweet spot of undulation for yourself if you are a DPS Breaststroker.

Be sure to keep an eye out for next week’s post, where we help the DPS Breaststroker figure out how MUCH undulation they should aspire to have so they can continue to hit a beautiful bodyline!

Until Next Time,

Abbie Fish