What it is
Breaststroke kick is a "short axis" stroke in which the hips hinge and move a little like butterfly. The feet accelerate like a whip by snapping the legs and squeezing the knees, which is why it is sometimes called the "whip" kick.
Essentials
- Hinge at the hips; push water with the crown.
- Drive the hips forward to breathe, then shove the hips up like a butterfly kick as the kick drives the hands into Position 11.
- Flex is the foundation: heels together, toes lifted and turned outwards.
- Push with the inside of the foot as the legs extend.
- The four components of the kick: lift, flex, circle, squeeze.
Progression
- Streamline plus flex – push off the wall, stay in streamline, no kicking, no arms; just flex the feet (heels together, toes lifted and turned outwards). Repeat four times.
- Streamline plus lift and flex – push off in streamline, bend at the knees (lift), flex the toes, then freeze. Repeat four times.
- Streamline with one full breaststroke kick – streamline, lift, flex, push with the inside of the foot.
- Streamline with two breaststroke kicks – lift and flex, push and squeeze.
- Integrate into the full stroke: arms with breath, kick, glide; then arms with breath, arms to Position 11.
What goes wrong
- Knees and legs breach the surface during the kick. Correction: keep the legs below the waterline (Challenge 6: four breaststroke kicks where the knees and legs do not breach the surface).
- Flex is not established as a habit before adding lift or push. Correction: spend significant time on flex alone, repeating it over and over, before progressing.
- Learners skip the inside-foot push. Correction: once flex is understood, direct attention specifically to the inside of the feet pushing against the water as the legs extend.
How you know it worked
The swimmer can complete four clean repetitions of each progression step (flex, lift-and-flex, full kick in streamline) with the feet position established as a habit and the inside-foot push clearly visible.
How you teach it
Breaststroke kick is hard, so teach it in small chunks. For new learners the primary focus is flex; do not rush to the full kick. Spend significant time introducing the flex position over and over until it becomes a habit—heels together, toes rotated away, big toes lifted. Only once the swimmer reliably produces flex do you layer in the lift (knee bend), then the push with the inside of the foot, and finally the squeeze. Streamlines are good habits to reinforce throughout, so every drill starts from a clean streamline push-off.
The hip-movement cue (drive hips forward to breathe, then shove hips up like a butterfly kick) is not just a kick instruction; it contributes to the overall rhythm of the stroke and helps with timing for the arms, breath, kick, and glide. When teaching the full-stroke integration, focus only on Position 11 and the breath ("Eat") so the swimmer is not juggling too many elements at once. The cue "push water with the crown" keeps the head and body aligned so the hip hinge produces a clean, short-axis motion rather than a long, flat undulation.