Breaststroke

It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be swum comfortably at slow speeds.

However, at the competitive level, swimming breaststroke at speed requires endurance and strength comparable to other strokes.

It is sometimes the hardest to teach to rising swimmers after butterfly due to the importance of timing and the coordination required to move the legs properly.

Professional breaststrokers use abdominal muscles and hips to add extra power to the kick, although most do not perfect this technique until they are more experienced.

The history of breaststroke could go back to the Stone Age, as possibly indicated by images in the Cave of the Swimmers near Wadi Sora in the southwestern part of Egypt near Libya.

In 1538, Nicolas Wynman, a German professor of languages and poetry, wrote the first swimming book, Colymbetes.

1928 was the start of the scientific study of swimming by David Armbruster, coach at the University of Iowa, who filmed swimmers from underwater.

One breaststroke problem Armbruster researched was that the swimmer was slowed down significantly while bringing the arms forward underwater.

This led to a controversy at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, when six swimmers were disqualified, as they repeatedly swam long distances underwater.

There was a controversy at the 2004 Summer Olympics at Athens after Japan's Kosuke Kitajima won the gold medal in the 100 m breaststroke race over American Brendan Hansen, the world-record-holder.

From the streamline position, the palms turn out and the hands separate to slightly past shoulder width.

At the end of the insweep the hands come together with facing palms in front of the chest and the elbows are at the side at the body.

In late 2005, FINA has also introduced a new rule which permits a single downward kick after the push off the wall.

From the initial position with the legs stretched out backward, the feet are moved together towards the posterior, while the knees stay together.

This limits the top speed, with both effects combined together, velocity and frontal area, yield a thrust-to-drag ratio of 8 for the legs.

Moving both knee and foot outwards like a real frog avoids the extreme rotation in the lower leg.

All other variants fail to increase the frontal area, yet swimmers using them still generate some thrust by the velocity variation and do not drown.

Before the kick the knee is maximally bent and the upper leg is rotating along its axis to its extreme outer position and the lower leg is twisted to extreme, at the end of the kick the ankles are maximally turned to the inside so that the soles clap together to achieve a nozzle effect like in a jelly fish.

The sudden sideways stress on the knees at the kick can lead to uncomfortable noise and feeling for the beginner and to wear for the senior.

When the swimmer's elbows have reached the line of his eye and have begun to rise, his or her head starts to lift.

If they use their high elbows as a hinge for the inward sweep of their hands and forearms, they will create the leverage they need to use their abdominal muscles to bring their hips forward.

Thus, competitive swimmers usually make one underwater pull-out, pushing the hands all the way to the back after the start and each turn.

Body movement is coordinated such that the legs are ready for the thrust phase while the arms are halfway through the insweep, and the head is out of the water for breathing.

Olympian Ed Moses still swims a flatter style, despite the rapidly increasing popularity of the wave-style.

The wave-style breaststroke starts in a streamlined position, with shoulders shrugged to decrease drag in the water.

The high elbows creates the leverage for the powerful torso and abdominal muscles to assist in the stroke.

During the insweep, the swimmer accelerates their hands and hollows their back and lifts themself out of the water to breathe.

Then the swimmer kicks and presses on their chest, undulating a little underwater, and squeezing the gluteus maximus to prevent the legs and feet from rising out of the water.

Twenty-five-yard pools are common in the United States and are routinely used in age group, high school and college competitions during the winter months.

SW 7.6 At each turn and at the finish of the race, the touch shall be made with both hands simultaneously at, above, or below the water level.