Builds and Strengthens Your Muscles
Breaststroke is an excellent exercise for building and toning various muscles. It involves the coordinated movement of both the arms and legs, engaging muscles in the chest, shoulders, arms, and legs. This comprehensive technique helps strengthen multiple areas of the body.
- Upper Body: The sweeping movement works the pectorals, deltoids, and even the triceps as you pull your arms in front of you to push the water backwards.
- Lower Body: The glutes and quadriceps are engaged during the “breaststroke kick” as the muscles work together to produce the sweeping motion of the legs, which is essential to push through the water.
Improves Cardiovascular Health
Although the breaststroke may be slower than the freestyle or butterfly techniques, it still delivers a great workout that supports your cardiovascular health. The extended arm and leg movements require more energy than other swimming techniques, meaning your muscles require more oxygen, resulting in an increased heart rate, which improves overall cardiovascular endurance and heart function. A Study By Swim England shows that swimming can lower the risk of death from heart disease and stroke by 41%.
Improves Your Posture
If you spend hours slumped up in front of a computer screen or just suffer from poor posture, this stroke is ideal for improving that. This swimming style is an effective way to improve posture by engaging key muscle groups such as the chest, shoulders, upper back, and core, which are all essential for maintaining an upright and strong posture.
The “glide” and “pull” motion of the stroke promotes spinal alignment and helps reduce tension in muscle joints, making it easier to avoid slouching. To see these results, we recommend swimming breaststroke between 2-3 times per week for 20-30 minutes per session, and you should start noticing improvements within 4-6 weeks. Remember, consistency is key!
Burns Calories Faster
The breaststroke is a low-impact yet effective workout to burn calories, support weight loss, and manage your overall physique. While being one of the slower swimming styles, it also offers one of the most intense workouts due to the water’s naturally resistant nature, and according to a study conducted at Swim England, the breaststroke can burn approximately 200 calories in 30 minutes!
The coordinated arm and leg movements, combined with the resistance of the water, create a full-body workout that boosts metabolism and burns calories efficiently. While breaststroke does burn fewer calories than faster strokes like freestyle, it’s easier to sustain over long periods of time due to its controlled pace, which would prove more beneficial in the long run. To maximize calorie burn, aim to swim in 30 minute sessions around 3 times a week.
Promotes A Positive Mindset
Breaststroke swimming can significantly improve mental health due to its calming, rhythmic movements and controlled breathing, which mimic the effects of meditation. This repetitive nature of the stroke helps clear the mind and reduces stress, promoting relaxation. Being in the water also provides “sensory comfort,” which can help alleviate anxiety and elevate your mood.
Additionally, like other forms of exercise, swimming releases endorphins, which are the body’s natural “feel-good” chemicals that help to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety and boost overall emotional well-being. Studies show that simply being in the water increases blood flow to the brain, which suggests that swimming boosts overall brain health by allowing for a sense of clarity and giving way to clear thoughts.
Suitable For All Ages
One of the greatest advantages of breaststroke is its accessibility for all age groups! Its gentle, low-impact nature and slower pace make it easier to learn and practice compared to more demanding strokes like butterfly or freestyle, which require greater strength and stamina. The rhythmic and controlled movements of breaststroke allow swimmers of any age to participate comfortably.
At SwimCentral, we break down the learning process into manageable steps, starting with mastering body position by lying flat above the water, then focusing on the kicks, and finally integrating the arm movements. This step-by-step approach ensures that learning is done at a comfortable pace, building confidence along the way. Additionally, breaststroke is easier on the joints compared to high-intensity styles like freestyle or butterfly, making it an ideal choice for people of all ages and fitness levels!
Build Confidence & Improve Coordination
Breaststroke is excellent for building water confidence and coordination due to its relatively gentle and controlled movements, which make it easier for beginners to learn and feel secure in the water. The stroke has a “head-above-water” position, which reduces the sense of anxiety while allowing swimmers to maintain visual contact.
The rhythmic arm and leg movements help to develop coordination between the limbs and breathing compared to more challenging swim styles like the butterfly, which require more advanced coordination and can be intimidating for beginners. Breaststroke’s slower and more consistent pace provides a more approachable learning experience. The combination of all these factors makes breaststroke an ideal choice for not only developing water confidence but to also build on coordination.
Conclusion
Incorporating the breaststroke technique into your swim routine offers a range of benefits that even extend beyond the pool. From improved muscle strength and heart health to correcting poor posture and promoting weight loss, this versatile stroke can be catered to all ages and fitness levels.
At Swimcentral, we are dedicated to helping you unlock these benefits through our expert-led programs, From private to group sessions, we tailor our sessions to meet your individual needs and requirements.