How wide are the breaststroke kicks suppose to be?

Question

When I had swimming lessons my instructor told me to kick as wide as possible. Now that I've watched some videos and gone for training and stuff I found out that compeditive swimmers don't kick as wide.

Pictures would be helpful or a link to a website with pictures. Thanks.

what do you mean by damage the knees? When you kneel down the knees bend that way too.

I saw some breaststroke videos just now and I can't see the whip kick though my coach tells me there is. I'm going to start swimming next week and I dont want to look stupid lol. Can anyone explain how you're suppose to kick narrow and do a whip kick at the same time?

Answer 1

when beginning, wider kicks are better. but narrow down when starting to go competitive.

the kick is not about kicking your feet out, but about making a round-whip motion. kinda hard to spell out.

Answer 2

You're not supposed to do the actuall breaststroke kick because it damages your knees because they're not supposed to bend that way

Happy Splashing

xx

Answer 3

I competitive swim, and breaststroke is my stroke so maybe I can help you. You want to keep your knees together- not touching, but not too far apart. You don't want your knees to go out so your legs look like a diamond. You want to look more like two L's back to back. I hope I could help.

Answer 4

idk what a whip kick is
but im on a swim team
and my coach says to kick with ur knees pretty close together
not touching but like a couple of inches
sry i dont have any pic
hope this helps

Answer 5

you should try to kick to where your knees are about even with your hips. thats how i do it and im on a swim team.