How to Swim Breaststroke: Pull, Breathe, Kick, Glide

By the SwimmingClasses.sg coaching team · Last reviewed: October 2026

Breaststroke is often the first stroke taught in Singapore swimming lessons, and for good reason: the timing allows you to keep your head above water while you learn, the kick is distinctive and learnable, and there is a natural rest point — the glide — built into every stroke cycle. But it is also one of the most technically exacting strokes to do well, with a precise sequence of movements that must happen in the right order.

The correct sequence is: pull, breathe, kick, glide. Every element builds on the previous one. Get the sequence right, and the stroke starts to feel effortless. Get it wrong, and you will fight the water every length.

Body Position

Good breaststroke starts with a streamlined body position at the beginning and end of each stroke cycle. The aim is to be as horizontal as possible in the glide phase: head in a neutral position, spine long, hips at or near the surface.

Many learners swim with their heads too high, which causes the hips and legs to drop. This creates drag that cancels out much of the propulsion from the kick. Practise keeping your eyes looking down and slightly forward rather than straight ahead — the waterline should cross your forehead, not your chin.

The Pull

The breaststroke pull begins with your arms fully extended in front of you, just below the surface. Press your hands outward and slightly downward, sweeping them in an arc until your elbows are at shoulder width and bent at roughly 90 degrees. At this point your hands should be below your chin, and your elbows should be tucked in rather than dropped.

From here, sweep your hands inward and forward in a tight movement — think of pressing your palms together in front of your chest before shooting them forward again. The pull should feel like you are pulling yourself over a barrel: a wide initial sweep, then a tight insweep, then extension.

The pull is not a large movement. Many beginners pull their arms back past the hips, which creates drag rather than propulsion. The effective part of the breaststroke pull is the first half of the arc, before the hands pass the shoulder line.

The Breath

Breathing in breaststroke happens at the natural moment the pull creates: as your arms sweep outward and your elbows come in, your head and shoulders rise slightly from the water. This is the moment to breathe — not before, not after.

You should not need to actively lift your head to breathe. The mechanics of the pull bring your head up far enough if you hold a neutral head position the rest of the time. Learners who lunge forward with their chin to breathe are working much harder than necessary and disrupting their body position.

Exhale continuously between breaths — through the nose or mouth, steadily — rather than holding your breath and exhaling explosively just before the next breath. Steady exhalation keeps you relaxed and is far more efficient over longer distances.

The Kick

The breaststroke kick is a whip kick, not a flutter kick. The movement begins by drawing your heels toward your seat (not pulling your knees too far forward under your body, which increases drag). From there, your feet turn outward and you press backward in a wide arc, finishing with your legs together and fully extended.

The key moment is the foot position at the start of the kick. Your feet need to be dorsiflexed — toes pointing toward your shins, not pointed — and turned outward so you are pressing with the inner surface of the foot and lower leg. If your toes are pointed at the moment of the kick, the kick provides almost no propulsion.

The kick finishes with your feet together and pointed. This is the start of the glide.

The Glide

The glide is not passive — it is an active phase of the stroke in which you are fully extended and streamlined, moving through the water on the propulsion generated by the kick. Many learners cut the glide short by starting the next pull too soon. This is one of the most common reasons breaststroke feels exhausting.

Hold the glide until your speed drops noticeably. This takes practice to judge, but in general the glide lasts longer than beginners expect — often one to two full seconds in efficient swimming.

A useful drill: after each kick, count to two before beginning the next pull. This forces you to experience the glide and helps you feel how much the momentum from a good kick carries you.

Putting the Timing Together

The complete breaststroke cycle: arms extend forward in streamline → pull begins, arms sweep outward → breathe as elbows reach shoulder level → arms sweep in and forward → arms extend → feet draw up as arms extend → kick (feet dorsiflexed and turned out, pressing backward) → glide (fully extended, head neutral) → repeat.

A common timing error is kicking while the arms are still pulling. The kick should begin as the arms are extending forward, not while the arms are in the power phase. Kicking and pulling simultaneously creates drag and reduces propulsion from both movements.

Say it in your head every length: pull, breathe, kick, glide. When the timing is right, you will feel yourself covering distance in the glide with almost no effort.

Common Errors and Fixes

Head too high: Looking forward rather than down. Fix: press your forehead lightly downward in the glide and let the pull raise your head to breathe naturally.

Arms pulling past the hips: Taking the pull too far back. Fix: stop the insweep when your hands are at chest level and immediately shoot forward.

Knees dropping too wide: The kick becomes a frog kick that creates resistance. Fix: keep knees no wider than hip-width during the recovery phase.

Feet not turning out: The kick provides no grip on the water. Fix: exaggerate the foot turn before the kick — you should feel the inner edge of your foot and lower leg pressing the water.

Cutting the glide short: Starting the next pull before the glide finishes. Fix: count two seconds in the glide before every pull.