THE BREAST STROKE SWIMMING HE old breast-stroke has in these days so completely gone out of fashion that to many persons it seems no longer worth learning at all. In fact, many experts nowadays do not know how to swim it. Still, it does have certain tages over all other strokes; and while it is true that for many swimmers it is not worth bothering with, it is for others distinctly worth while. If it is the est of all strokes, it is at the same time the best gymnastics: there is nothing like it to straighten up round shoulders or expand a flat chest. It is the only stroke which most persons can swim comfortably without wetting the hair, and the one which gives the swimmer the best view of coming waves and float ing objects; while as a change stroke, on a long swim, it is by no means to be despised. Finally, though it is the most difficult of all the common strokes to learn first, it is easily mastered if taken second or third.
The breast-stroke is simply the back stroke turned over. The leg-kick is ex actly the same. The arm-action is the same, except that the arms are bent more sharply on the recovery and pushed straight out in front from the chest; and are not brought round so far at the sides. These points, however, take care of them selves — the arms simply will not go any other way.
So far as the breath is concerned, the timing is the same as that of the back stroke. The air is inhaled through the mouth as the arms come back, and the hands, as they reach out on the last half of their recover, are " blown away from the face," — an excellent rule to keep in mind. The chief difference is that in the breast-stroke the arms, instead of resting at the side after their stroke, are imme diately extended in front of the face ; so that the slide occurs when the arms are at full reach.
All swimming-strokes are made diffi cult by the fact that, no matter how thoroughly the beginner has learned the movements, he still has to learn to bal ance the body in the water. But the breast-stroke has an additional difficulty of its own — the swimmer must manage to lift from the water a heavy head. On this account, the breast-stroke is some times best learned (as other strokes most emphatically are not) by the aid of a floating support. For this nothing his
ever proved superior to the old-fashioned wide plank, of light wood and as long, say, as the swimmer. In default of this, one can use water-wings placed close up under the arms or around the neck. The plank should be held by one end and at arm's length, in front of the face. As is the case with all strokes except the crawl, the kick should be mastered first. After that, one hand at a time can be taken from the plank, or the chin can be rested on the plank and both arms used. For one, however, who already swims side and back-strokes, all that is necessary for the breast-stroke is simply to turn over and swim. Even persons who swim the side-stroke only and have merely prac ticed the breast-stroke kick, can usually swim the stroke (not very smoothly, to be sure) at the first trial.
The breast-stroke is still so common, especially among swimmers of the older generation, and is so rarely swum exactly right, that it merits a somewhat careful description. The commonest error, and the most fatal, is that incorrect form of the kick which I have already discussed in connection with swimming on the back. Until this is cured,neither breast nor back stroke can be swum decently ; though for some reason or other, a bad kick is more easily reformed face up than face down.
It is a common fault, moreover, in the breast-stroke to make too much move ment with the legs and too little with the arms. Drawing up the knees beyond the proper distance adds slightly to the power of the kick ; it adds vastly to the drag of the recover. The proper place to stop is largely a matter of build, and must be de termined by trial. It is a safe rule, how ever, that if at any point in the stroke, at any speed, the forward motion of the body ceases entirely, then the legs are being drawn up either too rapidly or too far. Some persons, be it observed, actually move backwards when the legs recover. On the other hand, the arms ought to be carried back as far as they will go. An arm-stroke cut off at the level of the shoulder comes to an untimely end.