The BREASTSTROKE PULL is one of the most misunderstood movements in swimming.

Here's exactly how it should work. 👉 Start wide to catch as much water as possible. Similar to butterfly but just a little wider. You're pulling outward first to grab the water and set up the pull. This is where you load the stroke. 👉 Never bring your elbows behind your ribs. This is the most common mistake. When your elbows go behind your rib cage, yes, your pull feels bigger. But what's actually happening is you're creating enormous resistance by forcing your arms to travel a longer path forward. And we're already creating drag when we move our arms forward in breaststroke. The last thing we want is to make that worse. ✅ Always keep your elbows in front of your rib cage. That's the rule. 👉 The recovery has to be clean and precise. When you bring your arms forward, don't push them too deep underwater. That creates resistance below. Don't lift them above the water either. That makes your lower body sink. ✅ The perfect position is where your index finger is just above the water line and your pinky is just below it. Hands close together like an arrow cutting through the water. 💡 That arrow shape through the recovery is what minimises drag and lets you glide cleanly before the kick comes in. Pull wide, elbows in front, arrow hands forward, head down, glide, then kick. That's the whole sequence. 📲 Download our app to get your first 7 days of personalised training completely free inside the Swim Success Training app. 🎯 Want me to personally review your technique? Upload your swim video inside the app and I'll tell you exactly what to fix.