Breaststroke kicks create more problems for swimmers than any other part of the stroke. You can say it’s the engine of breaststroke, that generates 70-80% of your propulsion
This guide covers how the kick works, where it breaks down, and how to fix it. It’s written for swimmers from beginner through intermediate.
At Rocket Swim Club, coaches Alina and Ivan, former members of the Moldova National Swim Team, build kick instruction from the ground up.
Let’s start with the fundamentals every swimmer needs regardless of level.
Why Your Breaststroke Kick Matters More Than You Think
Which Kick Drives Most of Your Speed
In freestyle and backstroke, your arms do the heavy lifting. Breaststroke is the opposite. Your kick is the dominant propulsive force. It also controls your stroke rate and rhythm. A slow or poorly timed kick doesn’t just slow your legs down — it disrupts your pull, throws off your breathing, and breaks your body position. You can’t compensate for a weak kick in breaststroke the way you can in other strokes.
How Breaststroke Kick Differs from Every Other Stroke
Breaststroke kick is unlike any other kick in competitive swimming. Your feet turn outward. The movement is forward and back, not up and down. There’s a rotational component that doesn’t exist in flutter or dolphin kick. The muscles driving it are also different: your adductors squeeze your legs together through the second half of the kick, your tibialis anterior (the muscle running along the outside of your shin) turns your feet out and holds that position, and your hamstrings power the recovery by bringing your heels to your hips. New breaststroke swimmers often feel that tibialis anterior burn quickly — it’s not a familiar movement for most people.
What muscles does breaststroke kick use?
The main muscles are the adductors (inner thighs), tibialis anterior (outer shins), hamstrings (kick recovery), quadriceps (knee extension), and glutes (hip stabilization). The adductors and tibialis anterior are particularly stressed in breaststroke and are less used in the other three strokes.
Is Your Breaststroke Kick the Problem? Lets Do A Quick Self-Check
Before spending time on drills, it helps to know whether your kick is actually the weak link. Here are four quick checks you can run at the pool:
- Kick a 25 with a board. If you’re barely moving or stopping, your kick mechanics need work. A functional kick should move you forward steadily, even if not fast.
- Time a 50 kick-only vs. a 50 full stroke. If your kick-only time is much slower than your full stroke, your kick isn’t contributing the way it should. In good breaststroke, adding the kick to the stroke should make you noticeably faster.
- Kick on your back with your hands in streamline. If your knees are breaking the surface of the water above your hips, you’re bending at the hips instead of hinging at the knees. That one mechanical error kills propulsion and raises drag simultaneously.
- Count your kick-only strokes per 25 yards vs. full stroke. A major gap between the two often points to poor kick-to-stroke integration, usually a timing issue.
| At Rocket Swim Club, these are the same checks coaches run during tryouts across our Greater Toronto Area locations. For swimmers who want objective data on kick performance, we also use Sportecos performance tracking technology to measure and track progression over time. Book a tryout at rocketswim.com. |
Breaststroke Kick Mechanics Step by Step
Step 1 — The Recovery (Heels to Hips)
The recovery starts the cycle. Your heels draw up toward your hips by bending at the knees, not the hips. This distinction matters: most beginners lift their thighs to start the recovery, which drops their knees forward and down, creating drag. The hinge point is at the knee. Your thighs should stay relatively still throughout the recovery. Speed here also matters. A slow recovery delays your kick and shortens the patience phase that makes the setup effective. Pull the heels up fast, then pause.
Step 2 — Setting Up the Kick (Turning Feet Out)
Once your heels are at your hips, your feet turn out toward the side walls. Your toes face outward, your feet are wider than your knees, and your soles and shins are angled to face backward. This is where most of the kick’s power gets built, and it’s where most swimmers rush. Pushing before your feet are properly set means your feet are facing the wrong direction when you drive, and you lose most of the propulsion. Hold that setup position for a beat. The tibialis anterior burn you feel here is normal for swimmers who are new to breaststroke. Those muscles will adapt.
Step 3 — The Drive (Pushing Straight Back)
The biggest misconception in breaststroke kick is that it goes ‘up, out, and around’ in a circular motion. It doesn’t. The kick goes backward. The insides of your feet, the soles of your feet, and your shins all push water directly back. If your knees are sliding outward as you drive, the kick is going around the outside rather than straight back. Keep your knees stable. Elite swimmers use a direct backward drive to maintain stroke rate. A circular kick kills tempo and reduces propulsion per stroke.
Step 4 — The Finish (Snap Together and Glide)
Your legs squeeze together, toes point, and your body returns to a streamline. The snap itself generates the last bit of propulsion. After the snap, pointed toes reduce drag during the glide phase. The glide is not wasted time. It’s where your body moves through the water with the least resistance, and spending time in it pays off. Don’t start your next recovery until you’ve held the finish.
How do you do a breaststroke kick step by step?
Pull heels to hips by bending at the knees (Step 1). Turn feet out so toes face the side walls (Step 2). Drive both feet backward simultaneously (Step 3). Squeeze legs together and point toes to finish in streamline (Step 4). Pause in the glide, then repeat.
| Rocket Swim Club’s coaches teach kick mechanics from the first session in our non-competitive programs. If you’re working on the fundamentals in the Greater Toronto Area, private lessons are available for swimmers who want one-on-one feedback on kick mechanics specifically. Visit rocketswim.com/programs to see options. |
How Wide Should Your Breaststroke Kick Be?
There’s no single correct kick width. It depends on the individual swimmer’s hip, knee, and ankle mobility. Three things are non-negotiable regardless of width: feet must be wider than knees, feet must be turned out during the drive, and knees must stay stable through the kick rather than sliding outward.
Swimmers with good hip and ankle mobility can use a wider kick that generates more distance per stroke. Swimmers with less mobility naturally use a narrower, faster-cycle kick — and both approaches work at the competitive level. The key is finding the width that keeps maximum pressure on your feet and shins for as long as possible during the drive. More mobile swimmers can adjust their kick width mid-race depending on the event and how tired they are.
Should breaststroke kick be wide or narrow?
Use the width that keeps the most pressure on your feet and shins through the entire drive phase. Your mobility determines what that width is. Forcing a wider kick than your mobility causes the knees to slide out and the drive to go around instead of back.
Common Breaststroke Kick Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
Although there are lots of Common Mistakes in breaststroke but from kick perspective, not turning the feet out is the most common error. Swimmers push with the bottoms of their feet facing down rather than back. The fix is to focus on turning the toes toward the side walls during the setup phase, before the drive begins. If you’re not sure whether your feet are turning out, kick on your back and watch your feet.
Kicking around instead of straight back. You can identify this by watching the knees. If they slide outward during the drive, the kick is going in a circle. Focus on keeping the knees pointing down toward the bottom of the pool as you drive. This one mechanical change often produces an immediate improvement in speed.
Rushing the setup. Skipping the patient phase between the recovery and the drive is the primary reason most breaststroke kicks are weak. The drive has no power if the feet aren’t positioned correctly first. Drill the setup separately before worrying about kick speed.
Bending at the hips instead of hinging at the knees. When this happens, the thighs drop downward during the recovery instead of staying horizontal. Dropped thighs create significant drag. The wall drill described in the drills section below is the most direct fix for this.
Not finishing the kick. Legs that stop short of coming fully together waste the last propulsive part of the stroke and leave the feet in a poor position for the glide. Practice the squeeze and hold at the finish until it’s automatic.
Scissor or alternating kick. This occurs when the legs move independently instead of together. It’s illegal in competition. It’s often caused by a flexibility imbalance between the two sides or by early timing on one leg. Kicking on your back while watching your legs is the fastest way to identify and correct it.
Why is my breaststroke kick so slow?
The most common cause is rushing the setup. If your feet aren’t turned out before you drive, the kick has almost no power regardless of how fast your legs move. The second most common cause is bending at the hips during the recovery, which creates drag that slows everything down.
Why do my legs not move me forward in breaststroke?
Your feet are probably pushing down instead of back. Try kicking in a vertical position in deep water. When you’re upright, pushing straight down is what keeps you afloat — and that same direction is exactly what you need when you’re horizontal. Vertical kick practice is the fastest way to retrain the kick direction.
| Coaches at Rocket Swim Club identify these mistakes from the pool deck during every session. If you’ve been swimming breaststroke for a while and feel like something’s still off, a technique assessment with our nationally trained coaches can pinpoint what to fix first. Reach out at rocketswim.com or call +1-647-641-6165. |
Drills to Build a Stronger Breaststroke Kick
Land-Based Drills
Wall stand drill. Stand flat against a wall, toes against the baseboard. Lift one heel toward your hip by bending only at the knee. If your hips peel off the wall, you’re hinging at the hip, not the knee. Do 10 reps per leg before getting in the water.
Chair drill. Sit at the edge of a chair and practice the full kick path from position: heels draw up, feet turn out, legs drive and squeeze together. Do this slowly to build the muscle memory before asking for speed in the water.
Standing heel draw. Stand on one foot and pull the opposite heel to your hip as fast as possible. This trains the hamstrings for the fast recovery the kick requires. 3 sets of 15 reps per leg.
Water Drills
Streamline kick on front. Push off the wall in streamline and kick without a board. Arms stay extended. This trains you to kick without the resistance that holding a board creates and keeps the focus on body position throughout.
Pullbuoy kick. Place a pullbuoy between your legs and kick without letting it drop. The only way to keep the pullbuoy is to keep your knees from sliding outward. This directly trains the stable-knee position required for a straight-back kick.
Vertical breaststroke kick. In deep water, get vertical and kick to stay afloat. When your goal is to stay up, your feet naturally drive straight down — which is the same direction you need when horizontal. This drill is fast feedback on whether your feet are positioned correctly.
Sample Kick-Focused Practice Set
Warm-up (200 yards)
- 100 easy freestyle
- 100 breaststroke kick on back, relaxed pace
Drill Block (200 yards)
- 4 x 25 streamline kick on front @ :45
- 4 x 25 pullbuoy kick drill @ :50
Main Set (600 yards)
- 6 x 50 breaststroke kick with board: odds = focus on setup patience, evens = focus on finish squeeze @ 1:30
- 4 x 25 vertical kick in place, 30 seconds on / 30 seconds rest
- 4 x 50 three-kick one-pull breaststroke @ 1:45
Cool-Down (100 yards)
- 100 easy choice
Total: approximately 1,100 yards. Rest intervals are guidelines. Adjust based on your current fitness level.
| This drill progression mirrors the approach used in Rocket Swim Club’s competitive and recreational programs in the Greater Toronto Area. If you want structured sets built around your current level, our coaches design custom training plans for swimmers at every stage. See our programs at rocketswim.com. |
Ankle and Hip Mobility for a Better Breaststroke Kick
Every competitor article on breaststroke kick mentions that mobility matters. None of them tell you what to actually do about it. Here are five exercises that directly improve the range of motion your kick depends on:
- Ankle dorsiflexion stretch. Sit on your heels with toes pointed and lean back slightly. Hold 30 seconds. This targets the ankle flexibility needed to hold the foot-out position during the setup phase. Do this daily.
- Seated external hip rotation. Sit cross-legged and press both knees gently toward the floor. Hold 30-45 seconds. External hip rotation is what allows your feet to turn outward without forcing it from the knee.
- Adductor stretch. Stand with feet wide and shift your weight slowly to one side, bending that knee while keeping the opposite leg straight. Hold 30 seconds each side. The adductors drive the final squeeze of your kick.
- Tibialis anterior stretch. Kneel on a mat with the tops of your feet flat on the ground. Sit back on your heels gently. Hold 20-30 seconds. This stretch addresses the muscle that turns your feet out during the setup.
- Hip flexor lunge stretch. Standard kneeling lunge, held 30-45 seconds per side. Tight hip flexors limit how far your heels can travel toward your hips during recovery.
Do this sequence poolside before breaststroke sets. It takes under five minutes and directly addresses the mobility restrictions that limit kick range. Rocket Swim Club includes dryland and mobility work in competitive program training because kick performance is directly linked to how much range of motion a swimmer has available.
How to Know You’re Getting Better at Breaststroke Kick
Beginner Benchmarks
You can kick a 25 with a board without stopping. Your feet are visibly turned out during the drive, not pointing straight back. You’re moving forward at a consistent pace, even if slowly. You can hold the wall-stand drill without your hips leaving the wall on the recovery. These four markers mean your kick has a functioning foundation to build from.
Intermediate Benchmarks
You’re kicking with a consistent rhythm across a full 100-yard set. Your knees aren’t breaking the surface of the water when you kick on your back. You can hold vertical kick for 30 seconds without stopping. The kick-only vs. full stroke time gap is closing.
Competitive Benchmarks
Your kick produces noticeable speed on its own. You can adjust kick width mid-set without losing rhythm. Your kick timing with the pull and breath cycle is automatic — you’re not thinking about it during a race. In breaststroke, your body position returns to streamline after every finish without conscious effort. At this level, the gains come from fine-tuning undulation, breathing height, and kick tempo rather than rebuilding mechanics.
Rocket Swim Club uses Sportecos performance tracking technology to give competitive swimmers measurable data on progression. Our internal ranking system also provides clear markers at each program level — from Novice through Senior competitive — so swimmers always know where they stand and what comes next.
| Whether you’re working toward beginner benchmarks or tuning a competitive kick, Rocket Swim Club’s program pathway covers every stage. Our non-competitive Novice programs, Junior and Senior competitive tracks, Masters program, and private lessons are all available to swimmers across the Greater Toronto Area. Find the right program at rocketswim.com. |
Conclusion
A good breaststroke kick is built on position, patience, and repetition. Position your feet correctly before you drive. Be patient in the setup. Finish the kick every single stroke. Start with the self-check at your next practice to find what needs the most attention, then pick one or two drills from this guide and work them consistently. Strength and speed come later. The fundamentals come first.
| If you’re in the Greater Toronto Area and want hands-on instruction from nationally trained coaches, Rocket Swim Club offers private lessons, competitive programs, and adult Masters swimming for all ages and levels. Coaches Alina and Ivan bring real national team experience to every session. Visit rocketswim.com or email info@rocketswim.com to get started. |