Breaststroke: Cobra and Pull the Hips Forward

This week we share some fun drills that will help you REALLY feel and understand the breaststroke concept of pulling the hips forward.  Come join the discussion.

Monday

Davo Drills: Cobra

Watch and you’ll see how this breaststroke drill gets its name: Cobra.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/189-cobra>

Tuesday

Jessica Hardy: Stretch #17 Child’s Pose into Cobra Pose

Olympian Jessica Hardy uses a basic yoga pose to prepare for fast breaststroke.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/1097-stretch-17-child-s-pose-into-cobra-pose>

Wednesday

Breast Drill:  Radical Cobra

“Radical” means over-teaching or over-exaggerating something to drive home the point!

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/2211-breaststroke-radical-cobra>

Thursday

Amanda Beard: Pull Your Hips Forward

Pulling the hips forward is one of Amanda Beard’s most basic focus points for breaststroke.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/525-pull-your-hips-forward>

Friday

Felipe Lima: Hips

Felipe Lima is a Brazilian World Championship medalist.  He excels at pulling the hips forward in breaststroke.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/2618-breaststroke-hips>

Saturday

Breast Drill: Under Lane

This is one of the most fun drills ever, and has the added benefit of teaching you how to pull the hips forward on breaststroke.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/1394-breaststroke-under-lane>

Sunday

Breast Drill: Separation Drill

Breaststroke Separation Drill teaches many things, including how to pull the hips forward.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/1391-breaststroke-separation-drill>

**Breaststroke Teaching Techniques**

Glenn discussed his approach to teaching swimming, particularly breaststroke, to young swimmers. He emphasized the importance of proper technique, including length, extension, and surface tension. Glenn demonstrated the cobra drill to illustrate how to draw the hips forward and explained the concept of minimizing resistance while maximizing payback in breaststroke. He also highlighted the need to balance tuck and extension in teaching, depending on the individual swimmer's flexibility and strength.

**Swimming Drills and Technique Focus**

Glenn demonstrated various swimming drills and techniques, focusing on the importance of drawing the hips forward and squeezing the glutes. He emphasized the need to simplify instructions for younger swimmers and highlighted the "Fluke Drill" as a challenging but effective way to improve leg movement. Glenn also discussed the value of practicing on land to internalize the desired movements before applying them in the water, using yoga-like exercises to help swimmers feel the correct positions.

**Effective Teaching Progression Strategies**

Glenn discussed his teaching approach, emphasizing the importance of focusing on specific tasks and ensuring proper progression in skills development. He shared an example of a yoga exercise, clarifying the correct pose and the importance of attention to detail. Glenn also highlighted the challenge of trusting the progression in teaching and the need to build on previous steps effectively.

**Breaststroke Technique and Individualization**

Glenn discussed breaststroke technique, focusing on the importance of individualization in kick style and the role of hip draw in generating forward momentum. He analyzed videos of Olympic champions Amanda Beard and Felipe, highlighting how different athletes achieve success with varying kick techniques, and emphasized that the key is finding the right balance between resistance and payback for each swimmer.

**Breaststroke Hip Technique Drills**

Glenn discussed breaststroke technique, focusing on the role of the hips in the stroke. He explained that in breaststroke, the hips should stay relatively flat and draw forward rather than dropping down when the head comes up. Glenn demonstrated several drills to help swimmers focus on hip movement, including a lane line drill where the swimmer brushes their butt against the lane line to trigger hip draw. He also discussed the importance of relaxing the legs to allow for proper hip draw in the separation drill. Barbara agreed that focusing on hip movement is an effective way to teach breaststroke and suggested using breaststroke with a pull buoy as another drill to emphasize hip draw.

**Swimming Techniques and Training Improvements**

Glenn led a discussion on swimming techniques, focusing on breaststroke and muscle-ups. He shared videos and exercises to help children understand and improve their strokes. Paul suggested using muscle-ups to strengthen kicks and hand positions. Karen and Glenn discussed the benefits of coming up and forward in strokes. They agreed to explore mobility exercises and dry land training for each stroke. Glenn mentioned upcoming projects, including a podcast on talent and filming races to improve data analysis for age group swimmers.


Sign In to watch video

July 8, 2025 - Breaststroke: Cobra and Pull the Hips Forward