A Professional Tip for Extra Explosive Freestyle Breakouts

Breakouts are one of many essential features of a quick swim on race day. After all, when diving into the water, or pushing off the wall, you’re shifting sooner than at any level through the race.

Those first few stroke cycles are additionally the quickest clear swimming you’ll do all lap lengthy—supplied you don’t pump the brakes with a poorly timed breakout.

And that premium pace deserves a premium breakout.

Why Freestyle Breakouts are Uniquely Challenging

For freestylers, the breakout is difficult as a result of it requires a clear transition from dolphin kicking to freestyle kicking. And when bungled, that not-so-slick transition can quietly value pace.

There are two causes for this:

Freestyle kicking is slower than dolphin kicking

When Yamakawa et al. (2025) in contrast underwater dolphin kicking to freestyle kicking with a bunch of eight elite swimmers, dolphin kicking was a lot sooner:

• Dolphin kick: 1.41m/s
• Freestyle kick: 1.21m/s

In apply, swimmers usually dolphin kick quick underwater, then change to freestyle kick to “flutter” their option to the floor, slowing down by the breakout. (Not ideally suited.)

The change disrupts motion continuity

Beyond uncooked velocity, the coordination change itself issues.

Dolphin kick is an in-phase motion. Both legs work collectively in a wave-like sample. Freestyle kick, then again, is anti-phase, with the legs alternating up and down.

Switching from dolphin to freestyle kick creates a sudden coordination change that may interrupt momentum.

Freestyle vs Butterfly Breakouts

Butterflyers are typically sooner in that essential first stroke, and so they transition into it extra cleanly.

A research by Gonjo et al. (2025) checked out velocity patterns in a bunch of ~350 swimmers throughout their underwaters, breakout, and mid-pool swimming.

One of the clearest findings was {that a} substantial variety of freestylers failed to keep up underwater pace into their first floor stroke. About 40% of freestyle swimmers slowed down through the breakout, exhibiting a drop in velocity in comparison with mid-pool swimming speeds.

This sample:

• Fast underwaters
• Slower breakout
• Fast swimming

…represents a wasted alternative for momentum.

Butterfly sprinters confirmed the other sample. About 60–70% of butterfly swimmers had been sooner through the breakout in comparison with mid-pool swim speeds.

Additionally, butterflyers transition a lot sooner into their first stroke. Trinidad et al. (2020) measured transition instances throughout totally different stroke specialists in a bunch of 74 national-level swimmers:

• Butterfly: 0.26s
• Freestyle: 0.47s
• Backstroke: 0.88s

The large distinction in the end come all the way down to motion continuity. Dolphin kick plugs seamlessly into butterfly swimming, with little change in coordination, resulting in a cleaner and faster breakout.

The Dolphin Kick Breakout

Instead of freestyle kicking to the floor, freestylers ought to think about using the “dolphin kick breakout.”

This is when swimmers do their regular underwater dolphin kick magic after which do one large closing kick as they start the primary stroke cycle.

Several elite freestylers use this breakout approach. Caeleb Dressel makes use of this kick timing in his freestyle races. Michael Phelps used it too. Elite butterflyer swimmers, unsurprisingly, usually adapt to this breakout extra naturally.

A research by Takeda et al. (2020) in contrast two breakout methods to 15m:

• Dolphin kick straight into the primary stroke: 1.888 m/s
• Dolphin kick adopted by freestyle kick: 1.575 m/s

Tacking freestyle kick onto the top of the underwater part prompted sharp deceleration and slower instances to 15m.

Timing the dolphin kick breakout will be troublesome to grasp, and feels a bit clunky at first, however the potential energy increase in that essential first stroke cycle means you’re maximizing your underwaters and retaining pace as you enter floor swimming. The dolphin kick will even enable you shoot up into the excessive head place that’s essential for dash freestylers.

• Tip: To get the grasp of the timing within the dolphin kick breakout, do 25s quick of freestyle arms with dolphin kicking. Start with fins to get a way of how that closing dolphin kick slots into the primary stroke cycle.

The Bottom Line

Breakouts can usually be an afterthought for swimmers, particularly sprinters, who’re fired up and able to get into some supercharged floor swimming. But for freestylers, a clunky breakout will be weak to deceleration.

Freestyle kicking through the breakout:

• Is slower than dolphin kicking
• Introduces an abrupt coordination change
• Acts as a braking part moderately than a bridge

Freestylers who grasp the dolphin kick breakout, utilizing an enormous, greasy dolphin kick to help that first stroke, will carry extra pace to the floor and generate extra boom-boom in stroke one.

Kick quick underwater. Breakout like a stud. And maximize pace from begin to end.

Happy freestylin’!

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ABOUT OLIVIER POIRIER-LEROY

Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former nationwide stage swimmer, 2x Olympic Trials qualifier, and writer of a number of books for swimmers, together with YourSwimBook, Conquer the Pool, The Dolphin Kick Manual, and most not too long ago, The 50 Freestyle Blueprint.

The ebook is a beastly 220+ pages of evidence-based insights and sensible suggestions for enhancing freestyle dash pace.

It particulars every thing from the right way to grasp stroke fee, approach, construct a thundering freestyle kick, enhance your begin and underwaters, and far more.

The 50 Freestyle Blueprint additionally contains 20 dash units to get you began and a bonus information on the right way to grasp the 100 freestyle to finish your dash preparation.

👉 Learn more about The 50 Freestyle Blueprint today.