How do i drop time in my breaststroke?

Currently i have a 36 in my 50 breaststroke, and i have my city meet coming up next weekend, and i am 14 years old. My goal is to get a 35, and if i'm lucky a 34. My starts and turns are decent, but i would just like some tips on how i could achieve this goal!|||I was a breaststroker all through high school and college so this became my bread and butter event.





As a rule of thumb you always need to focus on your pullouts and breakouts. Hold your speed underwater off your starts and turns and snap into your pullout just as you feel your about to lose speed. For me it was always about 2-3 seconds before I would snap into my pullout. Once you hit your pullout, make sure you have a very strong kick to the surface and attack your first three strokes to develop your rhythm.





For the your stroke itself, always be moving. Your arms should be in constant acceleration as your pulling, even through your breath. Make sure its one fluid motion. Pause your arms out front (NOT UNDERNEATH YOU DURING YOUR BREATH) as you're kicking and repeat again. Stroke pattern should always be Kick-Pull-Kick-Pull-etc.





On a more technical note, and this will take time to learn if you're not doing it yet, learn to use your hips in your breaststroke. Just like in butterfly, your hips control the motion. A drill you can do to help develop this would be as follows:





Hold your hands/arms behind your back and kick breaststroke on your front. While holding your arms behind your back, take a breath inbetween each kick. As you get your breath, kick yourself downward. IMPORTANT - Make sure you don't just lift your head up for this. Keep your neck straight and really work on using your hips to help you. Think of doing a dolphin/butterfly kick with your arms at your side and breathing during that.





I hope this helps! Good luck!|||-on your glide, put arms behind your head in a really tight streamline


-on your insweep, shrug your shoulders up and together


-after your pullouts, shrug your shoulders together and put your arms between your legs


-kick back and down, your toes should point to the bottom of the pool


-dont forget your DOWNWARD butterfly kick on your pullouts


-on your insweeps, shoot your arms out BEFORE you put your face in the water, as this creates a current


hope i helped! :)