BLABTDR Method - Analysis of 200M Breaststroke World Record

Body Position
Kosuke Kitajima shows the full length of the body remaining remain high to the water surface throughout each stroke cycle. The hips remain high through each stroke and the head is taken below the water-line between the arms after the breath is taken in order to create a perfect streamline position.

Legs
The leg kick builds with speed with the feet finishing together at the end of every stroke cycle. Kosuke Kitajima has exceptional foot speed finishing and whipping the feet together with feet and toes pointed. Excellent ankle flexibility is evident and the kick creates perfect stroke length due to generative and resultant power through maximising many muscle groups starting with the Quadriceps fermoris (thigh / quad muscle) and finishing with the Tibialis Anterior (the muscle that runs down the outside of the shin).

Arms
The arm action sweeps to twice shoulder width with increased hand speed throughout producing twice as much power on the in-sweep when compared to the out-sweep. Hands lift to the water surface with some hand motion out of the water with fingers always pointing forwards. Elbows are tight inside the body-line. Hands recover forwards exceptionally fast to the front of the stroke with the hands pitched approximately 20 centimetres below the water surface, the hands then sweep slightly upwards and outwards as they repeat the arm stroke cycle once the feet have come together at the end of the kick phase. .

Breathing
A sharp intake of breath is taken once during every stroke cycle. Both lungs will be fully inflated to maximise the onset of oxygen transportation. The head position is angled slightly downwards to aid forwards propulsion and at the same time allowing the hips to remain high. Vision will be no more than 2 metres in front. The head position remains fixed and only rises and falls due to the pathway of the hands throughout the pulling phase.

Timing
The timing of the stroke is achieved by a technical pattern of pull, kick and glide. Kosuke Kitajima shows the distance that can be achieved off a long leg glide. There is no overlapping evident i.e. starting the pull prior to finishing the leg kick. A snap shot of the stroke will see the feet recovered high towards the hips with the hands finishing the in-sweep on the water surface some 20 centimetres in front of the face, the hands then recover so fast to the front of the stroke they reach this position as the feet drive backwards. The power of the legs then drive the body forwards with the hands cutting the pathway and vastly reducing the effect of frontal resistance. This elite technique optimises efficiency.

Dive Start, Turns & Finish
Kosuke Kitajima shows how underwater streamlining should be achieved. He executes each of the underwater phases prior to any deceleration and more importantly executes them at the exact point in time where he knows he would lose velocity if he held on any longer. Following a streamlined horizontal body position he shows a strong butterfly (dolphin) leg kick, he then produces a strong breaststroke pull out past his hips. The hand's recover forwards close to and under the body and the kick then launches the body to the surface for stroke transition to occur at the water surface.

The breaststroke turn takes place at full stroke length with the kick action taking Kosuke Kitajima into the wall, knees are lifted and a tight tuck occurs, the feet push off the wall when the leading (underwater arm/hand) has found its pathway, the body leaves the wall on its side rotating onto its front, the same underwater skills are consistent throughout the performance on each of the turns even though oxygen debt will be evident. The finish of the race is on a full stroke cycle with consistent distance and speed off the kick maintained.

Race Summary
Throughout the 200 metres race, Kosuke Kitajima swims with consistent rhythm and timing with increased effort during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th 50 metres in order to hold the required output (velocity). The given stroke count was 14, 14, 15 and 18 (61 stroke cycles) for each of the individual 50 metres, excluding the underwater phase of the dive and turns.

Interestingly, the stroke rate for the 2nd 50m was reduced after the first length. The split times recorded were 28.91, 32.36, 32.97 and 33.27 giving 1:01.27 for the first 100 metres and 1:06.24 for the second 100 metres.

This resulted in a 4.97 second drop off between each of the 100 metres splits. When looking at velocity, Kosuke Kitajima covered the 200 metre distance at 1.5685044 metres (5.176ft) per second covering 3.076923 (10.153ft) metres per stroke with a total stroke count of 65 when including the dive and turns.

When looking at this full number of strokes in relation to the height of Kosuke Kitajima it may be argued that further world records for the men's 200m breaststroke may only be broken by a much taller man given his technical perfections and power to weight ratio.

Kosuke Kitajima stands at 5'10'' tall and weight's 158 lbs.