This is an old fine point for breaststroke, but it still needs to be reinforced frequently when teaching swimmers of all ages.
Why do it:
Your head position during the glide phase in breaststroke can produce more resistance than recoverying the arms or legs. Breaststroke has enough resistance points, why introduce another... that's so easy to fix.
How to do it:
1) If you swim breaststroke like this, with your eyes looking forward, you're throwing out a parachute that will create incredible resistance.
2) This idea is childs play, so let's look at a young swimmer who has been working on this. Could this young swimmer travel this far between stroke with the head and eyes looking forward? Simple... no.
3) Lower your eyes below your arms on each stroke to make sure you're in a better line. If you can see your arms when you're reaching forward in breaststroke, your head isn't low enough.
How to do it really well (the fine points):
It's MUCH easier to get your eyes below your arms if your arms are close to the surface, or shallow during the extension. Make sure you're not diving your hands down, and then following them with your head. Send your hands forward, get the head in a nice line between them, eyes below the arms, and start the pull before you lift your head for your breath.
