Help with butterfly in swimming?

Question

so my favorite sroke is the butterfly. The thing is i want it to be my fastest stroke. my last recorded time was 43. Thats pretty bad. Im having trouble coming out of the water. My stamina is also bad. i do fine down then half way back. the other half is when i start to go down. this is the reason for my bad time. My goal time is 35, at least. Oh this is for a 50m butterfly. any tips would help. thanks!

Answer 1

Work the kick, with board without, with fins without and on back.  Drills, drills, drills. Kicking on L-side arm extended, exaggerate kick till 7 count then single arm R recovery left arm pull switch sides for the lap.  Then lower your counts to 5 then 3.  Another drill, Single single double (don't breathe on the double) For singles breathing to side is ok. New drill Try underwater recovery pretend you are grabbing a lane line and diving over it when your pull is finished down by your sides bring them up under the body like a breast recovery, new drill, double arm backstroke dolphin kick, new drill double arm pull breathe, dont breathe, breathe then under water streamline positition dolphin kick one, two, three, new drill, double arm with whip (breast) kick, double arm with flutter. Work some dryland.  When I instruct beginner flyers I encourage them to throw in another kick when swimming.  I have them stand on dry land and bend way over saying head and feet are down, then switch to head and feet are up (exagerate the bent knees and I tell them to stick out the tummy, continue switching, Then throw in arms tah dah! Keep stroke long and strong. To shave time in fly work the walls in free during practice.

Answer 2

To improve your B/F time, go underwater until the 15m line off the blocks and the walls. That will ensure you swim less metres, and generally you use less energy underwater.

To conserve your momentum, breath every two or three strokes and DONT breathe first stroke up. Butterfly has three major components - the pull, push, and recovery. Use these to your advantage, especially the recovery. Gliding will help you conserve energy.

If you can do a 43, u can most definately do a 35 because you should know the technique to swim it. For the last leg of the swim you should keep your legs moving, and never stop. If your legs propel you enough, your arms will come out of the water.

Do drills to improve your technique and strength. The most common drill I do at my pool is the 2/2/2, which is two strokes on the left, two on the right, and two together. The leg movement is the same as regular butterfly. This drill improves the arms and the legs, and helps your breathing.

Do some kick with fins or no fins. Put your hands in the streamline posision and kick. You would want to try get the S motion and  breathe as little as possible. This will help you kick hard in your race.

Good luck with your swimming. Less than a year ago, I couldnt butterfly. I did 47s. Now I do 30s. Dont give up, and talk to your coach.

Answer 3

For butterfly, you need a very strong and steady kick that is equally strong on the "up" as well as the "down." I suggest doing at least half of your kicking without a kick board, on your side. This will help you focus on making your kick balanced.

You say you have difficulting "coming out of the water." Forcing your torso up out of the water is wasted effort and will only push your hips down (BAD). Breath by pushing your chin forward at the water level.

Your recovery should be very relaxed -- just swinging your arms low over the surface of the water. The easiest way to practice this is with one-arm fly, but try to think about it during 2-arm fly, also. Try different positions for your thumb. For most people, thumbs-down during recovery is the most relaxed.

Keep your hips up -- even when you get tired. Breath 2-up/1-down instead of every stroke -- especially when the going gets tough. Get your butt to break the surface every time you do not breath.

Force yourself to swim 100s and more of fly in practice. This is the only way to learn how to maintain a relaxed stroke. This will help you break through the mental barrier of always "dying" in the second half of your 50.

Once you learn to work with the water instead of fighting it, butterfly will get EASIER. And you'll get faster at the same time. Good luck!

Answer 4

Ok, well my favourite stroke is Freestyle then Breaststroke, then Butterfly, but my record in 50m butterfly is 49 seconds....but at the moment in my 10 metre pool I get people to time me, I do 5 laps, at a time in a day about 50 laps my swimming carnival is up soon so yeah, I hope I helped