How do you do the butterfly stroke ?

Question

i know this is a tough one to tell online ... but hey giv it ur best shot . i honestly dont know how to . im gonna try out with ur advices . so come up with something good .....

Answer 1

Im a butterflyer so what you do is you push your abs out of the water while your hands are moving up closer to your head and you take one big dolphin kick. Once your hands are by your side again, you take a smaller kick.

Answer 2

Pretty much what it looks like, just with a few tricks to it.

1. Put your head down BEFORE your arms. I can't tell you how many people waste energy keeping their heads up.

2. Kick when your arms are pulling underwater, about halfway through, and right when they breach the surface. One big kick and a smaller kick helps with the timing.

3. Glide a little, pulling like you do in freestyle isn't any faster and it will kill you before you finish the race.

4. Be sure to not lift any more of your body out of the water than you have to.

If you still aren't very good, work on it. A lot of the stroke comes from just being big enough to haul yourself out of the water.

Answer 3

omg it took me soooo long to learn this. my coach told me this dance.

1. put your hands straight up in the air

2. then put your hands together in the air

3.keeping hands in the air together, move your hips to one side

4. keep feet together and move hips to other side

5. say "I said a OOH AAAH A WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE!"repeat!

thats how i learned. you just do that dance underwater!

but you move your hands in a rotating circle to come up for air and keep wiggling your legs!

Answer 4

It comes naturally. You need to know the basics. Hump the water from the hips down, make sure your legs are together. With the arm motion make sure you do it like the shape of a key hole, using your shoulders to move your arms to pull as much water as possible to propel yourself forward. The best way to learn is to attend classes or go to swim camps for day long classes specializing in that stroke

Answer 5

ooo suprises and brian k both have great answers, gonna be hard to beat em...

butterfly is all about hip movement and smoothness.  so im gonna try and break it down into some concepts

1. start off streamline position, thats head down, body horizontal, hands above ur head held one hand on top the other.

2. the basic pattern to butterfly is 2 kicks, 1 stroke. the first kick is much more stronger than the 2nd.

3. the stroke should have an hourglass look to it (everyones calling it the keyhole).

4. The arm pull- ur hands should be in front of your shoulders, about a foot apart. bend ur elbows and pull back all the way to ur hips for a full stroke.  ur hands should now come in closer to ur chest (now maybe 6 inches apart) and ur elbows should be sticking out just outside ur shoulderline.  everything directly below ur body.  now ur arms are at ur hips, bring them out (like a butterfly) and swing them forward back into that original position (hands are 1 foot apart in front of shoulders)

5. the kick- start the kick from ur hips and lower abs, keep ur legs together like a dolphin and there should be a snap to it coming back.  its important to build up ur hamstrings, quads, and abs for this.

6. connecting it- as u start ur arm pull, when u start bending ur arm, ur hips should move forward/downward (do this standing up in front of the mirror, its natural that when u swing ur arms back ur lower body will swing forward and when u swing arms forward, the hips will move back)  

so u've done part of a kick down (hips are down, legs might be arched up, so ur like a long, subtle U shape down there) finish the stroke until ur hands swing forward and back into the original position. at this time ur hips should move backward/upwards, and ur feet will move down (all these opposite movements are to enforce that hourglass look and feel). keep ur hands still in front, and use that momentum to kick a smaller time (2nd time).  now repeat.  

wow ur right that was hard explaining, best thing to do is watch underwater videos or just personally look at a swimmer. maybe one of ur friends swims competitively so ask around, he'll easily show u in person and on a table or something.

Answer 6

THe key to the butterfly is a smooth wave motion driven by your hips. Think of your body as a piece of rope. The stroke motion begins with your arms driving down and back under you while your head and shoulder dive down. At the same time your hips rise and your feet come up. Your body should move in a smooth wave. It should feel effortless and graceful. It's still exhausting, but the first time you nail it, you'll know it.

Answer 7

Draw a "keyhole" shape with your hands, starting above head and finishing at your hips, swing arms up and repeat, dolphin kick legs

Answer 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8thnrT3IR... for the legs and...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvKbM4uDJ... for the arms.

It seems really complicated if you over-think it. Once you've got the basic hang of it just experiment in the water, you'll soon see what makes you go fast!

I'd basically remember to keep your legs glued together and kick both as you'd usually kick one leg in front crawl. The arms are basically bent at the elbow and brought back and up, then cut into the water - into a kind of circular motion. If you cup your hands it helps with the shape and helps you go a bit faster. (Breathe when your hands are in the highest position out the water, so your body is curved back) Hope that helps and isn't too confusing!