Butterfrog help requested

I'm curious about this butter frog thing. :) I had never heard about it until I got on this board (keep in mind, I'm new here). What is the benefit of doing it? Is it a drill or a legal stroke? Just wondering if I should give it a shot. Thanks! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Terry doesn't use the fly kick, according to him, because he feels his lower back is to stiff to have any benefit. He was demonstrating butterfrog to a group of us and was asked that question about the fly kick. Thanks, Wookiee, I appreciate you solving that puzzle for me. It makes sense now! What does he mean by "sneaky breath?" When I try the butterfly, I usually wind up horizontal and with a mouth full of water after about four strokes. He also has a pretty narrow fly kick and I wonder mine has so little power because I'm taking it too wide and not snapping hard enough. Elaine, I have to say, you are amazing. You inspire me. And Bruce is a treasure. What I think he means by "sneaky breath" is to not lift your head up to breath. Check out a video of Michael Phelps swimming fly and you will see that he juts his jaw forward to get a breath rather than lifting his head up. He gets a quick breath and gets his head right back down. If you lift your head up, it will push the rest of your body to go lower in the water. As a result, your body will have a vertical tilt rather than staying horizontal. If you can get somebody to shoot video of your fly and post it, we can help you out here on the forums with some tips on how to improve it. Meanwhile, my "treasure" :angel: shot more video of my fly today, and I'm hoping it's improvement over the previous posted video. By the way, Bruce says "thanks" and appreciated your compliment. :D I agree with you, of course! As for me being "amazing," I don't know about that, but if you think so, thanks! :blush: Here's my new (hopefully improved) version of butterfrog: http://youtu.be/PHXfVMUTNAM

What does he mean by "sneaky breath?" When I try the butterfly, I usually wind up horizontal and with a mouth full of water after about four strokes. He also has a pretty narrow fly kick and I wonder mine has so little power because I'm taking it too wide and not snapping hard enough. Elaine, I have to say, you are amazing. You inspire me. And Bruce is a treasure.

Terry doesn't use the fly kick, according to him, because he feels his lower back is to stiff to have any benefit. He was demonstrating butterfrog to a group of us and was asked that question about the fly kick.

Butterfrog is legal in Masters meets,but not in USA-Swimming meets.My regular butterfly is faster than my butterfrog for about 75 yd,but that is the point at which I have to lengthen my stroke or I run the risk of "going vertical".At that point butterfrog is faster for me than my longer stroke butterfly.If you have a reasonably good breaststroke kick,the extra thrust of the kick helps keep your hips up so you are at less risk of going vertical. Butterfrog is much faster for me in a 200 fly than regular butterfly is.If you can keep a good rhythm going for 200 yd regular fly,then butterfrog is not for you,but for us mere mortals it might be worth a try,YMMV.

For those that want to know more about butterfrog: www.usms.org/.../part1.pdf USMS rulebook does not explicitly say whether additional dolphin kicks may be used or not, but IMO if it doesn't say it's ILegal, then be definition, it's legal! It can look weird, odd, strange and Whatwazthat?! and still be legal, if the official cannot find a clear reason for it to be illegal. See also 2014 USA Rulebook - see section Differences Between USA and USMS on starting on page 165 www.usaswimming.org/.../2014 Rule Book.pdf MS1.2 Butterfly. The breaststroke or whip kick may be used exclusively or interchangeably with the dolphin kick at any time during the race (for example, one breaststroke kick and multiple dolphin kicks may be used with each arm pull). Only one breaststroke or whip kick is permitted per arm pull except that a single breaststroke or whip kick is permitted prior to the turn and finish without an arm pull. After the start and after each turn, a single breaststroke or whip kick is permitted prior to the arm pull that brings the swimmer to the surface. Has anyone tried inserting a *** kick on the underwater pushoff and/or dive?

For those that want to know more about butterfrog: www.usms.org/.../part1.pdf USMS rulebook does not explicitly say whether additional dolphin kicks may be used or not, but IMO if it doesn't say it's ILegal, then be definition, it's legal! It can look weird, odd, strange and Whatwazthat?! and still be legal, if the official cannot find a clear reason for it to be illegal. See also 2014 USA Rulebook - see section Differences Between USA and USMS on starting on page 165 www.usaswimming.org/.../2014 Rule Book.pdf MS1.2 Butterfly. The breaststroke or whip kick may be used exclusively or interchangeably with the dolphin kick at any time during the race (for example, one breaststroke kick and multiple dolphin kicks may be used with each arm pull). Only one breaststroke or whip kick is permitted per arm pull except that a single breaststroke or whip kick is permitted prior to the turn and finish without an arm pull. After the start and after each turn, a single breaststroke or whip kick is permitted prior to the arm pull that brings the swimmer to the surface. Has anyone tried inserting a *** kick on the underwater pushoff and/or dive? I do. Off the dive I do 2 dolphin kicks,a whip kick,a dolphin kick and then surface.On the turns I try to do dolphin kick,whip kick,dolphin kick,surface.

For those that want to know more about butterfrog: www.usms.org/.../part1.pdf USMS rulebook does not explicitly say whether additional dolphin kicks may be used or not, but IMO if it doesn't say it's ILegal, then be definition, it's legal! It can look weird, odd, strange and Whatwazthat?! and still be legal, if the official cannot find a clear reason for it to be illegal. See also 2014 USA Rulebook - see section Differences Between USA and USMS on starting on page 165 www.usaswimming.org/.../2014 Rule Book.pdf MS1.2 Butterfly. The breaststroke or whip kick may be used exclusively or interchangeably with the dolphin kick at any time during the race (for example, one breaststroke kick and multiple dolphin kicks may be used with each arm pull). Only one breaststroke or whip kick is permitted per arm pull except that a single breaststroke or whip kick is permitted prior to the turn and finish without an arm pull. After the start and after each turn, a single breaststroke or whip kick is permitted prior to the arm pull that brings the swimmer to the surface. Has anyone tried inserting a *** kick on the underwater pushoff and/or dive? Thanks, chowmi! Before seeing this post, I had e-mailed my teammate, Ed Saltzman (Chief Official at USMS Nationals) asking if my butterfrog was legal. This was his reply: Yes; that is a legal use of the frog kick during butterfly. Just remember - at the start and after each turn; if you start with a dolphin kick, the first arm pull must bring you to the surface. You don't get 15m underwater. Also - one frog kick per arm pull - you can use multiple dolphin kicks intermingled, but only one frog kick per stroke. Ed

My br kick if really bad, so I'm sticking with the reg. fly kick. If this works for you --- go for it. It seems to be legal from the rules I have read.

My br kick if really bad, so I'm sticking with the reg. fly kick. If this works for you --- go for it. It seems to be legal from the rules I have read. I'm a frog (well, just a tadpole compared to King Frog :D ), so my breaststroke kick is better than my dolphin kick. Butterfrog cuts two strokes and two seconds off my 25 at 200 pace.