I need to increase my strength to improve my success in fly. I have strong legs and a pretty strong core (though no six-pack), but my upper body is comparatively very weak. (I'm female and am not blessed with a "swimmer's physique".) Are there certain exercises that will help me with fly specifically, or should I just follow a general upper-body routine?
Parents
Former Member
I find the following progression of drills to be roughly in order of complexity:
Head-Lead SAP
Hand-Lead SAP
Stoneskipper SAP
Hand-Lead SAP/Fly combos
Head-Lead SAP/Fly combos
Stoneskipper SAP is simply ...pulse, pulse, stroke, pulse, pulse, pulse, recovery, pulse, pulse, pulse, stroke, pulse, pulse...
While, in the early stages people seem to grok Head-lead SAP fastest, once we get to adding full stroke cycless they seem to do better from a hand-lead position but eventually can grok it from a head-lead position. The better they grok the Stoneskipper SAP the easier time they have with head-lead SAP/fly combo.
You SHOULD be able to travel further, faster in hand-lead SAP. Your body is longer. When you get really good at SAP you should be able to travel nearly a full body length with each pulse - the longer you make your swimming vessel the further you should be able to go.
I find the following progression of drills to be roughly in order of complexity:
Head-Lead SAP
Hand-Lead SAP
Stoneskipper SAP
Hand-Lead SAP/Fly combos
Head-Lead SAP/Fly combos
Stoneskipper SAP is simply ...pulse, pulse, stroke, pulse, pulse, pulse, recovery, pulse, pulse, pulse, stroke, pulse, pulse...
While, in the early stages people seem to grok Head-lead SAP fastest, once we get to adding full stroke cycless they seem to do better from a hand-lead position but eventually can grok it from a head-lead position. The better they grok the Stoneskipper SAP the easier time they have with head-lead SAP/fly combo.
You SHOULD be able to travel further, faster in hand-lead SAP. Your body is longer. When you get really good at SAP you should be able to travel nearly a full body length with each pulse - the longer you make your swimming vessel the further you should be able to go.
