I decided to learn butterfly this week(so far I have been swimming freestyle and breaststroke).I watched a ton of videos of butterfly and know the basics of that stroke.However, I was wondering if some people here remember their first time trying to swim it and how soon after you first tried it you figured it out, because I don't seem to coordinate all the movements right and my effort is pretyy much over once i throw my hands over the water for the first time(that's when i lose my kick).I thought maybe I should do it in phases, so I would like to see if someone could suggest some separate drills or something that would gradually lead to a better feel of the entire stroke.
Thanks a lot.
Former Member
I really like the TI short axis stroke pool side primer. It has progressive drills so that all the movements and breating are intergrated appropriately... AND the book is laminated so you can keep it at the end of the lane while you are practicing!
My first time swimming it was age 6. The end of practice was a bunch of relays (like 8 people per lane), including butterfly. I told the coach I had never swum butterfly, and he said to imitate the others.
I remember at age 11, a coach decided my stroke was wrong, and got me to breath during the armstroke recovery. :mad:
Needless to say, I've never gotten fly, although I am getting closer now that a lot of bad habits are being broken. If you find the magic incantation that fixes your fly, please share. :)
Butterfly isn't too complicated but can look intimidating. I suggest you go to a stroke clinic or hire a coach for a private lesson for an hour or so. I went to a clinic this summer to bone up on some things and learned a whole lot. I've been much more comfortable since.
For me butterfly has always been grueling, hard, complicated, a pain in the neck, and never very good....so I do it all the time because I love the challenge that is presents me with!! When I first started to learn fly, it was pretty bad. So what I did was break it down into the individual parts. First I made sure I had the kick down, then tried the arms, and finally tried to add them all together. It took me forever to learn fly, then I stopped swimming for 3 yrs, and it took me forever to learn it again. But I kept doing it and my fly is better now than it ever has been. So try breaking it down, that my help, or get a lesson, then someone can actually tell you what you need to fix rather you try and guess (which is especially hard because you can't see yourself:p )
~Kyra
GOOD LUCK!!
For me, fly was the first stroke that I learned how to swim at 5. I don't find it that challenging, but I do really hate doing long distances of it because I just don't like doing fly or breaststroke for that matter.
My first experience with fly came at age 9....and let's just say it still isn't my favorite stroke......I could never seem to get it "just right", and ended up looking like a total fool, no matter what we tried.
Finally, (there's a positive side to this story, I swear!) we went through and did a bunch of drills to get my kick down (breaststroke pull with butterfly kick was a favorite) and did some one arm drills (Catch-up) and, believe it or not, pull-buoys and hand paddles also came into play trying to get this poor girl to learn butterfly.
The kick drill is still my favorite though.
I've yet to find anything else that can take someone from a swim idiot to a passable stroke in a few weeks. For the basics they seem to have a good system.
At any rate, the book would be swimming made easy and the accompanying dvd would be 4 strokes made easy. Both are available at www.totalimmersion.net.
I worked through their drill progression and learned a passable fly stroke. Not awesome by any respect, but it's certainly a start.
I think it started to make sense to me when I realized that viewed from the side your trunk makes a sine wave; but the important bit was realizing that the main thrust of your pull should come just as your trunk is starting to move UP the sine wave. Pulling in other positions our arms are fighting your body.
Awesome!!!I'll go!Are stroke clinics all about correcting the stroke or also instructing how to do the stroke to those who never tried it before?How can I find out more info about it?How much does it usually cost?
The class is for many levels and I found out it when I was looking to join a masters team. I think that if you go to the minnesota swimming web site at this address you should be able to find out more information. It is for all ages and they have 8 lanes of different levels. It sounds like it will be fun!!
www.mnswim.org/.../
Originally posted by Kevin in MD
I've yet to find anything else that can take someone from a swim idiot to a passable stroke in a few weeks. For the basics they seem to have a good system.
At any rate, the book would be swimming made easy and the accompanying dvd would be 4 strokes made easy. Both are available at www.totalimmersion.net.
I worked through their drill progression and learned a passable fly stroke. Not awesome by any respect, but it's certainly a start.
I like the DVD too, and as I posted before the TI waterproof short-axis stroke primer has the drills, insequence, complete with pics, also in sequence, and trouble shooting tips, that you can take to the pool with you.
My favorite tip for teaching butterfly timing is to have the swimmer think of a teeter-totter, which I have no idea how to spell. Anyway, the image works because when your head is down, your feet are up and when your head is up (breathing) your feet are down. As you get more comfortable with the timing, this image has less of an impact, but it is a good place to start.
