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Butterfly recovery

ForceDJ

Can I get a comment from anyone with some expertise in butterfly. I’m not real proficient at the stroke, and only throw a little bit into my swims just for a bit of variation. I.e. my pool workouts of usually around 3000 meters are just about all free/crawl…I’ll do a 400m IM toward the end just to break things up. So my biggest problem is with the recovery. Maybe I just don’t have the shoulder/arm flexibility, but getting my arms out of the water to throw them forward is difficult. At least with my elbows bent. I get fatigued and then end up “catching crabs” and get sloppy. The thing is, I’ve never really known if my elbows/arms should be straight/horizontal going forward, or should I have them bent and high at the elbow, like you would in a crawl stroke recovery? I look at various graphics depicting the stages of the stroke (two attached)…some show the arm straight. Some so the elbows bent. I think straight would be easier. Is that correct? — Dan

 

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  • Had a pool workout today. Keeping arms straight does make it much easier. But with regard to the “forget about the kick for now”…I almost can’t get up out of the water enough if I don’t kick. Overall I guess less movement makes it  easier. Improvement continues. — Dan

  • in reply to ForceDJ

    One of the reasons I emphasize the hip-shoulder relationship and let the kick fit in is because many swimmers do not fit the dolphin kick into the stroke cycle at the correct times.  They are told there should be 2 kicks per arm cycle which is correct to a point.  There are really 2 down kicks and 2 upkicks. The upkicks never get any discussion.  So, most swimmers focus on the down kick with too much knee bend thinking this will get their shoulders out of the water when it actually does the opposite by pushing the hips up and the shoulders go down.

    So, when you dolphin kick with a board or streamline, focus on the upkick - this requires more lower back and hamstrings and keeping your toes pointed.  Think kicking towards the ceiling with the bottoms of your feet.  In reality, this is less an aggressive upkick as it is keeping your feet close to the surface and preventing your knees from bending too much.

    When you know you can feel it, do slow motion butterfly.  As you initiate the pull, focus on keeping your feet close to the surface. This action will force the hips downward and your shoulders upward briefly before the downkick results in the hips coming up slightly towards the end of the pull.  This is followed by another slight upkick causing the hip/shoulder  position change which helps the arm recovery.  

    I know - complicated.  Try it though.

    And, BTW - this also works with breaststroke and keeps the hips from dropping during the front half of the pull before the insweep.

    Paul

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  • in reply to ForceDJ

    One of the reasons I emphasize the hip-shoulder relationship and let the kick fit in is because many swimmers do not fit the dolphin kick into the stroke cycle at the correct times.  They are told there should be 2 kicks per arm cycle which is correct to a point.  There are really 2 down kicks and 2 upkicks. The upkicks never get any discussion.  So, most swimmers focus on the down kick with too much knee bend thinking this will get their shoulders out of the water when it actually does the opposite by pushing the hips up and the shoulders go down.

    So, when you dolphin kick with a board or streamline, focus on the upkick - this requires more lower back and hamstrings and keeping your toes pointed.  Think kicking towards the ceiling with the bottoms of your feet.  In reality, this is less an aggressive upkick as it is keeping your feet close to the surface and preventing your knees from bending too much.

    When you know you can feel it, do slow motion butterfly.  As you initiate the pull, focus on keeping your feet close to the surface. This action will force the hips downward and your shoulders upward briefly before the downkick results in the hips coming up slightly towards the end of the pull.  This is followed by another slight upkick causing the hip/shoulder  position change which helps the arm recovery.  

    I know - complicated.  Try it though.

    And, BTW - this also works with breaststroke and keeps the hips from dropping during the front half of the pull before the insweep.

    Paul

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