Learning to fly

Coach Hines wrote two articles a while back, and I have found them very helpful. You can find them at his team's web site: http://www.h2oustonswims.org/ Click on the "Articles" tab, and then read "Slip Slidin' Away" & "Vive Le Papillon" About three-four years ago I resolved to become an example of "that guy." (Read the articles and you'll know what I mean.) I was officially there last April at the Illinois Masters SCY Championships when I swam one of the easiest 200 fly races ever. Please note that the goal was not to swim my fastest 200 fly ever (well, a PR from college days pretty much took that off the table regardless of what I do), but an easy 200 fly. In other words have control of my pace and technique so that I can swim a 200 or longer anytime I chose, and have the option of accelerating during some portion of the second half of the race. Here are a few lessons I learned on the way. These are idiosyncratic and may or may not be relevant to you: - One kick fly works. I've gone with the Emmett Hines/Total Immersion approach, which as Lindsey points out is a one beat kick per stroke cycle. The application to distance fly is pretty clear. The surprise is I can sprint this way too. I simply think of kicking up with as much authority as I kick down, and I broke a PR in the 50m fly with this technique. - Swim with your body, not your arms. Learn to body dolphin first, then fit your arm stroke in to the body dolphin rhythm. This usually means karate chopping your arms out a little earlier than full arm extension at the back of the stroke, so you can complete the arm stroke in one body dolphin. For 200s, I found the key to maintaining form was to think of NOT pulling, but simply let my arms go along for the ride. - Oxygen management. What makes fly so challenging is the problem of lifting your shoulders out of the water enough for over arm recovery and breathing, and still lifting your hips up to the surface so you don't drag them through the water. One way to solve that is to not breath every cycle, which lets you keep you shoulders a little lower and helps the sinking hips problem. The challenge is swiming fly with one third to one half less oxygen than if you breathed every stroke. The solution that worked for me was to breath every stroke, and use a small glide after my arms recovered. During this time, I pressed my chest deeper for a split second longer, and my hips floated into position every stroke cycle. I was waiting longer for the breath, but breathing every stroke more than made up for it. This is what really let me throttle down my fly so I could swim it as long as I chose. A great drill for that is to alternate two cycles of breaststroke with two cycles of fly. Make the fly feel more like *** (i.e. a glide) and make the *** feel more like fly (i.e. more body dolphin action). Meaning no disrespect to Michael by using the term butterstruggle, it is simply a statement of reality for most of us. Michael is the gifted exception. As a scholarship flyer, I'm sure he can power through a 200 fly with great speed and control, and look terrific. He's the other kind of swimmer Emmett described in his articles. Unfortunately for me (and I did swim a little fly as a Div III athlete myself, so I ain't exactly chopped liver) I don't have those skills, and I have to be very crafty with my technique to avoid the dreaded butterstruggle. BTW, I wholeheartedly agree that you should limit fly distances and repeats to those you can do with good form. Don't grind yardage after it falls apart or you will be learning butterstruggle. That is the genius of Emmett's 500 yard "easy fly" swim. You only do good form fly, AND you get the confidence boost of working towards not just 200, but 500 yards of fly. Matt

Coach Hines wrote two articles a while back, and I have found them very helpful. You can find them at his team's web site: http://www.h2oustonswims.org/ Click on the "Articles" tab, and then read "Slip Slidin' Away" & "Vive Le Papillon" About three-four years ago I resolved to become an example of "that guy." (Read the articles and you'll know what I mean.) I was officially there last April at the Illinois Masters SCY Championships when I swam one of the easiest 200 fly races ever. Please note that the goal was not to swim my fastest 200 fly ever (well, a PR from college days pretty much took that off the table regardless of what I do), but an easy 200 fly. In other words have control of my pace and technique so that I can swim a 200 or longer anytime I chose, and have the option of accelerating during some portion of the second half of the race. Here are a few lessons I learned on the way. These are idiosyncratic and may or may not be relevant to you: - One kick fly works. I've gone with the Emmett Hines/Total Immersion approach, which as Lindsey points out is a one beat kick per stroke cycle. The application to distance fly is pretty clear. The surprise is I can sprint this way too. I simply think of kicking up with as much authority as I kick down, and I broke a PR in the 50m fly with this technique. - Swim with your body, not your arms. Learn to body dolphin first, then fit your arm stroke in to the body dolphin rhythm. This usually means karate chopping your arms out a little earlier than full arm extension at the back of the stroke, so you can complete the arm stroke in one body dolphin. For 200s, I found the key to maintaining form was to think of NOT pulling, but simply let my arms go along for the ride. - Oxygen management. What makes fly so challenging is the problem of lifting your shoulders out of the water enough for over arm recovery and breathing, and still lifting your hips up to the surface so you don't drag them through the water. One way to solve that is to not breath every cycle, which lets you keep you shoulders a little lower and helps the sinking hips problem. The challenge is swiming fly with one third to one half less oxygen than if you breathed every stroke. The solution that worked for me was to breath every stroke, and use a small glide after my arms recovered. During this time, I pressed my chest deeper for a split second longer, and my hips floated into position every stroke cycle. I was waiting longer for the breath, but breathing every stroke more than made up for it. This is what really let me throttle down my fly so I could swim it as long as I chose. A great drill for that is to alternate two cycles of breaststroke with two cycles of fly. Make the fly feel more like *** (i.e. a glide) and make the *** feel more like fly (i.e. more body dolphin action). Meaning no disrespect to Michael by using the term butterstruggle, it is simply a statement of reality for most of us. Michael is the gifted exception. As a scholarship flyer, I'm sure he can power through a 200 fly with great speed and control, and look terrific. He's the other kind of swimmer Emmett described in his articles. Unfortunately for me (and I did swim a little fly as a Div III athlete myself, so I ain't exactly chopped liver) I don't have those skills, and I have to be very crafty with my technique to avoid the dreaded butterstruggle. BTW, I wholeheartedly agree that you should limit fly distances and repeats to those you can do with good form. Don't grind yardage after it falls apart or you will be learning butterstruggle. That is the genius of Emmett's 500 yard "easy fly" swim. You only do good form fly, AND you get the confidence boost of working towards not just 200, but 500 yards of fly. Matt