need drill to have a fast, easy, clean BUTTERFLY recovery

I actually don't do a lot of butterfly drills to be honest......but I do one arm butterfly sometimes.....Note that many of the drills used in freestyle or backstroke can't be modified in any meaningful way for butterfly (such as one of my favorite freestyle drills for example....which is the "catch up" drill)......I believe in swimming a significant amount of butterfly in practice (especially if you want to swim the 200 fly). I try and keep my stroke long and smooth (but still pretty fast). I especially try and stay smooth on the recovery part of the stroke (and use the least amount of energy possible on the recovery).....try to minimize a lot of vertical motion on the recovery and concentrate on moving horizontally as much as possible....I think of my arms as being oars on a row boat (so little or no bend in the elbows for example)....and I only lift them an inch or two above the surface of the water on my recovery and sweep them across to where my hands are almost touching before my hands enter the water for the next stroke....I also try and time my kick (or at least one of my kicks per stroke) so that I am getting maximum propulsion from my kick while my arms are recovering....this kick also helps keep my body position horizontal (and hips up) during the recovery phase....If anything, you want to feel as if you are moving slightly downhill on the recovery so that your arms can swoop across (like oars on a row boat) with minimal effort on each stroke.....I hope this helps.....It takes a lot of practice to time the kick and recovery just right so that the recovery can be made smoothly and with minimal effort. Good Luck! Newmastersswimmer p.s. Also try to take quick breaths during the recovery phase without lifting your head much.....when your arms have reached the end of the recovery (and your hands are almost touching) your head should be down....where you are looking straight down at the bottom of the pool. Don't lift your head up for very long when taking breaths ...and don't lift your head any higher than you have to too in order to grab a quick breath during the recovery phase.

I actually don't do a lot of butterfly drills to be honest......but I do one arm butterfly sometimes.....Note that many of the drills used in freestyle or backstroke can't be modified in any meaningful way for butterfly (such as one of my favorite freestyle drills for example....which is the "catch up" drill)......I believe in swimming a significant amount of butterfly in practice (especially if you want to swim the 200 fly). I try and keep my stroke long and smooth (but still pretty fast). I especially try and stay smooth on the recovery part of the stroke (and use the least amount of energy possible on the recovery).....try to minimize a lot of vertical motion on the recovery and concentrate on moving horizontally as much as possible....I think of my arms as being oars on a row boat (so little or no bend in the elbows for example)....and I only lift them an inch or two above the surface of the water on my recovery and sweep them across to where my hands are almost touching before my hands enter the water for the next stroke....I also try and time my kick (or at least one of my kicks per stroke) so that I am getting maximum propulsion from my kick while my arms are recovering....this kick also helps keep my body position horizontal (and hips up) during the recovery phase....If anything, you want to feel as if you are moving slightly downhill on the recovery so that your arms can swoop across (like oars on a row boat) with minimal effort on each stroke.....I hope this helps.....It takes a lot of practice to time the kick and recovery just right so that the recovery can be made smoothly and with minimal effort. Good Luck! Newmastersswimmer p.s. Also try to take quick breaths during the recovery phase without lifting your head much.....when your arms have reached the end of the recovery (and your hands are almost touching) your head should be down....where you are looking straight down at the bottom of the pool. Don't lift your head up for very long when taking breaths ...and don't lift your head any higher than you have to too in order to grab a quick breath during the recovery phase.