what are the rules of butterfly style?

101.3. BUTTERFLY 101.3.1—Start The forward start shall be used. 101.3.2—Stroke After the start and after each turn, the swimmer’s shoulders must be at or past the vertical toward the ***. The swimmer is permitted one or more leg kicks, but only one arm pull under water, which must bring the swimmer to the surface. (Note: After the start and after each turn, only one breaststroke kick is allowed prior to the arm pull that brings the swimmer to the surface.) It shall be permissible for a swimmer to be completely submerged for a distance of not more than 15 meters (16.4 yards) after the start and after each turn. By that point, the head must have broken the surface. The swimmer must remain on the surface until the next turn or finish. From the beginning of the first arm pull, the body shall be kept on the ***. Both arms must be brought forward over the water and pulled back simultaneously. 101.3.3—Kick All up and down movements of the legs and feet must be simultaneous. The position of the legs or the feet need not be on the same level, but they shall not alternate in relation to each other. The breaststroke or whip kick may be used exclusively or interchangeably with the dolphin kick while doing the butterfly stroke at any time during the race. Only one breaststroke or whip kick is permitted per arm pull, except that a single breaststroke or whip kick is permitted prior to the turn and the finish without an arm pull. After the start and after each turn, a single breaststroke or whip kick is permitted prior to the first arm pull. A scissors kicking movement is not permitted. 101.3.4—Turns At each turn the body shall be on the ***. The touch shall be made with both hands simultaneously at, above or below the water surface. Once a touch has been made, the swimmer may turn in any manner desired. The shoulders must be at or past the vertical toward the *** when the swimmer leaves the wall. 101.3.5—Finish At the finish, the body shall be on the *** and the touch shall be made with both hands simultaneously at, above or below the water surface.

The rules say that you must recover your arms over the water, and once you break the surface of the water, you must stay on the surface until the next turn. Your description of your modified butterfly seems to break both of these rules. I don't see a rule about keeping your arms in motion, so if it would be easier, you can only take an arm pull when you breathe and just kick the rest of the time. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong here)

Originally posted by waterhugger Moving arms over the water, as in classic butterfly, seems to aggravate my shoulder muscles/joint (impingment?) so i am trying to limit or avoid this kind of movement Are there any other alternatives to swim healthy shoulder friendly butterfly? I have observed that a lot of people who have shoulder problems with swimming fly recover their arms higher than is necessary. If you stand upright and raise your arms above your head keeping them straight and directly out to the side and not behind the plane of your body, does it hurt your shoulders? You should be able to swim fly with this same arm movement and without bothering your shoulders. In most cases shoulder problems are caused by bending your elbows and/or moving your arms behind the plane of your body, although there are exceptions and your milage may vary.

Someting terrible has happened to my kick. While doing the last part of my pull, I'll do a kick. Then I sometimes do a very small little kick. This third kick is only about 2-3 inches of movement. It doesn't seem to me to produce any power. It is very distracting to the overall flow of my stroke. I don't know where it came from, and it just appeared in late summer. It happens when I don't think about it, usually during the last two strokes before my turn. It only involves my shins & feet. It also really upsets my hips as I'm bringing them into the wall for my turn. Any help or suggestions?

i can stretch and move my arm like this right now, however, i could not do it for months, as my left shoulder was slowly recovering from painful self inflicted swimming related injury. And i believe my careless, sloppy butterfly was the main contributor to the injury. Now, i am trying to be extra cautious and keep comfortable safety margin, minimize and avoid extreme arm movements. Before my shoulder injury i did not pay much attention to the details of my butterfly arm kinetics and mechanics, i simply jerk my arms when i felt its time out of the water and threw them forward. Only after injury i analyzed more carefuly movment, and get some ideas from this forum, which phases of the movement are critical and risky. Now, my movements are probably better for my shoulders, but still, out of all strokes i perceive butterfly as being most dangerous for my shoulders, and as a safety measure I try to swim gentler, and i try to reduce the percentage of arms swinging butterfly in my typical workout. I liked and still like very much butterly, it is a great stroke/style, difficult and challenging in terms of technique and fitness but at the same time provides lot of swimming satisfaction and great workout for the whole body. And i guess i will continue to swim butterfly, just less yardage in a more cautious way with a safety margin built in. Performance, speed, times, these are all important but they are still distant second to long term healthy body, healthy shoulder. thanks to all for valuable input WH