In the near future would like to participate in IM 100 and 200y
however, my butterfly is my slowest style
I can swim about 5 sec faster (per 25y) doing dolphin like movments (kicks and whole body ondulation) under water with occasional surfacing to breath
Surfacing slows me down so before i continue my underwater butterfly/dolphin i take one breastroke kick and hands stroke
What are the rules defining minimum requirements for butterfly style?
Do i have to move my hands forward over the water?
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?
thanks
Parents
Former Member
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
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
