I just learned from Wikipedia that competitive butterfly swimming requires less energy than breaststroke . Is that right?
I feel reaststroke requires much less energy than butterfly. At least when I am tired, I can still swim breaststroke, but there is no way I can swim butterfly.
Now I can only swim butterfly for 50 yards. At the beginning of the swim I feel everything is quite right. But after 25 yards I rely so much on the second kick to bring my arms over the water. Yes I am tired. If you ask me which part of my body is the most tired, I can't tell.
Fly is more efficient, you cover more water faster than you do in breaststroke. Breaststroke is the least efficient and slowest stroke. It takes longer to cover more ground. This is true for even your average swimmer. Now if you cannot swim fly at all than there is a difference, but a good relaxed fly takes less energy. That doesn't mean it is easier.
I can swim fly better tired than I can swim breaststroke tired ...
Wow, I always thought butterfly used more energy. I'm not completely sure why breaststroke would use more energy, but here's a few ideas:
Speed: Since breaststroke is a slower stroke, are they comparing the energy needed to swim a set distance? Or are they comparing a swimmer swimming breaststroke and butterfly at the same speed? Or are they simply measuring energy used per unit time?
Technique: How good are the swimmers who were tested? If they were elite, they may have such good technique that the results are different from those of "normal" swimmers.
I could be completely wrong about both of these. Has anyone here actually tried an experiment of this sort?
Yes. Breaststroke burns more calories at competitive speeds than fly because of the big muscles in the lower body. Of course it's easier to cheat in breaststroke by gliding more and raising your head so slow breaststroke(reststroke) is easier.
Also, breaststroke is much more reliant on lower body muscles (just think how much the hip and knee flexors have to work during breastroke compared to the other strokes). Consequently, you're engaging the larger muscle groups .. which in turn demand more oxygen .. etc etc ...
