"What do YOU need to do to have a major swimming breakthrough?"

if the breastsroke kick/butterfly were universally faster than the "correct" butterfly, it would surely be illegal or accepted as the prefered way to swim it. as far as racing persons swimming this way and losing to them....... if you can't beat them.... (well you know the saying):2cents:

Who appointed you arbiter of what's "wrong" inasmuch as the rulesmakers in their infinite wisdom say it's right? I'm training and competing in 400 IMs and 200 Flys at the age of 55. Never done 200 Flys in my life. Hadn't done 400 IMs in 15 years. Never would have dreamed in my teens or 20s that I'd be swimming with as much joy and committment in my 50s as I am. I've never enjoyed either stroke as much, nor been so excited about doing them as I am now. Given that we do this for health and happiness, what's "wrong" about that? You have now inspired in me an Evil Plan. I'll make it my new mission to teach Whip-kick Fly to hundreds, nay thousands, of adult ButterStrugglers. Resistance is futile! I didn't think I had to be appointed to have an opinion. Which is all it is. But really, most rulemakers (in their human, fallible wisdom) are against it: it was grandfathered into masters because some people still swimming learned The Ugly Stroke when that was how you did it. We progress. We make things better. We separate The Awesomest Stroke from The Stroke of Doom. And I think it is unfair to competitors and especially to flyers! I think breastroke is hard and slow and miserable. So, you know, I don't swim the 200 *** and rant to myself when I reach that leg on an IM. But that breastrokes don't have to suffer when what I am better at comes up? It makes me cranky. It isn't the end of the world.

We who practise the arcane art of butterfrog have the Force with us. Our strength is as the strength of ten because our hearts are pure. We bring beauty to a hag-ridden stroke while enduring the slings and arrows of outrageous envy-seized undulating misfits.

Pertaining to Terry's comment that he was going to teach butterfly the modified version way to hundreds now because of comments, I say teach all strokes the way they are intended to be swum in today's competitive world. If a person needs a modified version, please give them that option. But all people in swimming need to know the most effective, most fast way of performing a certain stroke. And if they cannot perform it that way due to age, weight, injury, by all means let them know of the other way that is legal to perform it, so they can swim the stroke that intriques them and they can complete it. At my age, I would prefer a handicap lane using fins. And we all know this not legal. Earlier on I mentioned that lifting weight really helped me to have most of my swimming breakthroughs. Now that I am older, I do a drilll that I find very, very productive. Because I swim in the ocean and no pool, I can do this drill. 20 ez, 20 fast until failure. And the better shape I get in, of course I can do this longer. It really helps to build my stamina and lungs. We all have one or two of those things we do that best helps our own bodies to perform better. Donna

Hey...cool it you guys! You obviously are not going to change each other's minds. :dedhorse:

Care to meet with me in a "swimming beauty contest?" Clearly we need some video of butterfrog in action posted! If google or utube are not sufficient I will host the video on my server, just PM me to make arrangements! I can't believe I've been to the pool three times since this came up and forgotten to try butterfrog each time!

My eloquence will have to be physical. Despite the sweet smoke the cracked-out breastrokers blow at you, it's clear you've given up on that.

Terry, I'll write for an avocado...

I believe butterfrog swimming allows swimmers to break down not breakthrough "What do YOU need to do to have a major swimming breakthrough?" ande

Thanks, Ande, for bringing this back to topic. This weekend, I had a swimming breakthrough, and I'll briefly tell you how it happened. After Worlds, I was so elated about four of my five individual swims at Stanford that I wanted to "ride the wave" to the end of the year. But I definitely needed a break, as I had spent 18 months focused solely on worlds. I took six weeks off, trying to figure out what I wanted to do -- rest on my laurels or see if the work I'd done could continue to pay off. This summer, I made a choice to forgo a lot of my social life to swim doubles three days a week for two months. That increased my swim total to nearly 30,000 yards/meters a week, instead of 20,000 during my normal training. Lots and lots of sprint training, lots of fast 25s, 50s, 75s and 100s. Lots of swimming on the rack. Lots of work on starts. Lots of fine tuning technique, which mostly involved hand pitch on my left side in breaststroke. I got a world record and three wins at Stanford. I decided to train for the short course meters meet in Tempe, Ariz., which was two months from my return to the pool. Not much time to train, but I knew I had a good base. Spent the first month getting back into shape, then went back to my doubles plan, this time only twice a week, but I did keep my weekly totals above 25,000 yards. The tough part was making myself go to the second workout, given that the morning workout had been so tough and I was often doing a tough weight workout in between. But I drowned out the voices in my head and plowed through those evening workouts. I would come home exhausted and not up for any kind of social interaction. But everyone involved understood that it would only last a month. My only concern for the meet was that my races would be so close together that the rest time would be affected. All the meets I've shaved for in masters have given me at least an hour between events, some of which were even back-to-back. But this one was going to have low attendance, which meant the races I wanted to swim would not allow for ample recovery. One way I worked on this was by signing up for a couple of events at the one meet I was able to swim before my shave meet. I swam two events 20 minutes apart and did both of them well, mostly through positive self-talk. I took that positive feedback to this weekend's meet. After my world record in the 100 ***, I spent 30 minutes in the warm down pool to get ready for my 100 IM. Even after all that easy swimming, my body was still not ready. But 40 minutes after the ***, I got up and forced my body to swim through the pain and get a good time in the IM. I got a second record the next day and again, had to force myself to swim through the pain of going through a 200 IM alone, which I always have trouble doing. The time wasn't that great, but I felt proud in finishing. My breakthrough this weekend did come from physical growth (most of my times this weekend were faster than what I did three years ago), but mostly from mental growth. It takes a lot to stand up for two events ad swim them fast when they are 40 minutes apart. I have a deeper respect for Michael Phelps and what he has to go through with his multiple events. So ... if you know of any problems you will have in getting that breakthrough, train yourself, mind and body, to prepare for it BEFORE the event.