What is the key to flying distance?

... What is the key to flying distance? .... Relaxation Fly I’m 100% on the “relax” bandwagon for fly. I know now that I used to fatigue earlier in fly because I was carrying too much tension in places I didn’t need it, and at the wrong times. Practicing Yoga is a great way to get more knowledge of this relaxation concept. Butterfly is way more sensitive to timing than the other strokes. It helped me a lot to experiment with focusing on various parts of the stroke, varying my technique, reading everything I could find on the web, watching others. Try swimming “slow fly”. (I know there has been at least one thread here on the topic.) One of my endurance revelations came at a meet watching two “old guys” do a 200 fly. They had a slow rhythm, with deep plunges on the recovery. You can’t get speed until you flatten out your stroke, but increasing the amplitude of my stroke helped me get the timing down better, which allowed me to eventually flatten out and gain speed. When I try and do a long distance (100-200m/y) I will start reverting to my slow fly technique, but at least I can finish while still using fairly decent form. I tend to take a long glide. Partly to rest, but mostly because I need the time to set my shoulders for the pull. I routinely get compliments on how graceful I look doing fly. Goin’ fast ain’t everything! When you breathe, think “forward”, NOT “up”! There are times now when I go for a breath and my hips are really high in the water (as in I can feel the water washing over my butt, keeping my body flatter, not killing my forward momentum so much). But this is a very unnatural feeling, and something I’m still working on. Coordinating the whole body (which does the kick) is a key element in fly. Core body strength is way more necessary in fly than any other stroke. I know this because as I got more proficient at fly I began to recognize core weaknesses in my other strokes, especially the crawl strokes (which I thought I was pretty efficient at). I found this test really useful in developing my fly: Try to start doing fly from a dead standstill. That is: Without any forward momentum, and floating in the glide position, try to start doing fly. The only way I’ve managed to do this is to begin by pressing the chest down (but I’ve got arthritic shoulders, so other people’s technique may vary).

... What is the key to flying distance? .... Relaxation Fly I’m 100% on the “relax” bandwagon for fly. I know now that I used to fatigue earlier in fly because I was carrying too much tension in places I didn’t need it, and at the wrong times. Practicing Yoga is a great way to get more knowledge of this relaxation concept. Butterfly is way more sensitive to timing than the other strokes. It helped me a lot to experiment with focusing on various parts of the stroke, varying my technique, reading everything I could find on the web, watching others. Try swimming “slow fly”. (I know there has been at least one thread here on the topic.) One of my endurance revelations came at a meet watching two “old guys” do a 200 fly. They had a slow rhythm, with deep plunges on the recovery. You can’t get speed until you flatten out your stroke, but increasing the amplitude of my stroke helped me get the timing down better, which allowed me to eventually flatten out and gain speed. When I try and do a long distance (100-200m/y) I will start reverting to my slow fly technique, but at least I can finish while still using fairly decent form. I tend to take a long glide. Partly to rest, but mostly because I need the time to set my shoulders for the pull. I routinely get compliments on how graceful I look doing fly. Goin’ fast ain’t everything! When you breathe, think “forward”, NOT “up”! There are times now when I go for a breath and my hips are really high in the water (as in I can feel the water washing over my butt, keeping my body flatter, not killing my forward momentum so much). But this is a very unnatural feeling, and something I’m still working on. Coordinating the whole body (which does the kick) is a key element in fly. Core body strength is way more necessary in fly than any other stroke. I know this because as I got more proficient at fly I began to recognize core weaknesses in my other strokes, especially the crawl strokes (which I thought I was pretty efficient at). I found this test really useful in developing my fly: Try to start doing fly from a dead standstill. That is: Without any forward momentum, and floating in the glide position, try to start doing fly. The only way I’ve managed to do this is to begin by pressing the chest down (but I’ve got arthritic shoulders, so other people’s technique may vary).