What is the key to flying distance?

Fly is inherently more tiring than freestyle because you are constantly slowing down and speeding up.....you need both arms to clear the water simultaneously.....you cannot take advantage of body rotation....you cannot simply two beat kick and let them drag behind.... It adds up to something difficult to swim slow and easy. I saw a DVD with Dave Marsh (Auburn) and he said to not swim fly in practice if you cannot swim it correctly. Once your stroke breaks down you aren't swimming the same stroke.

Simple for some. ;) I am just amazed when I see someone swimming a nice, easy fly. It looks as if they aren't expending tons of energy and can just swim at that pace all day. Me, I can barely make a 25 most days. Skip

It is simple, the kick.

It is simple, the kick. nothing is ever that simple! i think the key is relaxation.... by that i mean finding the part of each stroke cycle that allows you to release the tension of those muscle groups that are the first ones to fatigue. not simple and certainly not intuitive for most of us.

Try doing a few 25's fly experimenting with your stroke. Try focusing on the pull more and the kick less, and vice versa. Also experiment with breathing. I have found that my fly is the most relaxed for longer distances if I focus on the kick and barely pull back with my arms, breathing either every other stroke or breathe 2 strokes/don't breathe 1 stroke.

... 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).

I'm not a expert, but it takes alot to pull to pull your self up out of the water and pull your arms up and over your head and back again. In free your not pulling yourself up and out of the water,making it less taxing on your body. I guess that's why you learn freestyle and backstroke first when learning how to swim. The more you can work on fly the more your build up ... making that pull less taxing..thus the farther you can go. Breaststroke can be the same,it takes alot of pull. When I was a kid, I thought breaststroke was hard to learn, but once you learn it it's easy. And as a kid I used to think if you excelled in breaststroke I thought big deal, breaststroke, that's not real stroke..I have now changed my mind, after getting back into the pool, I have a whole new respect for all *** strokers, to really do breaststroke it takes alot of pull, I never felt before, to pull your body up and down again - and then to race breaststroke - wow!! I'm not sure if I could do *** at race speed for more that 25yd. I applauded breaststrokers....

First butterfly swim across the English Channel Greatest distance, butterfly (male or female) 80.2 km Crossing of the Juan de Fuca Straight in British Columbia (butterfly) Crossing of Lake Ontario (butterfly) Crossing of Catalina Channel (butterfly)Notice the 'fly events. That is simply amazing... I worship her. :bow:

Speaking of which, here's someone who has discovered it (i.e., the key) (and, in her case, distance really means d... i... s... t... a... n... c... e...). swimming.about.com/.../195102.htm Lake Ontario Vicki's world record was done swimming butterfly! Sorry the article linked is no longer there. But a Google for Vicki Keith and the Wikipedia site will tell you Swimming achievements First crossing of all five Great Lakes (completed in a two month period) First double crossing of Lake Ontario First butterfly swim across the English Channel Longest solo swim (distance) 94 km Longest solo swim (time) 63 hours 40 minutes 129 hours, 45 minutes continuous swimming (pool record) Greatest distance, butterfly (male or female) 80.2 km Most crossings of Lake Ontario (six) Circumnavigation of Sydney Harbour (butterfly) Crossing of the Juan de Fuca Straight in British Columbia (butterfly) Crossing of Lake Ontario (butterfly) Crossing of Catalina Channel (butterfly)Notice the 'fly events.

I've been known to finish the bay swim doing fly the last 100 or so meters... For whatever reason, it is always exhilirating to do that at the finish. You'd think after 4.4 miles, I'd have no energy to do that, and surely I thought the same, but I was surely mistaken two years in a row!