As a kid my father and my coach always wanted me to swim the fly but I always resisted. Only once was I ever persuaded to swim the 100m fly. I went out hell for leather in the first 50 and even turned in front but the wheels came off in the second 50, in a bad way, and I ended up limping in the last 25m swimming one arm butterfly! I never tried again!
Now after a 20 odd year abscence from swimming I find myself actually wanting to swim fly and enjoying it when I do. It's a beautiful feeling when the fly is executed well: smooth, rhythmic and exhilarating. When you hit the zone in fly it is an even better feeling than hitting the zone in crawl. It is an addictive feeling.
How did I get into fly? Well it has only been recently really, but I started to do a set of 25m at the end of every practice. I started off really slowly: 10 times 25m at 30 sec's alternating fly and crawl. Slowly I have built that up to 40 times 25m at 30sec and more recently I have been adding a set of 10 times 50 fly at 90sec. Next I plan to cut the repeat interval down to at least a minute on the 50's and then add some 100's. I can't wait to try the 100's but I don't want to try before I am really ready for them.
I always laugh when I see SwimStud's "Fly: Just say no!" because that is exactly how I felt but I have to say now, a practice without fly is a a practice without my 'fix'!
Anyone else have a similar experience?
Syd
Parents
Former Member
why is it possible for me to complete 200m of all the other strokes except fly?
Because fly requires more energy to accelerate your body to a position that allows you breathe than any other stroke. In no other stroke is breathing so demanding.
Like breaststroke, fly is a relatively choppy stroke. The power from the arms is delivered all at once since both arms move together. Kind of like the difference between a one cylinder and two cylinder engine. Freestyle and backstroke are like two cylinder engines. Naturally smoother because the pause between power phases is very short.
In fly when your arms are recovering in the air only your legs are pushing you, which allows your body to sink. Then your arms have to lift your body so you can breathe.
I can swim a very nice 25 fly, pretty nice 50 fly, and it goes badly downhill from there.
why is it possible for me to complete 200m of all the other strokes except fly?
Because fly requires more energy to accelerate your body to a position that allows you breathe than any other stroke. In no other stroke is breathing so demanding.
Like breaststroke, fly is a relatively choppy stroke. The power from the arms is delivered all at once since both arms move together. Kind of like the difference between a one cylinder and two cylinder engine. Freestyle and backstroke are like two cylinder engines. Naturally smoother because the pause between power phases is very short.
In fly when your arms are recovering in the air only your legs are pushing you, which allows your body to sink. Then your arms have to lift your body so you can breathe.
I can swim a very nice 25 fly, pretty nice 50 fly, and it goes badly downhill from there.
