Getting into Fly

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:41:06 GMT

I DID it! Swam the 50M fly yesterday......it was not pretty at the end, AND I almost scratched cuz it came right after the 100 IM......time was slow, BUT I now have a time to work on. Still have to work on the kick as I don't feel I have much power from the kick. I feel like I'm all arms.....am still considering getting a monofin.......30 plus years ago I felt I could 'fly' forever. Just want to get that feeling back!

RE: Getting into Fly

That Guy — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:25:16 GMT

Great job MM!

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:51:23 GMT

Well I am swam the fly at a meet in Portsmouth NH. 50 M in 58. I know I can do better. I also did 50 free in 49s. I am now trying to build fly endurance for the 100. It will take some more work at 75. I won both age groups being the only one entered. Not a great accomplishment. :applaud: Congratulations Richard! I think that is an excellent start. It is just over a second a meter. Your next mark will be to go under 50. The world record for the 50m fly in your age group is 36.06. You are more than half way there. well done Syd

RE: Getting into Fly

pwolf66 — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 12:55:40 GMT

Not a great accomplishment. :applaud: I so beg to differ. That is STILL a heck of an accomplishment. You're in the pool swimming at 75. Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Paul

RE: Getting into Fly

Richard P. Arnold — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 12:25:04 GMT

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:19:25 GMT

Dude omg, i know, I am trying to hard to keep a steady 100m fly.. but i die at around the 75m..lol

RE: Getting into Fly

Richard P. Arnold — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:04:32 GMT

I am 75. After a year of swimming straight freestyle building up to 1600 meters non-stop I joined masters a month ago. I swam fly in school 57 years ago. I decided I wanted to try again. Gratefully my coach swam fly in college and I have now, with a start, been able to go fifty meters with a respectable fly. My best 25 meter time is around 24secs. I finally, in this last week, according to coach have really mastered the rhythm. I don't know what my potential is at this age but i am starting to get two or three hundred meters of fly in each work out. There is a meet Saturday and, at least, I am going to try it and see where I get. I know I can to better than 24s eventually. Any old guys out their with advice. :dunno:

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:35:16 GMT

Go for it Minnow. It is not as bad as you think it would be. If I can hold it together for 200 SCM you can do a 50 SCM. I couldn't do more than a 50 until last year when I decided I was going to do the 400 IM. Let us know how it goes.... Good Luck

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:16:13 GMT

Hmmm.....all this talk is making me want to enter the 50Fly for a meet on Nov. 18th.......just not sure I can hold it together for 50Meters (short course).

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 06:44:55 GMT

i've been through a number of mantras on my road to successful butterfly. my current one is "think 'forward' (not 'up')." I have to say this has been the single most important advice in improving my fly. Thank you:notworthy:! Thank you:notworthy:! Syd

RE: Getting into Fly

That Guy — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:03:24 GMT

Well I survived my 1st ever 200 fly. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. I went a 3:22 in scm. I am very excited about that. My goal was under 3:30 and didn't care if it was 3:29.99. I am definitely going to add that to my list of events for the rest of the year. Next challenge....ButterNut.... Great job! I'm also working on the ButterNut. I need to get through the mental barrier that tells me that 500 yards of fly is impossible. Some marathon runners say, "I'm not going to run 26 miles, I'm going to run 1 mile 26 times." So with that in mind, here's a set that I did this morning: 20x25 fly on :25, and at the end of each 25, I began a normal open turn but paused just before releasing the right hand's grip on the wall. Then I waited for the interval and continued. I swam the last 25 in 16 seconds so since I didn't do anything illegal (like touching the bottom) I could claim that I did a 500 fly in 8:11. I'm not making that claim yet. I'm going to try more sets like this (move up to 50's and 75's, or 25's on 5 seconds rest, etc.) before taking on the Big Kahuna.

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:47:14 GMT

Well I survived my 1st ever 200 fly... Awwwwesome.

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:21:57 GMT

Syd... I kept it long and smooth. Relaxed the 1st 100 and build the last 100. It was an awesome feeling when I was done. Nothing hurt the whole time except my abs toward the end. I think next time I can go out a little faster. I will just say that the 800 I swam on the 1st day hurt much worse than the 200 Fly and I swam the fly after a nice battle I had in the 200 IM. On the 1st day of the meet I also did the 100 fly followed by a 50 free and right into the 400 IM. 100 fly was a 1:32 and the 100 fly in the 400 IM was 1:35 I think. My fly felt real good all weekend and the frees hurt. Have you raced your fly's yet? Trust me you can do it. Once you get through it whether it is a 50, 100, or 200 it is a great feeling to have achieved it.

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:21:57 GMT

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:07:47 GMT

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:38:55 GMT

... my question all of you is what to do when your stroke starts falling to pieces - is it better to give in and do free? or is it better to just muscle through it with 1-arm? practicing poor technique will only reinforce it. resting more, and/or changing strokes, and doing more drills will likely help you more than forcing things. ... i can't get get even a 50 fly without loosing form. my goal is to eventually just be able to get through it and then work on speed. i know that feeling well... but i've gotten past it now.... that's a good goal. be patient, try different things technique-wise, do some reading, watch some videos, and keep chipping away at this forum. eventually you'll get where you want to be. i got a lot of help/knowledge when i watched some super swimmers doing fly in videos i viewed with QuickTime, which allowed me to step through what they were doing one frame at a time. it helped me a lot in figuring out the timing. ...

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:04:52 GMT

Fly swimmers get in trouble holding their form because they go overboard on the kicking portion of fly. If we make a big kick and then a little one you will find it much easier. Keep the kick below the surface this also helps.

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:21:23 GMT

You just hold it together pace it from start to finish. This is the attitude you have to have www.youtube.com/watch

RE: Getting into Fly

slowfish — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:28:13 GMT

You just hold it together pace it from start to finish. www.youtube.com/watch in my dreams! i don't care how slow i go right now, 25 is fine but once i make that turn, i can't get get even a 50 fly without loosing form. my goal is to eventually just be able to get through it and then work on speed.

RE: Getting into Fly

slowfish — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:15:29 GMT

i would love to get to the point where i can do 100 fly. i am reading through this thread to get some ideas and started incorporating them into a workout this morning. specifically, i did some 200s where i did a few strokes of fly on every lap. my question all of you is what to do when your stroke starts falling to pieces - is it better to give in and do free? or is it better to just muscle through it with 1-arm?

RE: Getting into Fly

slowfish — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:28:53 GMT

hey geochuck, those are such great videos for seeing all aspects of the stroke. :groovy: do you know of any that show the fly to back, back to ***, and *** to free turns in nice detail like that?

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 09:28:14 GMT

I will have a look and see what I can come up with but my Chinese and Japanese is not good enough to do a proper search. In the meantime learn butterfrog here is Terry's first viedo explaining the butterfrog www.youtube.com/watch This was his second video, the promotional one www.youtube.com/watch

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:09:25 GMT

Swimmerlady, Here is a link to join the ButterNuts.... It is a 500 Fly... www.grinswim.org/.../butternuts My goal it to do it by the end of the year.

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:52:26 GMT

As a kid I remember it took a couple years of competitive swimming before I really got the necessary strength and rhythm of butterfly down to where I wasn't always behind the curve. It's almost like there's a wave in front of you as you try to swim fly, and you need to have the strength and technique to get in front of it. You'll know it when it all clicks. Red60, it sounds like you just got it. Now, I'll add that at a meet this weekend I saw a guy in his 70s complete the 200 fly. It's probably the most feared event in all of swimming, not many people at any age even attempt it.

RE: Getting into Fly

Former Member — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:14:53 GMT

Hi. New here, but not to swimming. But getting back into fly, as per thread for first time in 10 years or so. I'm always so skittish about shoulder problems that I've avoided it. But now I think it's not such a big problem if you increase intensity, swims, and yardage slowly. I only swim a true fly set every third workout or so. I've been at it 6 weeks now and today was my most 'intense" set yet: 6 x 75 fly/ez 25 free on 1:45. I mean, it was intense--and longish--for me. It is a real thrill to get in the zone, huh? :wave: Welcome to USMS! I absolutely agree with you. Increase the yardage slowly, do your rotator cuff exercises and, if possible, get someone experienced to check out if you have any problems with your stroke. This way you should avoid shoulder problems altogether. I haven't had any shoulder problems (touch wood) but then I am totally new to fly. I never used to swim it all really when I swam competitively as a kid. I mean I swam it occasionally in practice but not enough to do any damage to my shoulder. My shoulder starts to get twitches when I swim too much crawl or I use hand paddles too much but I have never felt sore shoulder joints with fly. Sore muscles, yes, but not joints. 6 x 75 fly at 1:45.:applaud: Congratulations! You are well on your way! Syd