Transforming my caterpillar to butterfly: your trade secrets here...

Hi all, One of the sets in practice today was 400 IM. And, no, the coach wouldn't let me change it to 4x100IM, but I guess the upside of that was that once the fly was done, it was DONE. But in my case, once it was done, I felt done for. As you can tell from the title of this thread, just let's say I don't make it look pretty. :rolleyes: But I realize it would be nice to at least do something that didn't make the coach want to shield his eyes. In a lot of IM sets I wimp out and just substitute free for butterfly, with the idea that it might be nice to finish practice the same day I started it... oh and be kind to the coach's sensibilities lol... But all the same, I think to myself, other human beings have done this stroke. It must be possible, if not easy. Actually, the coach didn't really shield his eyes, and did give me some "remedial butterfly" lessons after the practice. This, I will say, showed courage, as he had to look at me doing my not so pretty version. One thing he said was to push chest down, then hips down... and told me to try it a few times just with the body movement before taking any pull, then three times before taking a pull. I guess I had a little semblance of the movement, but I didn't feel at all as if I was going to master it any time this millenium. Sooooo.... flyers.... HOW DO YOU DO IT? Have you any tips for the butterfly-challenged? I don't want to keep wimping out w/ free during the butterfly portion of IM sets. (Not that my other strokes look that great but at least they give me some remote hope of moving forward rather than :drown: ing.) Thanks much, folk!
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  • Thanks for the replies! Donna, I was once at a point where I could get to 50 yards doing fly--the coach would have us do exactly the drills you're describing... He's moved on to other things (too many other time commitments to coach masters) so I kind of got away from those drills. Should get back to them again. I'm always a little self-conscious doing fly or fly drills on my own, but I guess I should just take the chance and if ppl laugh, so what! (Most probably don't even pay attention, and there are so many weird swimming patterns when I work out during open lap swimming that I doubt I'd stand out anyway....) Also what about instructional videos online--even some good u-tube videos? Recommendations welcome! Fly will probably never be my favorite stroke, just would be great to make it through the IM sets during masters practice. Who knows, maybe I'll even try an IM in a meet. I actually did once in a Senior Games meet... Emphatically LAST place, but I felt proud to have had the courage to try it anyway.
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  • Thanks for the replies! Donna, I was once at a point where I could get to 50 yards doing fly--the coach would have us do exactly the drills you're describing... He's moved on to other things (too many other time commitments to coach masters) so I kind of got away from those drills. Should get back to them again. I'm always a little self-conscious doing fly or fly drills on my own, but I guess I should just take the chance and if ppl laugh, so what! (Most probably don't even pay attention, and there are so many weird swimming patterns when I work out during open lap swimming that I doubt I'd stand out anyway....) Also what about instructional videos online--even some good u-tube videos? Recommendations welcome! Fly will probably never be my favorite stroke, just would be great to make it through the IM sets during masters practice. Who knows, maybe I'll even try an IM in a meet. I actually did once in a Senior Games meet... Emphatically LAST place, but I felt proud to have had the courage to try it anyway.
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