We had a videotaping session in practice on Wed and I got some video of my butterfly. I've been trying to work on my butterfly lately but I could really use some pointers and suggestions for specific things to work on and how to work on them.
Clearly the turnover is too slow. Lack of range of motion in my shoulders doesn't allow me to keep my hands at the surface while my chest is down the way that people like Phelps do. In the underwater side view it looks like my hips sink way too much and then don't quite make it back up to the surface, but I don't know what to do about that other than a quicker recovery.
youtube.com/watch
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Looks good to me but I would say that there is too much sculling or keyhole. I think that the elbows need to stay up to create the anchor points for the pull. The pull should feel more like an underwater breastroke pull.
First observation... When the arms enter you are slamming the water. Your arms from the shoulder are making big splashes. It seemed your fingers are held together I like the hands slightly opened less stress. I don't like to see the feet exiting the water on the kick. Your kick seems to be a bent knee kick almost a butterfrog.
I will try to put it into my analysis program and get back.
Thanks rtodd and George,
I've actually got that Phelps/Bowman DVD but haven't watched it in ages, thanks for the prompt, I've dug it out and will watch it this weekend!
I think you are right that I spend a lot of time in the outward scull, 0.50s in fact, if I can enter wider I may be able to cut some of that out and increase my turnover at the same time. I'll also see if I can also get my elbows higher.
I'm trying not to slam me hands in, but my shoulders make it difficult to avoid, Phelps can get his arms above his body, I can't (see attachment). :cane: So the deep entry of the hands is a result of trying to get my chest down quickly which is an attempt at getting my hips back up.
George I think you are dead on about the kick, I think I need to push my thigh down (earlier) so my feet don't go so high as the knees bend, and then I need to get the thigh up so the feet don't go so deep, yes? It's probably not a coincidence that my hips are dropping as my calves are rising, they actually go back up again as the thighs go down, even before the calves start going down.
It's interesting about the hands, my coach was after me all fall to get my fingers together for freestyle! I don't concentrate on keeping them together
I will see if I can develop a wider entry and fix the timing of my kick. I'll also work on improving my shoulder range of motion, but that is a long term project!
Thanks a lot guys! And everyone please feel free to find other problems or suggest drills or focal points, or correct me on what I say above. (But please don't mention butterfrog! I guy should be able to maintain at least a little dignity! :))
On the upper body...Go for a wider entry.
The first thing that I noticed was...your hands are too close together on the entry.
They should be more or less aligned with your shoulders as they begin the catch.
On the lower half...Tighten up the amplitude of your kick.
Imagine kicking in a smaller diameter pipe.
You have a good kick...but the up and down beats could be narrower and more effective (less vertical = less drag).
It'll help your timing too. As ande pointed out...there's a pause in your timing. A snappier kick and wider entry should eliminate that.
Otherwise...it's looking very good.
Your fingers should not be tight together on any stroke. Watch Thorpe underwater slomo video his fingers are well seperated. I believe the kick should be controlled by the head and shoulders and not by the hips. Your swim was not all that bad in fact there was a lot of good things happening. Take a look at Thorpe's fingers youtube.com/watch
use a better streamline when you dive in
looks like you have too much up and down
learn to move your hands continuously and faster
like ian
youtube.com/watch
schoeman WR
youtube.com/watch
phelps 200 fly WR
youtube.com/watch
Tomorrow I'll concentrate on the wide entry, immediate catch and not dropping my elbows, while trying to reduce the amplitude of the up and down, especially the kick. That's probably already more than I can handle all at once already!
Oh no, no sir, you have to do everything everyone has mentioned, and do it yesterday! Heh heh, just kidding. Your thread got me motivated to have my wife video me doing some fly. It's all above water stuff as we don't have underwater capabilities yet. It's also done sideways, so when I get to the office I'll see if I can rotate it 90° and get some feedback as well.
:woot:
I'll chime in based on what my experience has been. The thing I noticed was that it seemed you were placing equal emphasis on both kicks in the stroke cycle. This in turn made it look like it was was difficult for you to get into the rhythm. I think there's supposed to be a "main kick," that occurs when your hands are near the end of the propulsive phase, and a second, smaller kick (not sure when the smaller kick occurs as it's hard to imagine when typing on a keyboard).
For me, it became much easier and faster to swim once I got the timing down, and initially I had to "force myself" to drop the second kick for a while.
Again, just something I keyed into because that was my biggest issue when learning fly.
:banana:
