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!
I think you'd benefit from
a flatter stroke (less amplitude) and
faster arm turn over with no pause out front
I could fix it with an in person
Swim Faster Faster session
time yourself for 25's
Thank you Ande, QuickSilver and George!
I devoted a good chunk of my workout yesterday to working on a wider entry and immediate catch and I think it is going to help a lot. It felt like it took a lot less effort, more energy going forward and less up and down. It also felt faster but that may have just been because the turnover was faster, I didn't time or count strokes per length. I also tried to get my elbows higher and to adjust the timing of the kick a bit.
I wonder if my over-large kick was a symptom of trying to "force" my chest (and extended arms) down and hips up. With the wider entry it seems like my chest "just falls" into the water and the hips pop up without me having to put much effort into it. I was concentrating on the front end so I'm not positive but it felt like the kick was lower amplitude - I was using fins so that I could do more lengths without having to contend with exhaustion. (The feel was very different compared to my old style with fins, not just compared to swimming without fins!) Tomorrow I'll see how it goes without fins. It will be interesting to see how different it looks on video because it feels very different.
There's a woman on my team of comparable speed, but with a much more economical looking stroke, I see that she has a wide entry:
youtube.com/watch
I really hope this works out because for the amount of time I've spent working on my fly it should be a lot better than it is! It would be great to have some visible improvement. Thanks again for the advice so far and for anything more anyone has to offer!
I think you'd benefit from
a flatter stroke (less amplitude) and
faster arm turn over with no pause out front
I could fix it with an in person
Swim Faster Faster session
time yourself for 25's
Thank you Ande, QuickSilver and George!
I devoted a good chunk of my workout yesterday to working on a wider entry and immediate catch and I think it is going to help a lot. It felt like it took a lot less effort, more energy going forward and less up and down. It also felt faster but that may have just been because the turnover was faster, I didn't time or count strokes per length. I also tried to get my elbows higher and to adjust the timing of the kick a bit.
I wonder if my over-large kick was a symptom of trying to "force" my chest (and extended arms) down and hips up. With the wider entry it seems like my chest "just falls" into the water and the hips pop up without me having to put much effort into it. I was concentrating on the front end so I'm not positive but it felt like the kick was lower amplitude - I was using fins so that I could do more lengths without having to contend with exhaustion. (The feel was very different compared to my old style with fins, not just compared to swimming without fins!) Tomorrow I'll see how it goes without fins. It will be interesting to see how different it looks on video because it feels very different.
There's a woman on my team of comparable speed, but with a much more economical looking stroke, I see that she has a wide entry:
youtube.com/watch
I really hope this works out because for the amount of time I've spent working on my fly it should be a lot better than it is! It would be great to have some visible improvement. Thanks again for the advice so far and for anything more anyone has to offer!
