Learning butterfly and breastroke is really awkward for me
Former Member
I will go out on a limb and say I have "mastered" back and free in a beginner-ish, efficient swimming, "looks good and feels good" kind of way.
*** and fly have been a lot more challenging, although in fairness I've also spent less time on them.
I can "dolphin kick" across the pool underwater without any problems. (As a strange aside, the lifeguards thing it's weird when I do this and call it "the wave" and don't associate it with butterfly at all.)
I say I'm practicing dolphin kick, and they say, "well don't practice that if you want to learn butterfly", and then I say, "well what should I practice?" and they say, "butterfly kick", and then everyone just gets really confused.
Anyway, I have trouble integrating the arms into the dolphin kick motion. I also have trouble getting my arms high enough above the water. I really don't understand the entire stroke and I feel like I'd never be able to learn it.
Breastroke I can do, although my kick is horrible, so it's primarily my arms pulling me through the water.
Many o' teachers have tried to fix my whip kick. I can do it just fine on the deck. I can do it just fine if I "watch" my feet in the water. And I can do it well underwater.
But for some reason, when I integrate it full stroke, and especially near the surface of the water, I get almost no power from my kick.
It's all very frustrating...
Parents
Former Member
I'm with George and the others who think that timing is everything and when the kick is put in the wrong place, it spells trouble. There are two kicks during every cycle of the arms. Think of the arms seperating at the front of the body as the place where a secondary (smaller kick) occurs. And then think of the arms near your belly-button as the push water back (this is where the breath and the primary (biggest kick) occurs.
If you don't try to bring your hands out of the water, and try to position the kicks at the correct time, learning the fly can be much more fun. By itself, the kick can destroy timing when it's done at the wrong time. When the arms seperate, the head is low and the chest should move lower (toward the bottom of the pool). The fluency of the stroke will depend upon your pulling pattern (hour-glass shape) and where you place your kicks. If you can feel like your body-surfing when you take your breath (under and past your belly-button) you'll begin to become comfortable enough to start bringing your arms ( straight and parallel to the bottom of the pool) out of the water.
Please go to youtube and type in Swimming + butterfly + underwater to see Olympians perform the stroke. You'll notice that everyone is swimming underwater from the beginning of their pulls and the head is deep (chest is deeper). That's it in a nutshell and remember if you're patient and work on timing, it can be fun and not frustrating. Good luck Coach T.
I'm with George and the others who think that timing is everything and when the kick is put in the wrong place, it spells trouble. There are two kicks during every cycle of the arms. Think of the arms seperating at the front of the body as the place where a secondary (smaller kick) occurs. And then think of the arms near your belly-button as the push water back (this is where the breath and the primary (biggest kick) occurs.
If you don't try to bring your hands out of the water, and try to position the kicks at the correct time, learning the fly can be much more fun. By itself, the kick can destroy timing when it's done at the wrong time. When the arms seperate, the head is low and the chest should move lower (toward the bottom of the pool). The fluency of the stroke will depend upon your pulling pattern (hour-glass shape) and where you place your kicks. If you can feel like your body-surfing when you take your breath (under and past your belly-button) you'll begin to become comfortable enough to start bringing your arms ( straight and parallel to the bottom of the pool) out of the water.
Please go to youtube and type in Swimming + butterfly + underwater to see Olympians perform the stroke. You'll notice that everyone is swimming underwater from the beginning of their pulls and the head is deep (chest is deeper). That's it in a nutshell and remember if you're patient and work on timing, it can be fun and not frustrating. Good luck Coach T.
