Hey all- I'm a relatively new swimmer and am still getting used to the fly (I know, I know- some will say they're 40 years in and still getting used to it ;) )
I recently had a minor breakthrough but want to refine it some more.
For reference, I'm going to call the arms forward position 0, and the arms fully back 100, to explain what stage I'm roughly talking about.
When I first started, I would keep my hands flat against the water all the way from 0 to about 80- i.e., trying to get as much resistance as I could to loft myself back up. This was absolutely killing me, endurance-wise.
My breakthrough came recently when I realized only to push against the water when I needed it, i.e., just at 0, and then again at around 60 when I needed to loft myself up. Put another way, I only "turned on" hand power when my feet were ready for the second kick. This made me much quicker and easier-going. So my hands would slap down at 0, then turn fairly loose till about 60 when my feet were ready for the up-moving kick, then they would help out and push me up.
My question is, after watching a video, I didn't realize that moving your hands into a knife-like position was actually desired at some stages of some strokes. By knife I mean sideways so you are cutting, not pushing, the water. I had always thought you want to be pushing against the water always to push yourself forward the most, but it's now becoming apparent you only want to "turn on" your hands at certain points. Is this true? And most importantly, how does it apply to fly? When are you "pushing" and when are you "knifing"? And is this really what the "s" motion I keep hearing about is getting at?
I know this is beginner stuff, but hey, so am I at this point ;)
Thanks!
Parents
Former Member
So first off, thanks for the links and advice.
I was in the water today and was trying to go for more of the "s" pattern. It still doesn't make sense to me for a simple reason....
Why do people go so wide with their arms on this? By people I mean pretty much anyone I see- these vids, olympic guys, etc. Here's why I don't get it. Imagine doing the fly right now. The way I discovered that made it easy was to plant my hands at roughly shoulder width apart, then pull straight down and back- you can almost simulate this by putting your hands straight up, then sweeping them straight down to point at your toes.
What I'm getting at is, it seems by putting your arms at a 45 degree angle in front of you like in all these vids, you have a lot of makeup work to do and need to employ the 'S'. But if you keep everything linear- arms out in front, bring em down, sweep back, it seems simpler (?)
Help me understand this- I in no way am claiming to have discovered a better fly here :), but am merely trying to understand why it's done in what *appears* to me to be a more difficult fashion?
So first off, thanks for the links and advice.
I was in the water today and was trying to go for more of the "s" pattern. It still doesn't make sense to me for a simple reason....
Why do people go so wide with their arms on this? By people I mean pretty much anyone I see- these vids, olympic guys, etc. Here's why I don't get it. Imagine doing the fly right now. The way I discovered that made it easy was to plant my hands at roughly shoulder width apart, then pull straight down and back- you can almost simulate this by putting your hands straight up, then sweeping them straight down to point at your toes.
What I'm getting at is, it seems by putting your arms at a 45 degree angle in front of you like in all these vids, you have a lot of makeup work to do and need to employ the 'S'. But if you keep everything linear- arms out in front, bring em down, sweep back, it seems simpler (?)
Help me understand this- I in no way am claiming to have discovered a better fly here :), but am merely trying to understand why it's done in what *appears* to me to be a more difficult fashion?
