Please, help my butterfly stroke!!!

Why??? Can be a problem of exit alignment (streamline), posture or body strong (abdominal)??? I am not entirely sure, and it's a combination of few things (like it's often the case), but to me, the dominant issue may be a timing issue. Timing of the arm entry relative to first kick (or vice versa). Look closely at these guys here also performing a 50m butterfly (short course meter I think). Look especially for the swimmer in first lane: YouTube - butterfly 50 swimming technique performance 25 seconds You may notice that when the **hands** enter the water, his body is already in a diving position. He already went over the wave and is therefore swimming downhill upon the arm entry. This combined with a powerful first kick gives this impression that he achieves great speed at this point in the stroke. Also, this guy is probably booking the 50 in 25s, and he is creating less splash than you (less drag as well). Now back to you. I isolated 3 pictures to better illustrate my comment. The image quality is very poor therefore I did draw a red line over your body so that you could better see what I mean. pic20.picturetrail.com/.../376583032.jpg pic20.picturetrail.com/.../376583031.jpg pic20.picturetrail.com/.../376583031.jpg Notice how these red lines are always oriented upward. Upon hand entry, your body should be at least parallel to the surface, or even getting into a downward (swimming downhill) position. If the body is aligned upward upon hand entry, you fall flat and make splash and drag. You should try to feel that you *fly over* this wave. Right now, you fall flat on it instead of moving over it to dive upon arm entry. So it could be a timing issue (arm entry relative to first kick) or your second kick isn't propulsive enough to allow you to fly over the wave, or a combination. Look at our model for today (picture link below). His body is parallel to the surface and the hands are not entered yet (no splash in the front) although lower arm are entering at that point. He is completing first kick, very deep and powerful. Body parallel is moving over the wave. He's touching it with his belly of course but upon entry, he's going to be in a downhill position and he'll still benefit from forward thrust provided by the first kick (deep and powerful). pic20.picturetrail.com/.../376583786.jpg Our model isn't the only BF swimmer doing this. We all have the mental image of good butterfly swimmers, underwater view. These guys have their head deep (after hands entry). Their nose/head/upper body is really pointing down steep angle and the hands are still catching. The hands are higher than the head. Think about it. Breathing must be real quick. You have to breathe over the wave then dive immediately. Recovery (and what follows including hand entry) should be tiny bit late relative to this. Anyway, you understand what I mean. Fly over the wave because if you fall flat on it (body sometimes aligned upward), you splash and loose some forward momentum. Hope that helps.

Why??? Can be a problem of exit alignment (streamline), posture or body strong (abdominal)??? I am not entirely sure, and it's a combination of few things (like it's often the case), but to me, the dominant issue may be a timing issue. Timing of the arm entry relative to first kick (or vice versa). Look closely at these guys here also performing a 50m butterfly (short course meter I think). Look especially for the swimmer in first lane: YouTube - butterfly 50 swimming technique performance 25 seconds You may notice that when the **hands** enter the water, his body is already in a diving position. He already went over the wave and is therefore swimming downhill upon the arm entry. This combined with a powerful first kick gives this impression that he achieves great speed at this point in the stroke. Also, this guy is probably booking the 50 in 25s, and he is creating less splash than you (less drag as well). Now back to you. I isolated 3 pictures to better illustrate my comment. The image quality is very poor therefore I did draw a red line over your body so that you could better see what I mean. pic20.picturetrail.com/.../376583032.jpg pic20.picturetrail.com/.../376583031.jpg pic20.picturetrail.com/.../376583031.jpg Notice how these red lines are always oriented upward. Upon hand entry, your body should be at least parallel to the surface, or even getting into a downward (swimming downhill) position. If the body is aligned upward upon hand entry, you fall flat and make splash and drag. You should try to feel that you *fly over* this wave. Right now, you fall flat on it instead of moving over it to dive upon arm entry. So it could be a timing issue (arm entry relative to first kick) or your second kick isn't propulsive enough to allow you to fly over the wave, or a combination. Look at our model for today (picture link below). His body is parallel to the surface and the hands are not entered yet (no splash in the front) although lower arm are entering at that point. He is completing first kick, very deep and powerful. Body parallel is moving over the wave. He's touching it with his belly of course but upon entry, he's going to be in a downhill position and he'll still benefit from forward thrust provided by the first kick (deep and powerful). pic20.picturetrail.com/.../376583786.jpg Our model isn't the only BF swimmer doing this. We all have the mental image of good butterfly swimmers, underwater view. These guys have their head deep (after hands entry). Their nose/head/upper body is really pointing down steep angle and the hands are still catching. The hands are higher than the head. Think about it. Breathing must be real quick. You have to breathe over the wave then dive immediately. Recovery (and what follows including hand entry) should be tiny bit late relative to this. Anyway, you understand what I mean. Fly over the wave because if you fall flat on it (body sometimes aligned upward), you splash and loose some forward momentum. Hope that helps.