I used to be able to do all fly events, even if not so well, but now, after 5 years out, I am only able to do a 25 well and a 50 not so well. How do I get back whatever it is I lost in those 5 years. How do I work up from a 25 to a 50 to a 75 and 100?
You can try a few things:
Broken 100's like 4x25's with 20 sec rest, then 15, 10, 5, 0 sec rest.
and/or
You can do 75 free, then 25 fly, then go to 50 free/50 fly, 25 free/75 fly, all fly.
The other thing to work on besides how far you an fly in a single effort is your total fly volume per workout. Steadily work your fly volume up from 100-200 yards per workout to 400-600 yards, even more (look at Chris S. blog for insane fly volume). I think working fly when tired is important because it forces you to concentrate on moving through the water with the least effort. When you are swimming fresh, even poorly executed fly can feel fast, so you will not work on stroke correction.
Doing sets of 12 x 25 fly on :45 is a good way to start towards building you up for longer swims. Next, try doing a set of 6 x 50 - odds are fly and evens are free. Do these with fins and with 20 seconds rest between each swim. You will then want to get where you can do the set without fins.
For the 100 fly, try doing a mixed a set of 4 x 100 25 free/25 fly/25 free/25 fly with fins. Eventually you will want to go to doing this without fins and try doing 100s as 50 fly/50 free and/or 50 free/50 fly.
On all swims with fly, be sure you take plenty of rest between each swim (20 to 30 seconds) as it is very important to maintain perfect technique.
I like the above advice...
Last year I did my 1st 100 fly in 30 years after doing lots and lots of 25's and 50's in practice. I never did a 100 until I did it in the meet and It worked out just fine! even if you can't pull off a 100 in practice, it could be there for you on meet day...
Just to clarify,
I don't mean to do 4x25's and work your way down to zero rest in one set. I mean do them with 20 sec rest one week and over the course of months work that rest interval down to 5 sec.
As Elise says, maintain perfect form, but don't be afraid to swim fly tired. If it completely breaks down just switch to free to finish up.
Gigi is right, if you can swim 75's in practice, you can swim a 100 at a meet. I'm not sure if you can swim a 175 it ensures you can swim a 200 though!!
I'm just getting back into the pool after many years and I've been doing sets of 100 IMs to build up fly yardage.
I have also been doing 100 fly sets where only 25 yards is full stroke and the other 75 is fly kick (25 right side, 25 left side, 25 back). Doing these will really make you feel it in your abs.
Hi Marcia,
Train for the 200 freestyle & do a little fly training
do 25's fly with plenty of rest
like
8 x 25 odds: easy speed evens: easy
then work up to 37.5
then work up to 50
then work up to 62.5
then work up to 75's
then work up to 87.5's
then do a 100
improve your SDK
Help my SDK is Horrible
Read Swim Faster Faster & apply ideas from it to your training
tips that might help you the most are
Tip 01 Swim fast in practice
Tip 05 ACTING AS IF
Tip 165 Build a Better Boat
Tip 265 Train harder, smarter, faster, further, more often, with a coach, with a team, in a convenient facility & at a convenient Time
good luck
hope this helps
ande
I used to be able to do all fly events, even if not so well, but now, after 5 years out, I am only able to do a 25 well and a 50 not so well. How do I get back whatever it is I lost in those 5 years.
How do I work up from a 25 to a 50 to a 75 and 100?
Dear Flying Fish,
These are all good sets and good advice. In fly, its all about the legs. When your legs go in fly....so do you. Work your sets half with fins (to hold stroke and hips high) and half without (to gain humility). Work your legs in really hard sets of dolphin...When you can sustain good speed for 200 meters kicking, you will be ready to swim the 100 fly. Until then...keep working the legs.
One other tip, keep your shoulders down....way down. If you don't have the flexibility in your neck to lift just your head, then learn to breath to the side. Either way, with shoulders low on the water, you will be much more efficient in fly.
Gary Sr.
I agree with what everyone has said above.
I watched Michael Phelps fly video last weekend and one of the things they said was because of the significant energy cost, Michael does a lot of different fly drills. A couple are triple kick fly and one double arm followed by one single arm with the single arm alternating left and right. Doing more fly drill should allow you to add more fly to your workout and also let you focus on technique such as hand entry.
I used to be able to do all fly events, even if not so well, but now, after 5 years out, I am only able to do a 25 well and a 50 not so well. How do I get back whatever it is I lost in those 5 years. How do I work up from a 25 to a 50 to a 75 and 100?
If you have difficulty to just complete the distance then I'd probably suggest that you sort out the technical issues that prevent you to do so, then build some fitness that will allow you to book the distance more rapidly.
Building some fitness on some flaws can lead to frustration or/and injuries.
