Hey, I just did a lap of butterfly!
Ok, 4 lengths, but let's split the difference and call it a lap. ;)
Back when I used to compete, I never did figure out the butterly. It was my only slow stroke. Just never got the rhythm down.
So when I started training again in September, I stuck to the other 3 strokes. Tried fly and didn't remember it at all. Couldn't do it. Not even a single stroke.
Anyway, I'm reading Mastering Swimming and there's a section in there on how to learn fly, starting with pulsing, then pulsing with kicking, then pulsing and kicking with sculling, then adding the complete pull.
In one week, I learned it. Today I did my first full length!
The trick was to find the point where the breath starts. Once I realized that I had to come up when I was both in the power phase of the pull and on a down kick, the rest worked itself out because I had done the exercises that Montgomery and Chambers described, so my body was doing what it should be doing once I found that sweet spot where my pull and kick were coordinated, and it was automatic from there.
Of course, I was splashing like a puppy in a bathtub, and I got tired pretty quick, and got a little cramp in my leg, so I know I need to do some major work on my form before I can incorporate fly into my regular workout, but hey, now I can do the stroke!
Thanks, Jim and Mo!
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Former Member
4 lengths as in 100 fly? That's awesome! You must have gotten the rythm and timing right, or 4 lengths would be near impossible. Congrats.
No, 4 lengths as in 1 length, stop and regroup, another length, stop and regroup.... :)
It really was an on/off kind of experience.
One moment, I couldn't swim the stroke, the next moment I could.
As soon as I got the kick and pull and breath in sync at that one point in the stroke, the rest was just inevitable, and suddenly I was powering my way down the lane.
It was kinda shocking, really.
When I got to the wall, I stopped and just let it sink in, then turned around and set off again.
The next step will be figuring out how to get into the stroke from a push-off, which means paying attention while I'm doing the stroke so that I can initiate it from the top of the stroke rather than from the power position of the pull, which is where I had to begin each time today.
ETA: I wanted to holler at the noodlers hanging out in the hot tub, who were the only other people there, "Yo, dudes... I can fly!" :D
4 lengths as in 100 fly? That's awesome! You must have gotten the rythm and timing right, or 4 lengths would be near impossible. Congrats.
No, 4 lengths as in 1 length, stop and regroup, another length, stop and regroup.... :)
It really was an on/off kind of experience.
One moment, I couldn't swim the stroke, the next moment I could.
As soon as I got the kick and pull and breath in sync at that one point in the stroke, the rest was just inevitable, and suddenly I was powering my way down the lane.
It was kinda shocking, really.
When I got to the wall, I stopped and just let it sink in, then turned around and set off again.
The next step will be figuring out how to get into the stroke from a push-off, which means paying attention while I'm doing the stroke so that I can initiate it from the top of the stroke rather than from the power position of the pull, which is where I had to begin each time today.
ETA: I wanted to holler at the noodlers hanging out in the hot tub, who were the only other people there, "Yo, dudes... I can fly!" :D
