How do you keep from hitting people in fly?!?!?!

At my primary pool we don't circle and I can usually make room to avoid problems. I also train with another group where we are 4-5 per lane and we circle. It is here I run into problems. Is it poor skills on my part? Is it possible to avoid? I really only get a good look at what's coming every other stroke, but sometimes I just can't time it right or I don't see it coming. Now I am paranoid.

What's an alligator arm recovery? Pulling one arm in like a zipper drill and leaving the other arm out. Must look kinda funny. sjstuart: It sounds like avoiding other swimmers is a learned skill. I am very bad at it. I did watch a college practice a while back and they all did seem to avoid each other.

hitting people in butterfly is very normal. Luckily, the lanes at one pool are pretty wide even though the new big lanes don't help. I usually have to do one arm for a stroke to avoid hitting. at my Y practices, I have room on the first lap but have to do alot of SDKs on the second lap to avoid collisions. I am lucky in that I am the only person/one of few people at my practices that does fly.

Oh gees, I can relate to this... Last time I injured a young lady, she wasn't even in my lane neither. Other than trying to protect people sharing your lane by sometimes using 1 arm only to avoid crashes (which is probably what you already do), there's not much you can do. To avoid clashing with people in lanes next to yours, there's nothing you can do. Because by trying to protect people in your own lane, you end up swimming very close to the rope, which brings you closer from clashing against people in other lanes. It's nice of you to ask though. Butterfly is a very dangerous stroke. In a year, there will be at least few incidents.

I have a few inches on you, and my pool has narrow lanes, so I can sympathize. Still, I rarely ever smack anyone doing butterfly. (Backstroke is a different story.) Take an extra kick as needed to adjust timing and miss the oncoming swimmer. Take more kicks off the wall. With a decent streamline & underwater kick, you miss the 2-3 swimmers following you. Or as a last resort, switch to a one-arm stroke when a collision is imminent. Basically it all boils down to staying aware of where the oncoming swimmers are (in the lane and in their stroke), and an ability to adjust on the fly (so to speak). What's an alligator arm recovery?

Swimmers in your lane also need to watch on fly sets. Next lane swimmers , you should do 1 arm drill at the meeting point. YES , We flyers still wack others, but breaststrokers kick outside the lane also & backstrokers pull under the lines also. Who knew swimming was a contact sport ?

just barrell down the lane full blast, make a FIST & SMACK them HARD, thus teaching them not to swim in your lane or beside your lane when you're swimming fly That, I was too politically polite to state this. Where I train, lanes are identified by swimmer's levels. The 2 middle lanes are for fast swimmers. Anyway, at one point, this is the state of mind I am in whilst performing key fly sets. I just go hard and try not to hurt myself in smacking them but I don't care about it all that much. When running, you can twist an ankle, when riding in paceline, you can get into massive riders crashes (domino effect). In the pool you can get smacked by fly swimmers. That's life, at least in the fast lanes. Period.

I swim fly with very fast, very aggressive people in very narrow lanes. Have good, multiple SDKs off the walls and swim with aggression to mark your space. We have surprisingly few smack incidents even with upwards of 6 flyers in a SCY lane. I would never recommend breaking stroke to pass. It's a bad habit to break and it won't help you come race time. This aggression, er, I call it confidence, will keep people who have no business being in your lane out of your lane.

I guess you just need to really keep an eye out. I try the tricks like a later breakout to get past. The trick for me on fly is seeing it coming. I swim fly with very fast, very aggressive people in very narrow lanes. Have good, multiple SDKs off the walls and swim with aggression to mark your space. We have surprisingly few smack incidents even with upwards of 6 flyers in a SCY lane. I would never recommend breaking stroke to pass. It's a bad habit to break and it won't help you come race time. This aggression, er, I call it confidence, will keep people who have no business being in your lane out of your lane. I'm not sure about this. The guys in my lane and one over certainly deserve to be there and deserve respect, at least that's what the Olympic ring tatoo tells me. On a hard sprint, just ignoring it can lead to a broken hand or torn shoulder. I hit on a fast interval not too long ago and I thought I shattered this other guys hand. It was such a hard it we both came to a complete stop. He was totally cool about it, so it made me think it was just part of the business, but it bothered me. I think swimmer avoidance skills are the sign of a good swimmer no? I kinda pride myself on being able to not touch anyone on any of the other strokes, but fly has me stumped.

Oh gees, I can relate to this... Last time I injured a young lady, she wasn't even in my lane neither. I always feel awful about this. I am a bigger swimmer, almost 6'6" tall and 230 lbs (slimming down thanks to a low salt diet). I am not sure what my wingspan is, but I always dread hitting people, especially someone in the lane next to you. The worst is when I am wearing paddles. The paddles seem sharp. Anyway, as for fly, when I know I am nearing someone, I will guage where they are and either glide a little further to get passed them, or take a stroke earlier, or do a 1-arm fly stroke to avoid a collision. Our lanes are small at the local Y. The other Y has wider lanes, but I tend to only swim there for events. As for hitting people, it's tough. I feel so awful when I hit some frail women half my size in the lane next to me. She's just trying to get through set like the rest of us, and here I am being a big goon causing her pain.