Last summer I got some video of various swimmers at a club in Montreal and I put together some videos that compare two swimmers' butterfly timing:
Above water comparison:
YouTube- Butterfly Stroke Comparison
Below water comparison:
YouTube- Underwater Comparison Of Butterfly Strokes
Above and below of just the lower swimmer:
YouTube- Alfonso Split Screen Butterfly
I wrote some thoughts about the differences in timing here:
mymsc.ca/.../butterfly_stroke_timing
In addition to the timing there are some other issues like kicking from the knee, but I am interested in what approach people would suggest to help this swimmer improve his stroke, whether it be an approach to changing his timing or something else.
I've got a couple swimmers in my club that have similar timing issues and are having a hard time changing.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
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Former Member
But I'll try to think about your trick tonight and see how good it feels.
I'm not optimistic that it's going to be helpful for an experienced flier who already has a good stroke, I'm more hopeful that it will help those of us who never had good mechanics and have fallen into the rut of a long pause out front.
Tonight I'll see if the feeling that I could do it for longer distances has any reality. It occurs to me that one benefit of eliminating the pause out front is that it shortens the stroke cycle so you have less time between breaths. Perhaps that partially explains why I was not at all out of breath after a 25.
At the MSO swim camp in January the coach had us basically looking where you will breath, he had a different description, which I can't remember, but I think it was the same idea. I think my literal mindedness and talent for missing the point kicked in and perhaps I was doing this too much with the neck and not enough as a lead for the body.
Looking closely at the Phelps Butterfly 01 video there is a definite head/neck movement, although it doesn't really look as though he is tilting his head as though looking forward as much as extending his neck down and then lifting it up with minimal tilt. Hmm, sitting upright at my desk here and tilting my head back to look at the ceiling I can feel a stretch and my chest starting to be pulled back once my head gets tilted back to a certain point. If I move my head back without tilting it I can feel that engagement somewhat earlier. In any case, tonight I will experiment with moving my head as a way to lead the undulation instead of as an independent movement and see how that feels.
It's great to have multiple ways to think about these things!
But I'll try to think about your trick tonight and see how good it feels.
I'm not optimistic that it's going to be helpful for an experienced flier who already has a good stroke, I'm more hopeful that it will help those of us who never had good mechanics and have fallen into the rut of a long pause out front.
Tonight I'll see if the feeling that I could do it for longer distances has any reality. It occurs to me that one benefit of eliminating the pause out front is that it shortens the stroke cycle so you have less time between breaths. Perhaps that partially explains why I was not at all out of breath after a 25.
At the MSO swim camp in January the coach had us basically looking where you will breath, he had a different description, which I can't remember, but I think it was the same idea. I think my literal mindedness and talent for missing the point kicked in and perhaps I was doing this too much with the neck and not enough as a lead for the body.
Looking closely at the Phelps Butterfly 01 video there is a definite head/neck movement, although it doesn't really look as though he is tilting his head as though looking forward as much as extending his neck down and then lifting it up with minimal tilt. Hmm, sitting upright at my desk here and tilting my head back to look at the ceiling I can feel a stretch and my chest starting to be pulled back once my head gets tilted back to a certain point. If I move my head back without tilting it I can feel that engagement somewhat earlier. In any case, tonight I will experiment with moving my head as a way to lead the undulation instead of as an independent movement and see how that feels.
It's great to have multiple ways to think about these things!
