first video: butterfly

One more thing maybe. Underwater footage are great. But a lot of details about your stroke can better be viewed through normal *outside water* view. If possible, next time try including both views for better feed back.

As Ande says, your hands are too close together, causing a forced outsweep rather than immediate catch which can slow you down. Your pull is too wide and your hands should finish closer together. On arm entry, we should see the top of your head...you should be looking at the bottom of the pool. Your head should be inline with your spine except for the momentary breath.

You have a great body dolphin. Your kick looks good with the proper bend in the knees. That's the good news. For the bad news, your arms are entering way too deep and you are not looking at the bottom of the pool with your head in line with your spine. Lay the arms on the surface and drop your chest and head down between your arms. This will force your arms to take a wider entry and you will be flat and fast on entry with no braking effect. Make a conscious effort to look and focus on the bottom of the pool during your catch and pull. You are almost there. You have the stuff to be way fast, I can tell.

Okay, here's a quick side-view video. (I didn't see Solar's comments in time to get above-water, too.) YouTube- Butterfly Side View 10-02-24 Unfortunately I only caught 1-2 strokes from where I set up the camera. Hopefully it's enough. Side view definitely shows I'm too vertical, breathe too high, and it's all driven by the arms (not hips). Further comments on timing or elbows would be great.

As Ande says, your hands are too close together, causing a forced outsweep rather than immediate catch which can slow you down. Your pull is too wide and your hands should finish closer together. On arm entry, we should see the top of your head...you should be looking at the bottom of the pool. Your head should be inline with your spine except for the momentary breath. rtodd, that's great stuff. I can see exactly what you mean. I have lots to work on.

Thanks, Lindsay. I played around a little with pressing my hips earlier in practice this morning, but it looks like I'll need to keep working on it. It's always tough (for me) to convert words to motion in the water. I did manage to record some side-view video after practice, and will post that when I find time to get it uploaded.

I've attached a couple frames from your video taken as the hands enter, plus similarly timed frames from video of another masters swimmer and Michael Phelps. The Phelps picture might be considered ideal but most masters swimmers don't have the flexibility to get their arms in that position. The position of Simon's arms is more realistic for most masters swimmers. This is where above water video would be helpful, a lot of people sort of slam their arms into the water, which is the opposite of a "soft hand entry" or "laying your arms on top of the water". Above water video would tell us if that's what you're doing. It would also allow us to see the timing of your breath and head movement. It is hard to see clearly in your video but it might be that your head is not coming down early enough. As you identified your trunk still has a significant uphill angle while Simon and Michael's torso's are horizontal at hand entry. A lot of swimmers attempt to slam their arms into the water in an attempt at getting more horizontal by lowering the front end but my theory is that this is counterproductive - instead you should work on lifting the hips instead. I hope the still pictures provide some insight.

If you watch the upward leg recovery between seconds 12 and 14 you'll see that the upward motion is all below the knee. If you watch the upward leg recovery between 14 and 15 you'll see that your knee starts upward as your feet finish the downbeat and your knees are basically straight through the upward movement, which is what you want. The upward movement from the knee down is contributing to your back end sinking. The no-kick fly drill from the other thread might help, if you keep your legs almost straight during the arm recovery you may get the feel for it. The longer/straighter you keep your legs during the recovery the more leverage you have to stay flat. In full stroke you do want a kick at the end of the recovery, but the key is to have it at the end when your body is already near horizontal.

See the same thing from the top. After you breathe, you are not getting your head back in line with your spine and looking down at the bottom of the pool. It's like you are skipping this step entirely. Dropping the head will help pop your hips back to the surface. Your head should also lead your arms and be the first thing back in the water on the recovery. Your hands are diving in too deep. Try to lay those arms on the surface with your chest and head below your arms. Don't rush the catch but let it form without effort as the boyancy in you chest brings it back up to the surface naturally. Then you can apply a strong pull and finish as you kick hard. Be sure you are fully exhaled on the kick so you can sneak your breath quick and get your head back in line as early in the recovery as possible. When you do this you will find your second kick can be smaller to maintain body position and you will exert less overall effort.

Good video. No outsweep and nice high elbows. Hey sjstewart, did you see how high he kept his hands at the surface from entry to catch in the beginning of the video?? He was also looking down. Try no breath 25's without lifting your head. When Cavic no breathes, you can't even see his head from the surface view.