I recently bought an underwater video camera, and have recorded my first videos.
Here is a clip of my butterfly. (It's my worst stroke, but I'm a sucker for doing things in IM order. Plus fly videos seem to be the hot topic at the moment.)
YouTube- Butterfly 10-02-19
I knew that video would be great feedback: the few times I have seen an above-water clip of myself, I have been astonished to see things I was unaware that I was doing. But underwater video is even better.
Flaws I can see:
hands move too close in front?
too much glide/pause in front?
stroke not flat enough: too vertical during recovery
first kick (with hands extended) is too late?
first kick (with hands extended) is too hinged at the knee
I'm uncertain about my own diagnosis, though, and would welcome other opinions.
Also, since my timing & stroke actually feel fairly smooth to me while swimming (very different from how it looks), I'd love to hear about drills or key attention points that can help me focus on the changes I need to make.
Former Member
Thanks again to everyone for the advice, and especially to Lindsay for the video editing.
I have worked some with the advice you all have given. rtodd's tip about looking down more is easy to work on -- I can definitely feel what I'm doing wrong there. And working on a wider and shallower entry does help with the quicker catch. Pressing the hips is still eluding me, although I'm sure there are some significant timing issues that I need to unlock.
I recorded some above-water video of my fly this morning for those who requested it. This is with my "old" stroke, with no conscious attempt to fix the flaws, so that it is hopefully consistent with the underwater views above.
YouTube- Butterfly Above Water 10-02-27
In this video of Mike Cavic you can see that he uses a fairly narrow hand entry and pulls pretty much straight back. It's interesting to contrast his stroke with Phelp's. The only two people to swim 100m LCM fly under 50s and they have quite different strokes.
Anyway, listen to his coach's explanation of hand entry and catch, not too far into the video. The press the hips description might not be a good one. In any case in my own experimentation I'm finding that the narrower entry and then pulling straight back seems to be working for me, the reorientation from downhill to slightly uphill seems to occur naturally when using it. YMMV!
YouTube- Milorad Cavic - Serbian Silver Medalist trains at The Race Club
That is a terrific video.
It taught me the secret: I'll look a lot faster if I add a thumping techno soundtrack to my video!
Seriously, though, I can absolutely see in Cavic's stroke the points you guys are making, and Cavic's coach's description for using the core/hips to engage the pull is a good one.
rtodd, I can absolutely tell that my head is too high -- both from video and now from feel. I can keep it lower when I work on it, although I'm not yet at the point where my face enters first. The Cavic video has some really great shots of that, but it will take work for me.
When I don't breathe, my stroke is definitely much better. If I didn't need oxygen, it would be a much easier stroke, that's for sure.
I'll also work on a softer, shallower entry.
In this video of Mike Cavic you can see that he uses a fairly narrow hand entry and pulls pretty much straight back. It's interesting to contrast his stroke with Phelp's. The only two people to swim 100m LCM fly under 50s and they have quite different strokes. Canadian Master swimmer Daniel Lepine, National Record holder over 200m Butterfly Short Course (2:14, his PB over the distance is 2:02 at earlier age).
He would bring both hands (during the recovery) to touch each other prior entering in the water. In fact, they would clap together. Can't get any closer as a hand entry. Clean entry thumbs down. Yet, 2:14 over 200m bf at age 44 with around 10-15k of training per week, most of it done during lunch time.
Downside:
Probably requires more pulling power. And outsweep is probably required (with force being applied instead of backward).
Upside:
Very clean hand entry. Virtually no spash since both hands enter in the water together thumbs down.
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extremely interesting clip btw. thanks.
