Learning to IM

I do not know how to do butterfly, and the thought of doing it is for some reason scary! :afraid: I'm not sure what's the best way to go about this. Do I focus on back and *** and learning them to the point where I can at least do them pretty well THEN learn butterfly? Or do I just work butterfly into my repertoire now and then work on all 3 of them simultaneously? Hey Michael, don't psych yourself out about swimming butterfly! The first step to learning it is believing in yourself that you can do it. I'm not sure what the best answer to your question is, but my intuition tells me to work it into your repertoire now. The longer you put it off, the more psyched out you will be down the road! Take it in baby steps if you have to. Perhaps you just learn the dolphin kick first. Then, use a pull bouy and learn the stroke. While you are getting each component down, you will be building up strength for when you are ready to put the two together. You work with a coach, right? Ask your coach or a teammate for help with your timing for the kick and stroke combined. Then, set a small goal at first. Just set a goal of being able to complete 25yds of fly. And, make the 100IM your first goal in competition. Don't even think of doing the 200IM until you can feel confident with doing 50 fly! :afraid: Hey, I'm with you on this. I competed in 100 fly a few times in high school, but I'm mainly a breaststroker. I've been working on building my fly back up, as well as getting better at backstroke, so I can compete in the Peactree City Pentathlon, in September. Eventually, I would like to ad IM to my meet line-up. I know I can do it and I know you can do it! :cheerleader:

Mike, I took up swimming five years ago and started with simple freestyle. I honestly thought that was all I would, or could do. Not in a million years did I think I would ever be able to do IM. I looked at IM'rs at meets like swimming Gods. However, if you swim every day (that's important, because if you don't you may only be satisfied with free) you will find it is a natural progression to start playing around with backstroke and breastroke. After a while, all that is left is fly. To be honest it was quite difficult for me to learn fly because I would aggrevate my lower back trying to learn and it was frustrating. I persevered and the better I got at fly (timing and feel), the less strain there was on my lower back. Once you become proficient, fly does not put alot of stress on the lower back (more in breastroke). Now I find the 100 and 200 IM are my favorite events (400 less so!). My advice is just swim at least 4-5 times a week with a good group and all the puzzle pieces will fall into place.

Fins are a useful tool for learning to swim fly. I've seen beginners have a light bulb "aha!" moment because the fins provide the extra propulsion needed to get the arms out of the water. Develop your dolphin kick and eventually you won't need the fins anymore.

You are right, fins can help. Just do underwater dolphin kick with arms streamlined. Once you have this motion working add the arms with the right timing, that is downward kick when hands go in and downward kick when hands exit. Go from giant fins, to zoomers, to nothing.

Are you on a masters team ? You should be , the coach will work on all 4 strokes & drills.

Are you on a masters team ? You should be , the coach will work on all 4 strokes & drills. Yeah - we don't do strokes consistently during practices. That's why I'm learning to do my strokes as much as I can on my own. (See my "Sprints and Strokes blog post") This is probably also a consequence of the fact that we only have 3 practices a week as well - so focusing on freestyle is probably what most of the other swimmers on the team want. -Michael P.

I would start working on Fly now, but don't worry about trying to go fast until you can comfortably swim at least a 50 at easy cruise speed. It's all about timing. 1... 2. 1... 2. Kick... kick. Reach on the 1, scull out, push under and then out past the hips on 2. Head goes down before the arms come over. Stretch the chest on the catch. Push the chin forward to breathe and stay low over the water. Don't kick too hard, just let your body undulate and end with a snap of the toes. This makes me want to go swim Fly right now! Disclaimer: I'm a butterfly newbie and not very fast. I can, however, swim 100 repeats without going vertical. (depending on the interval, of course :D ) You should search the forum on this. I recall a recent discussion about beginning fly that had a lot of great info.

I taught myself the fly, it all came together when I watched a youtube video and learned the kick is small- like 45 degrees, not a big kick- the only way to get 2 kicks to 1 stroke. Tho I've only been on my first swim team for maybe 3 months, I did a 100 IM at my first meet. Doing some butterfly at every practice- or the kick only for starts- makes it just part of what you do. I've swam recreationally for years and it took me a few years to teach myself how to almost do it right- if only someone had told me the dolphin kick is small!- could've learned it sooner.

I do not know how to do butterfly, and the thought of doing it is for some reason scary! :afraid: Lots of good advice - don't be scared at all. My coach told me to swim a length fly, no instruction or anything and I just got on and did it. The fact I was 8 at the time might have helped though! I'd suggest that you build up the kick and the core steadily, then add the arms, one at a time at first to help with timing. Don't get discouraged if you feel like you're going backwards at first on the kick though, it took a few weeks for me to get back into doing more than 25m at a time.

In my opinion, fly is something to be dreaded, not feared. I was never a great fly swimmer, however, I still had decent times. It is an intensive stroke, in that it really sucks the wind out of you, however, it is like dancing...once you know the steps it is much easier. I suggest working with a coach that is familiar with fly, as well as working with some fellow swimmers that are good at the stroke. Really work it into your sets in practice. If you can swim *** or back, fly....with a little work should be no different.