Butterfly is the worst exercise?

Former Member
Former Member
New York Times magazine article on the best exercise "Let’s consider the butterfly. One of the most taxing movements in sports, the butterfly requires greater energy than bicycling at 14 miles per hour, running a 10-minute mile, playing competitive basketball or carrying furniture upstairs. It burns more calories, demands larger doses of oxygen and elicits more fatigue than those other activities, meaning that over time it should increase a swimmer’s endurance and contribute to weight control. So is the butterfly the best single exercise that there is? Well, no. The butterfly “would probably get my vote for the worst” exercise, said Greg Whyte, a professor of sport and exercise science at Liverpool John Moores University in England and a past Olympian in the modern pentathlon, known for his swimming. The butterfly, he said, is “miserable, isolating, painful.” It requires a coach, a pool and ideally supplemental weight and flexibility training to reduce the high risk of injury."
Parents
  • I don't think Butterfly is the worst exercise...just an exercise that the "average joe (or jane)" can't just get in the water an do with any proficiency. It's just like any exercise or skill, it takes practice. True, if someone walked into the pool area and said let's do some dry land: how about 10 sets of forward hand springs and go right into 10 sets of backward hand springs. I think you would get alot of funy looks, but the gymnists would be OK with it.
Reply
  • I don't think Butterfly is the worst exercise...just an exercise that the "average joe (or jane)" can't just get in the water an do with any proficiency. It's just like any exercise or skill, it takes practice. True, if someone walked into the pool area and said let's do some dry land: how about 10 sets of forward hand springs and go right into 10 sets of backward hand springs. I think you would get alot of funy looks, but the gymnists would be OK with it.
Children
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