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."
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"It requires a coach, a pool and ideally supplemental weight and flexibility training to reduce the high risk of injury."
Why is any of that a bad thing?
And I'm not sure why it is specific to butterfly, either.
Its not a bad thing, just not 100% necessary or as Chris said, specific to butterfly. Also I wouldn't think the risk of injury from butterfly is any greater than any other stroke, and probably a lot less than land-based sports.
I definitely feel my shoulders in backstroke and my lower back in breaststroke, so have to ease off sometimes. On butterfly, I just feel my core muscles give up after a while at which point its time to revert to freestyle!
"It requires a coach, a pool and ideally supplemental weight and flexibility training to reduce the high risk of injury."
Why is any of that a bad thing?
And I'm not sure why it is specific to butterfly, either.
Its not a bad thing, just not 100% necessary or as Chris said, specific to butterfly. Also I wouldn't think the risk of injury from butterfly is any greater than any other stroke, and probably a lot less than land-based sports.
I definitely feel my shoulders in backstroke and my lower back in breaststroke, so have to ease off sometimes. On butterfly, I just feel my core muscles give up after a while at which point its time to revert to freestyle!