Help my Fly!!

What does this mean? I may have mis-stated it. Ballistic recovery is like a stretched rubberband snapping back to normal length - a rebound. To do that, I need to have a strong finish to the stroke.

I don't think all these advises gonna help much. You'd better find coach. Since you can't go even 50 that means you have serious problems with technique and you are trying to swim by strength not by technique. Things which helped me: 1. Head always leads the hands. Your head should come for air before hands come out for recovery and it should go into water before hands. This makes better body position and prevents plow position in the water which causes much drag. 2. Decrease ups and downs. Hands should be very low over water during recovery. Your chin should touch water when you breath in air - don't lift your head too high! Also don't go too deep after recovery. 3. I did a lot 3+3+3 drill - 3 strokes with right hand, 3 with left and 3 full stroke. This is excellent drill to get a feeling you can swim longer. 4. Train your shoulders. I couldn't swim much fly because my shoulders were getting exhausted too fast because my shoulders where too weak and also I did a high recovery.

Things which helped me: 1. Head always leads the hands. Your head should come for air before hands come out for recovery and it should go into water before hands. This makes better body position and prevents plow position in the water which causes much drag. FWIW - this was the most helpful single piece of advice anyone ever gave me about fly, especially the second half, the head has to go down before the hands.

Agree, that would be better... but still I would recommend to take couple lessons with coach. Because no one can guarantee that you gonna do everything correctly after you hear all good advices and even see video tutorials. You need to hear corrections at the spot as well as to hear when you improve to remember your feelings in the water. That is very true. But, withouth video, with the information that she has provided, people are providing the best possible advice from their personal experiences. As with anything else in this sport, some tips will work great for her with needing a coach. Others won't be as effective. I agree a coach is the best option but without one, seeking advice on the forum is the next best one.

Thanks you guys! These are all great ideas. Sad thing, Debugger, I DO have a coach of sorts - but he's not too into stroke technique - he sorta tolerates my presence in the USA-S practice that he coaches (I am the only person over the age of 25 in the practice & my birth year is 1959). Wookie, I'll try & get my son to video me this next weekend so you can all laugh at my pathetic-ness. He is a college swimmer & has tried to help me some - but he's a *** stroker & not too strong at fly either. Here's some sad news - was informed that I needed to help my husband lift our canoe on top of the car after our little trip down the Suwanee today - Ha ha! Guess that explains my lack of strength on the fly! (Had to get someone else to lift the #*%!! canoe!)

Celeste, Can you take a video(s) of your stroke and post them here? A front shot and a side shot will give people a better idea of what you are doing when you swim fly. Then coaches and flyers on here will be able to give you ADVICE THAT WILL HELP improve your fly Agree, that would be better... but still I would recommend to take couple lessons with coach. Because no one can guarantee that you gonna do everything correctly after you hear all good advices and even see video tutorials. You need to hear corrections at the spot as well as to hear when you improve to remember your feelings in the water.

I don't think all these advises gonna help much. Celeste, Can you take a video(s) of your stroke and post them here? A front shot and a side shot will give people a better idea of what you are doing when you swim fly. Then coaches and flyers on here will be able to give you ADVICE THAT WILL HELP improve your fly

Thanks you guys! These are all great ideas. Sad thing, Debugger, I DO have a coach of sorts - but he's not too into stroke technique - he sorta tolerates my presence in the USA-S practice that he coaches (I am the only person over the age of 25 in the practice & my birth year is 1959). Wookie, I'll try & get my son to video me this next weekend so you can all laugh at my pathetic-ness. He is a college swimmer & has tried to help me some - but he's a *** stroker & not too strong at fly either. Here's some sad news - was informed that I needed to help my husband lift our canoe on top of the car after our little trip down the Suwanee today - Ha ha! Guess that explains my lack of strength on the fly! (Had to get someone else to lift the #*%!! canoe!) Celestial, here's something to encourage you. news.bbc.co.uk/.../2175526.stm Her technique is far from being perfect but still I consider it's a kinda miracle. Mind that Julie was born in 1964. So I'm pretty sure you can do 100m fly! Have you ever thought about finding another coach?

Ande - thanks for the great advice - gotta wait until Saturday to get a video of me, as I train at 5:30am outside (in the dark - and my videographer is in the pool with me!) As to your questions: I swim 4-6 times a week & get 4500-5000 LCM in 90% of the time - I usually take 75-90 minutes to do this, as I now train with our local age group team & there are built in rest periods per the coach. I think I AM training for the 200 & 500 - you can check out my blog for some of my workouts - don't always put the intervals, but you'll get the idea. I'm surely not a sprinter!! I actually can do a legal 50 fly - but it is dreadful at the end - I think I go out too fast & run out of air - which leads me to the SDK - I have horrible breath control - tiny excuse - when I was little I lost 1/4 of one lung & 1/3 of the other due to disease & surgery - which is how I got into swimming - so my lung power is what it is!! I can go 37.5 underwater (w/zoomers) no breathers x 2 and then I'm gasping! And I can go 50 meters sprint free from a dive no breather too - but I hate it!! Anyways, my point is that the SDK wears me out so much that then I can't swim, lol!! So many excuses - I'm starting my pushups & hopefully my bowflex tonight. Hope I don't over do it & ruin my first LCM meet on June 10th! Slow & steady when it comes to weight lifting for me!!:bliss::bolt:

Celestial, you can do a 50, 75 & even 100 fly 1) warm up then put on a speedy suit 2) REST 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 minutes before attempting your 50 fly 3) make up your mind that YOU are going to swim a legal 50 fly 4) dive in & do 12 to 15 SDKs, which should get you to 10 to 14 meters, before taking a single stroke, 5) swim easy speed fly, which is fast yet smooth & easy, feel like you could easily intensify your efforts to go faster but DON'T on each stroke, Start pulling as soon as your hands hit the water out front Do small gentle smooth kicks while swimming, don't kick as hard as you can Breathe every stroke or every other 6) be determined to keep moving till you get to the wall, if you feel OK at the 50, keep going and do a 75 or 100 7) have a friend with an Iphone make a video of you swimming fly shoot the following angles 1) head on, towards and away, 2) from the side, & 3) from above have them shoot from the stands or from the end of a 3 meter board or 5 or higher meter platform YOUTUBE it and give us a link 8) get in better shape, train for the 200 & 500 free how many times a week do you train? how far do you go in practice? Do FAST FRIDAYS 9) get stronger, do drylands, lift weights or do BANDS / Stretch Cords / Power Cords"]BANDS 10) watch videos of the best butterflyers and copy them you can find links in The Butterfly Lane 11) improve your SDK & speed Build a Fortress of Speed & Strength I have the lofty goal of being able to go 50-100 LCM fly without toys. I can currently go about 25 yards. Can anyone help me devise a plan day by day of what to do to strengthen my shoulders/body enough to be able to do this? I do have fairly good rhythm - I used to race the 200 fly as a kid & can still kick fly well, and of course, I am most impressive when I wear my little zoomers - but even with zoomers, my arms start to die, and then I run out of breath around 37.5 meters. Any great ideas out there? Thanks!