The Butterfly Lane

I take the exact opposite approach of James: I do only race pace fly or perfect technique fly and not that much of it. You can train free for fly to a large extent. But then, like no200fly, I'm not entering the 200 fly. Just contemplating doing 100% of a workout fly, Louise, makes me shudder. Even if you have no shoulder problems, I would still advise building up fly endurance very very gradually. And swimming sloppy fly is just not worth it, as other have pointed out. Maybe instead of focusing so much on full stroke fly yardage, you could also include some dolphin kicking. After all, this is a leg driven stroke. Yet another example of why me & Fort should be workout partners. I too do not believe in anything but fast fly - either all out sprint or strong 50's. My fav set is 100's - 50 free/50 fly on a long rest interval, easy swim in between. SCM; start at holding 1:15 and work down to 1:10 or faster (ie, a strong free time). So you aren't cruising the first 50; you still have to go out sub 35 in order to bring it home for that 50 fly. Another fav set is the broken 100's 100 straight (no more than 10 sec over your 100 time) 50 10 sec 50 50 10 sec 25 5 sec 25 4 x 25 5 sec subtract 15 you should be at or under your 100 time And for you die hards that like fly fly and more fly and actual annual challenge set we did once or twice a year in college 13 x 200's fast on 1, 4, 7, 10 and 13 at race speed if possible, but no holding back on #1. easy on 2x200's in between interval is total elapsed time of 2:30, 3, 3:30 i held 2:15's on the 5 x 200 flys. college time was a 2:06. hey people! here's an aggie joke: how do you make a 200 flyer? take the 1500 swimmer and the 50 swimmer and have them train the 200 fly! no kidding! i would probably modify this set to 50's or do 10 x rounds, do the four fast as a 100/75/50/25 fly at true race speed, and easy 100's in between. I would focus more on drills, especially kicking drills, to create more lift and a balanced kick (ie, kick up as well as down. no one has trouble with the down. it's the up that usually isn't so good). You get the most bang for the buck here - so another way of agreeing with Fort - in other words, you don't have to get ANY stronger in the arms, but if are overall stronger in your legs, better lift, then you are able to hold the water better out in front and thus have a stronger, more efficient and effective pull.

I take the exact opposite approach of James: I do only race pace fly or perfect technique fly and not that much of it. You can train free for fly to a large extent. But then, like no200fly, I'm not entering the 200 fly. Just contemplating doing 100% of a workout fly, Louise, makes me shudder. Even if you have no shoulder problems, I would still advise building up fly endurance very very gradually. And swimming sloppy fly is just not worth it, as other have pointed out. Maybe instead of focusing so much on full stroke fly yardage, you could also include some dolphin kicking. After all, this is a leg driven stroke. Yet another example of why me & Fort should be workout partners. I too do not believe in anything but fast fly - either all out sprint or strong 50's. My fav set is 100's - 50 free/50 fly on a long rest interval, easy swim in between. SCM; start at holding 1:15 and work down to 1:10 or faster (ie, a strong free time). So you aren't cruising the first 50; you still have to go out sub 35 in order to bring it home for that 50 fly. Another fav set is the broken 100's 100 straight (no more than 10 sec over your 100 time) 50 10 sec 50 50 10 sec 25 5 sec 25 4 x 25 5 sec subtract 15 you should be at or under your 100 time And for you die hards that like fly fly and more fly and actual annual challenge set we did once or twice a year in college 13 x 200's fast on 1, 4, 7, 10 and 13 at race speed if possible, but no holding back on #1. easy on 2x200's in between interval is total elapsed time of 2:30, 3, 3:30 i held 2:15's on the 5 x 200 flys. college time was a 2:06. hey people! here's an aggie joke: how do you make a 200 flyer? take the 1500 swimmer and the 50 swimmer and have them train the 200 fly! no kidding! i would probably modify this set to 50's or do 10 x rounds, do the four fast as a 100/75/50/25 fly at true race speed, and easy 100's in between. I would focus more on drills, especially kicking drills, to create more lift and a balanced kick (ie, kick up as well as down. no one has trouble with the down. it's the up that usually isn't so good). You get the most bang for the buck here - so another way of agreeing with Fort - in other words, you don't have to get ANY stronger in the arms, but if are overall stronger in your legs, better lift, then you are able to hold the water better out in front and thus have a stronger, more efficient and effective pull.