The Butterfly Lane

I'm going to be a contrary voice in two ways. (1) I hate kicking fly on my back (at least, on the surface). Maybe it is okay as a drill to work on the up-kick. The problem is that kicking fly on the surface robs you of much of your power in the down-kick (er, that would be the up-kick if you are on your back). You are good at making a lot of waves but not it isn't translating as effectively to forward propulsion. To do a good dolphin kick, lead with (and focus on) what your hips are doing rather than your legs. They will follow the hips. You want to work on your up-beat but don't want to worry about lack of oxygen? Do dolphin with a kickboard but be sure to keep your feet below the water: they should never break the surface. Concentrate on working the kick both ways. You will get an excellent workout for your legs and core and also be working on a good kick. Nowadays coaches often dismiss this approach. "Body position all wrong" and such. But how many races are there where you do dolphin kick on your back on the surface? None. By the way, in college I kicked exclusively with a kickboard, usually dolphin kick. Nowadays I do maybe 30-40% of my kicking with a board. But I was a much faster kicker in college than I am now. Obviously I was younger, but I think the "kickboard-only" approach didn't hurt as much as many would think. (2) As long as you can keep your form (and that's a big thing), do as much butterfly as you want. There is no other stroke IMO that gives you as much of a workout in a given amount of time. (Well, maybe breaststroke but that's not a real stroke.) People talk about how difficult it is to swim fly in a crowded lane. True to a point, but backstroke and breaststroke are even harder: in back you can't see when you are running over people, and unless you are very fast breaststroker (never something I've been accused of) then you'll slow people down. So if conditions are too crowded for me to get in a good freestyle workout, I'll switch to fly and be careful not to hit anyone.

I'm going to be a contrary voice in two ways. (1) I hate kicking fly on my back (at least, on the surface). Maybe it is okay as a drill to work on the up-kick. The problem is that kicking fly on the surface robs you of much of your power in the down-kick (er, that would be the up-kick if you are on your back). You are good at making a lot of waves but not it isn't translating as effectively to forward propulsion. To do a good dolphin kick, lead with (and focus on) what your hips are doing rather than your legs. They will follow the hips. You want to work on your up-beat but don't want to worry about lack of oxygen? Do dolphin with a kickboard but be sure to keep your feet below the water: they should never break the surface. Concentrate on working the kick both ways. You will get an excellent workout for your legs and core and also be working on a good kick. Nowadays coaches often dismiss this approach. "Body position all wrong" and such. But how many races are there where you do dolphin kick on your back on the surface? None. By the way, in college I kicked exclusively with a kickboard, usually dolphin kick. Nowadays I do maybe 30-40% of my kicking with a board. But I was a much faster kicker in college than I am now. Obviously I was younger, but I think the "kickboard-only" approach didn't hurt as much as many would think. (2) As long as you can keep your form (and that's a big thing), do as much butterfly as you want. There is no other stroke IMO that gives you as much of a workout in a given amount of time. (Well, maybe breaststroke but that's not a real stroke.) People talk about how difficult it is to swim fly in a crowded lane. True to a point, but backstroke and breaststroke are even harder: in back you can't see when you are running over people, and unless you are very fast breaststroker (never something I've been accused of) then you'll slow people down. So if conditions are too crowded for me to get in a good freestyle workout, I'll switch to fly and be careful not to hit anyone.