The Butterfly Lane

Elaine, Your fly looks fine. Just needs some practice. A couple of thoughts. Off the wall, try to really streamline in an arrow, needle, missile shape. When you feel yourself slowing down, take one big undulation/kick, then a second undulation/kick as you make your first pull, and the third undulation/kick as your arms finish their first recovery. Those three undulation/kicks and one armpull and recovery should combine to get you way past the flags with lots of momentum. Try to imagine that first arm recovery like a sea monster surfacing. The first glide after recovery can be a little longer as you enjoy the triple-kick momentum. If you watch your armpulls on the videos, notice that they slip side-to-side as they attempt to pull. Try to get a big stretch-catch and hold the water as your arms and hands deposit it behind you at your thighs. Stretching slightly upward as you reach to pull will cause you to elongate the front of your body. Accentuate that stretched feeling across your stomach and hip bones. Your cross-slap as your arms enter is creating a lot of turbulence you then need to swim through. Either lay them gently into position, or if you're looking for a glide, have them knife quietly in thumbs-first at a 45 degree angle, and hold that position for a moment. Undulate all you want. "Hips go up as the hands go in" is still good gospel. In order to try to make each stroke more powerful and longer, keep starving your stroke count in practice. Your video showed 11 strokes. Try to pare that number down while feeling more and more powerful and slippery with each stroke. When you race you'll just ignore the count and flap your wings as best you can, but in practice starve the count. As you do consecutive lengths, insist that you maintain your count. Added strokes means your efficiency is waning. The air inevitably comes out of everyone's balloon doing fly, but try to resist that tendency by holding your count constant. Dana Vollmer's fly mantra is "Strong, light, fast." Bottom line: you're improving in a hurry. Be happy.

Elaine, Your fly looks fine. Just needs some practice. A couple of thoughts. Off the wall, try to really streamline in an arrow, needle, missile shape. When you feel yourself slowing down, take one big undulation/kick, then a second undulation/kick as you make your first pull, and the third undulation/kick as your arms finish their first recovery. Those three undulation/kicks and one armpull and recovery should combine to get you way past the flags with lots of momentum. Try to imagine that first arm recovery like a sea monster surfacing. The first glide after recovery can be a little longer as you enjoy the triple-kick momentum. If you watch your armpulls on the videos, notice that they slip side-to-side as they attempt to pull. Try to get a big stretch-catch and hold the water as your arms and hands deposit it behind you at your thighs. Stretching slightly upward as you reach to pull will cause you to elongate the front of your body. Accentuate that stretched feeling across your stomach and hip bones. Your cross-slap as your arms enter is creating a lot of turbulence you then need to swim through. Either lay them gently into position, or if you're looking for a glide, have them knife quietly in thumbs-first at a 45 degree angle, and hold that position for a moment. Undulate all you want. "Hips go up as the hands go in" is still good gospel. In order to try to make each stroke more powerful and longer, keep starving your stroke count in practice. Your video showed 11 strokes. Try to pare that number down while feeling more and more powerful and slippery with each stroke. When you race you'll just ignore the count and flap your wings as best you can, but in practice starve the count. As you do consecutive lengths, insist that you maintain your count. Added strokes means your efficiency is waning. The air inevitably comes out of everyone's balloon doing fly, but try to resist that tendency by holding your count constant. Dana Vollmer's fly mantra is "Strong, light, fast." Bottom line: you're improving in a hurry. Be happy.