The Butterfly Lane

Elaine, Here is 100 meter race with Phelps in Bejing in 2008. Michael Phelps - 100m Butterfly final - Beijing 2008 - YouTube Perhaps it indicates a faster arm rotation that would help you, regardless of concerns about crashing your arms in. I can only offer that my 1,000 yard fly, like yours, includes a necessary glide for recovery. It might be as long as a full second. But the few times I sprint a 25, I kind of follow the windmill style of some butterfliers. That is, no more soft hands. No gliding. The faster hands at the entry can provide momentum to pull deep and hard. I have to use a lot of energy to double dolphin kick in a sprint of 25 or 50 for the amount of propulsion I get out of my kick. My kicks are shallower and therefore faster, but do not propel me as much as my single kick in the 1,000. The shorter the distance, the less I rely on my kick. I get a lot more bang out of my arm stroke in a sprint for the amount of energy used than I do out of my kick. If I sprint 100, the stroke is a lot less of a windmill. It seems to me that the style is extremely dependent on the distance. A 25 is different than a 50 and a 50 is different than a 100. I breathe every other stroke on a 25, but rarely can I continue this all the way to the end of 50. On a 100, I would more likely breathe a lot from the very beginning before it is too late. The main reason I say this is only from my experience the last few years in trying to find what works for me at different distances. I am no great swimmer. Isn't butterfly intriguing? An analogy is how a whip kick is better for sprinting *** stroke because it is a faster kick, but a frog kick might be more efficient for long distances. The faster whip kick allows for faster, harder arm strokes in a *** stroke sprint. Our approach to butterfly sounds quite similar; we seem to have made the same discoveries, depending on the distance. The faster I attempt to go, my arms are more like a windmill, like you describe. And, I, too, breathe every other stroke on a 25 or 50. But, like you, I may not make it through the 50 without breathing every stroke at the very end. And, like you, my kick isn't strong. I have to breathe every stroke to survive anything longer than a 50. Thanks to Ande's advice, once I started doing that, I could just keep on going, and going, and... I felt like the Energizer Bunny! :bliss: Yes, butterfly is intriguing, because the stroke really changes, depending on the distance. Discovering what speed I can maintain over distance has been a lot of trial and error. But, I love the challenge. :agree: Thanks for your feedback, Yosemite! And, thanks for the video link, too. Cheers! :chug:

Elaine, Here is 100 meter race with Phelps in Bejing in 2008. Michael Phelps - 100m Butterfly final - Beijing 2008 - YouTube Perhaps it indicates a faster arm rotation that would help you, regardless of concerns about crashing your arms in. I can only offer that my 1,000 yard fly, like yours, includes a necessary glide for recovery. It might be as long as a full second. But the few times I sprint a 25, I kind of follow the windmill style of some butterfliers. That is, no more soft hands. No gliding. The faster hands at the entry can provide momentum to pull deep and hard. I have to use a lot of energy to double dolphin kick in a sprint of 25 or 50 for the amount of propulsion I get out of my kick. My kicks are shallower and therefore faster, but do not propel me as much as my single kick in the 1,000. The shorter the distance, the less I rely on my kick. I get a lot more bang out of my arm stroke in a sprint for the amount of energy used than I do out of my kick. If I sprint 100, the stroke is a lot less of a windmill. It seems to me that the style is extremely dependent on the distance. A 25 is different than a 50 and a 50 is different than a 100. I breathe every other stroke on a 25, but rarely can I continue this all the way to the end of 50. On a 100, I would more likely breathe a lot from the very beginning before it is too late. The main reason I say this is only from my experience the last few years in trying to find what works for me at different distances. I am no great swimmer. Isn't butterfly intriguing? An analogy is how a whip kick is better for sprinting *** stroke because it is a faster kick, but a frog kick might be more efficient for long distances. The faster whip kick allows for faster, harder arm strokes in a *** stroke sprint. Our approach to butterfly sounds quite similar; we seem to have made the same discoveries, depending on the distance. The faster I attempt to go, my arms are more like a windmill, like you describe. And, I, too, breathe every other stroke on a 25 or 50. But, like you, I may not make it through the 50 without breathing every stroke at the very end. And, like you, my kick isn't strong. I have to breathe every stroke to survive anything longer than a 50. Thanks to Ande's advice, once I started doing that, I could just keep on going, and going, and... I felt like the Energizer Bunny! :bliss: Yes, butterfly is intriguing, because the stroke really changes, depending on the distance. Discovering what speed I can maintain over distance has been a lot of trial and error. But, I love the challenge. :agree: Thanks for your feedback, Yosemite! And, thanks for the video link, too. Cheers! :chug: