The Butterfly Lane

I swim with a 71-year old 200 butterflyer that does a similar thing to the Yajima stroke too. I think I see a couple things going on with you... first, it looks like your elbows are dropping out in front. If you're going to do the longer glide stroke, it is super important that you keep your elbows high so you can get as long and powerful of a pull as possible - it'll also help you drive forward on the second kick. The other thing I see is, on the kick as the hands enter the water, you are focusing too much on lifting your hips with the kick and not enough on using it to propel yourself forward. I hope this makes sense, I am terrible at trying to explain technique things without being able to talk with my hands :P Also, by butterfly is an absolute mess right now so take this with a grain of salt! JP has hit on the two things I saw so I will elaborate a bit. If you stop the video about halfway you will see your elbows drop and your forearms parallel to the surface of the water. So two things: Your upper arm is now creating frontal drag and the next part of your pull is essentially down with your hands instead of back to your hips. Try to think of your hands and arms forming a diamond shape with the hands not touching but well within the shoulders. This is your most powerful position, which you can prove to yourself by simply pushing down on a railing or the top of a ladder in the pool, than accelerate back to the hips. The hand speed in fly, like in free, is not one speed but a acceleration under your body. Regarding the kick, try to think of it more as a whip with the feet the tip that goes faster as the whip is cracked. A bit more knee bend might help. If you kick with a board you can experiment a bit on your own. Right now I don't think you are getting much forward push out of the kick.

I swim with a 71-year old 200 butterflyer that does a similar thing to the Yajima stroke too. I think I see a couple things going on with you... first, it looks like your elbows are dropping out in front. If you're going to do the longer glide stroke, it is super important that you keep your elbows high so you can get as long and powerful of a pull as possible - it'll also help you drive forward on the second kick. The other thing I see is, on the kick as the hands enter the water, you are focusing too much on lifting your hips with the kick and not enough on using it to propel yourself forward. I hope this makes sense, I am terrible at trying to explain technique things without being able to talk with my hands :P Also, by butterfly is an absolute mess right now so take this with a grain of salt! JP has hit on the two things I saw so I will elaborate a bit. If you stop the video about halfway you will see your elbows drop and your forearms parallel to the surface of the water. So two things: Your upper arm is now creating frontal drag and the next part of your pull is essentially down with your hands instead of back to your hips. Try to think of your hands and arms forming a diamond shape with the hands not touching but well within the shoulders. This is your most powerful position, which you can prove to yourself by simply pushing down on a railing or the top of a ladder in the pool, than accelerate back to the hips. The hand speed in fly, like in free, is not one speed but a acceleration under your body. Regarding the kick, try to think of it more as a whip with the feet the tip that goes faster as the whip is cracked. A bit more knee bend might help. If you kick with a board you can experiment a bit on your own. Right now I don't think you are getting much forward push out of the kick.