Hey everyone!
I've been reading these posts for months and following the great workout ideas and opinions and it has definitly helped me out! Up till before end of exams and the onset of bronchitis/cold which took me out, out of a month, I was able to fly 200y/m!!!!
My athletic past...I rode track cycling, ran Xcountry, only started swimming 3 years ago but i've really took on butterfly! Last summer I joined a master's club here in Montreal and have got great tips/feedback.
I'm at a point now with the fly where in training pace, for a 25m pool, I can fly around 17-20 secs as a training/fast pace and usually need 6-9 strokes. I have some tinkering to do(ie flexibility) But I am a very strong tall guy!
So my question....
I have a race coming up next month and then back to school for summer(Waterloo University) where I am planning to do more races in the fall(Hopefully maybe get good enough to get on varsity team as flyer?). I hear alot abotu resistance training but one look at me and you'll think "**** he's a strong motherf***" I do have a muscled build and I think my weakness is my core strength/endurance?
I am the quickest one to get excited in doing dryland...ie i used to be a gym enthusiast(I LOVE the Squat area cause of my love for cycling) But now I'm totally focused as a flyer(well on the side I'm training for a 1:30 half marathon hehehe).
Anyway with all that out...I was wondering the following things:
-> I can manage 15-20km a week consistantly for my training. I do IM/Freestyle and looking to hit up a open course longdistance freestyle swim for endurance(I've done Half Ironmans during 2nd year of university hehe). How much % should my fly take up if I am looking to specialize in it?? I know question is...50,100,200??? Err I am better suited cause of my power for the 50 and 100 but I have done half ironmans, full marathons and stuff. I do that IM/freestyle of course for conditioning.
-> What dryland stuff can I do to improve my overall conditioning for the fly specifically? When I say I am strong...well I can easily do FULL-MAN chinups/dips with additional weight and I beg for more :P
-> I'm currently working on fly drills/core everyday. I've only recovered from Bronchitis...is this a good approach?
I could ask my masters coach but he/she is not a fly specialist and I can't attend this term to most practises cause of schedule but I have time outside of it?
Any ideas or suggestions would be great and awesome!! And I'm totally excited I am finally part of this community!!!
-Eager and Excited Fly newbie
Former Member
Actually it's much easier for me to spill my energy when typing it out :P In training, I'm usually very quiet and to myself because I find that to have good technique, I'm just silent, focusing and doing my workout.
Once I step out of the water(or the track or the squat/bench racks) I am the "life of the party" I'm very european like that haha always with style I say :D. And yea I'm pretty loud so that is why it helps being quiet because I have energy bottled up and use it productively :D
And yes...I am known to wear my "emotions on my sleeve" sometimes. But that's the beauty of the butterfly for me is that, not only can I express myself in the water, but I can really feel my stroke. Definitly I have improved for my overall swimming the touch and the "feeling", the flexibility. My freestyle has definitly improved over time after I started focusing more on fly, I just feel more as one unit(rather then two seperate components trying to do the stroke correctly).
It's funny...when I was focusing on freestyle, I loved swimming the hard intervals or with BIG paddles because it felt like hard endurance...it's just the feeling I got that was beautiful...the same I got when I would do sprinting on my bike(and yea definitly in road cycling crew, i was teh loudest and always challenging group 1 riders for sprints :D!)...but once I started learning and training fly...I fell in love :)!
And thank you for the butternut comment :) It suits me.....because often times in training or outside of it, people think I'm on crack hahahaha :P! I'm just me :)
Buttefly is a great and beautiful stroke. Going 25m in 6-9 strokes is promising. Working on core is good; make sure you also work on dolphin kick a lot. I don't think I know any good fliers who are poor at dolphin kick. If necessary, work on ankle flexibility too; JMiller's videos may help with that:
U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Fun, and Fast
The "endurance" for a 200 fly is a much much different beast than the endurance needed for a marathon or IM. A good friend of mine who is an excellent triathlete -- several very respectable Kona performances to his credit -- tried butterfly for a couple years and couldn't even do the 100 yard race.
The only real way to build fly endurance is to do it in practice. One thing you can try is 200 repeats where you alternate fly and free. Start with alternating 25s and then go up to 50s. Once you are comfortable with that, graduate to 75 fly/75 free/50 fly and eventually 100 fly/50 free/50 fly.
Another thing you can do in your IM sets is substitute fly for the freestyle leg.
But you need to hold your fly stroke during these sets. If you can't do that, then you are going too far (or not getting enough rest between repeats).
Good luck.
This thread made me laugh out loud this morning!
Butterfly is an amazing beautiful stroke. It takes real confidence and strength, along with the ability to feel the timing to execute and swim it well.
Whenever I watch good butterflyers swim, I have always had the sense that they are real watermen and women. Whether they speak about it openly or not, they have an air of "watch me roar" about them.
This is the thing that brings on the giggling...
Most butterflyers that I know are pretty quiet and unnassuming. They let the swimming speak.
But I know the attitude and confidence fills them when they think of butterfly or take the first stroke.
I for one, really appreciate that butterfly pride.
Some have it, most of us do not!
Our new young triathlete/flyer here has the butterfly pride. No doubt about it. Kind of wears it on the outside and I've seen that too. It can work and I hope he finds some cool butterfly friends to watch and train along side.
Dude... you need to travel out to Dennis Baker's Oregon masters team and get him to work on your fly!
Maybe swim some of those sets of 200 flys he is so famous for repeating.
Good luck and I hope you have fun swimming all those butterfly practices!
In my book you have officially joined the ranks of the "Butternut" !
Love it.
Thanks for your reply!
I work alot on my dolphin kick and it's actually alot more technically sound and stronger then my freestyle kick! When I swim with masters, whenever people are doing freestyle kick I just do dolphin kick and I manage to keep up in my lane :)!
I havn't tried the fly/back/***/fly routine, will do on my next IM Focus day :) Thanks a bunch!
...and you are right, it is a different type of endurance and it is a beautiful, sexy stroke! I love it! :)
