Swim Direct Blog

As a competitive swimmer you know it is very important to continue training, even when there are no races going on. In this article we are going to look at the Butterfly stroke to offer a few pointers in working on the fluidity of the movement. It is always important to go back to the basics when training to perfect the move overall.

First the butterfly is all about timing for the kick and arm cycle. You will lose a lot of energy if you don’t have the technique perfected before a race. The stroke has a double arm movement that helps to move you through the water, as you dolphin kick. In other words the timing should be the arms leaving the water, with the help of the downward motion of the kick. The arms must be pressed laterally on the out sweeping motion with the arms flexing at the elbows. At this point the small kick will start. As you sweep in the small kick will finish and the arms will continue to flex as the hands are turned medially and pressing towards the body. For some the butterfly is a very difficult move to keep up the speed and timing of the large and small kicks with the arms.