So, butterfly has been the one the stroke that I always dreamed of learning when I was a teenager, never had the training or though to learn. Fast forward 2023 I am 41 now and swim fly at leat twice a week. This video and others only helped me to put this stroke together step by step. Yes it took me about 6 months to feel comfortable doing a 25 meters without stopping. Like somebody else said, it’s stroke that most avoid, but don’t let other put you off form putting the hours. The one mistake that literally make or break a butterfly is timing. I was stuck for 6 weeks not knowing what was wrong with my arms pull, until a teen swimming next to me said, your arms and beating timing are out of Sync from there on it all clicked in one place
One of the things that annoys me about learning butterfly is the fact that, usually, I'm the only one in the pool doing it and it looks like I'm flapping around like a drowning fish so I get a little self conscious. Anyway, this video defo has some of the best lessons and tips I've seen for learning butterfly and I see where what I've been doing in my practice up to now marries up to what youse say in the video, which is encouraging. I'm going to save this video for future reference.
Same here. I always felt like I'm demonstrating a drowning scene and looks like a worm when doing the start. But it has improved gradually. Now I'm a bit confident
I know what you mean. I get self-conscious too. Especially if you start thinking about all the mistakes you possibly and probably make. But, hey, we all have to start somewhere. That’s how we learn.
Today was my swimming competition in senior women's category and I got bronze medal ... I took tips from this video to not only improve my Butterfly but also breast stroke
This is way ahead of where I am at with swimming, but it is so interesting to see it explained. Butterfly is just one of those things that has always mystified me.
@@gtn Never! But I am teaching myself how to swim so I can do my first triathlon next year, so maybe once I figure out the other strokes, I'll give it a go.
I have been attempting to learn the fly again after 50 years of not swimming it. Actually started swimming again about 15 years ago to prepare for bilateral hip replacement and one knee replacement. They have changed how they teach it. I have found that a gliding stroke when you throw your arms out front helps me with the timing. I think this is the idea behind the 'Shaw' method of fly. I believe that the entire body is used for generating the 'crack the whip' action of the dolphin kick, except for the breathing kick, The breath kick is generally higher amplitude and you can't totally engage your core since you are inhaling. Your calorie burn and oxygen burn go way up when swimming the fly, like way up....
My 4 yo Apple Watch learned how to discern all the styles. It just needed new software. Crazy how much you can analyze with some basic sensors. I bet Garmin could do it.
very good timing GTN. My coach is on at me about that second dolphin kick but I've never been able to quite visualise it. Excellent demo Heather & cameraperson, thanks a million
I had stated swimming this past summer with my granddaughter. We joined the Y. So then I was going every day after summer school. Then that’s all I wanted to do was swim. So I get up at 4:20 am to swim laps. I’m teaching myself the butterfly as I want to strengthen my core. It’s definitely a work in progress. Thanks for the video 😊
Thanks for a great video. Many triathlete do not think they will need butterfly for compete in triathlon. But really it can be necessary when the swim is in wavy water. At least practicing the kick . As more you can swim you will feel more comfortable in the water. Butterfly is the most demanding way but many say that actually breaststroke is the most difficult way.
Thanks for these tips! I think I’ll try will pullboy to alternate hands a bit, so far my weak point are legs, can’t give a nice kick and that’s how it slows me..😞 I’ve just started this beautiful stroke hope to master it soon. Thanks a lot! 💙🫶
chest press with forward propulsion was the ultimate step for me to find - then it can be done every stroke successfully and it helps much more than arms or legs to hang on
@@gtn it shaved off a couple of seconds in 100 m but I have yet to test it in long course which is a bit daunting for butterfly given I always train in short course 🫣
Thank you for this video! My coaches have tried to teach me but I just have not got it. I am still failing at it but am getting better. Thank you so much! :D
This video is gold, thanks for breaking it down to great excersises 🙌🙌😁 quick question, whats the normal number of times that i should breathe in this style (im starting with one per stroke)
I try to learn butterfly, can survive for 25 m . If you want to do Ironman Superfrog 70.3 , I recommend to practice your butterfly kicks before. I try your drills today 👍. Working good.
Use a snorkel. Ha. Maybe in posh private pools. But in local leisure centres for the peasantry? Tried it. Got two lengths of blissful gasp-free swimming focusing on my freestyle pull technique before I was told it wasn't allowed.
You touched a bit on the undulation aspect of fly. Another thing is ankle flexibility. Heather has great ankle mobility and undulation. If you dont have the flexibility, core strength and ankle flexibility - butterfly is quite challenging. Can you recommend exercises to increase ankle flexibility and body undulation?
Well explained ❤️ The only problem that i face is i can swimm butterfly stroke with flipper but without them its impossible for, can you help me out plz
I've took 6 classes of half a hour and and managed to swim 25M butterfly. But now 2 weeks later i'am still stuck at 25M of butterfly. It's so hard to to improve this. But my will is strong and I will get to the 50M atleast in a couple of weeks
Great visualization. Thank you. I have been feeling a pinch in my lower back every time I try to lift my arms out of the water and kick. I normally don't have any back issues. Do you have an idea what I could be doing wrong?
First, sorry for my bad English. that happen because You don't have coordination between your kick and they pull. They first kick start in the middle of the pull. When you start the pull and the kick together, the kick don't help you to lift your arms out of the water, then you make more force with your arms and force your lower back to get your arms out. That used to happen to me, when I corrected it I no longer had problems in my lower back.
Question: whenever im doing the butterfly stroke, i tend to cause big waves in the pool and can be distracting for some swimmers. Anyone know the reason why for this!
I couldn't get the timing until I found an exercise on another channel where they put a kickboard between their legs and just pulled with the arms and moved their stomach (no legs). The first time you do it, you're barely moving and you can't go far. But it shows you when you should have kicked if you had used your legs.
i train with the master squad and we do mix strokes including butterfly. not easy as i wasn't trained as swimmer when younger but i enjoy the challenge of it.
Question unrelated to the video: In your 1/2 marathon training programme pdf, you sometimes mention '2x 1.5k' or '4x 1.5k' on Thursdays (speed session). I don't understand what this means. Is it just two repeaters of 2x 1.5km tempo run? Should I recover in between? Thanks in advance for answering :)
I can dolphin kick using snorkel for laps. I find it easier to do than kicking legs. Not gonna try butterfly just yet until I am confident with stamina, breathing, and core atrength.
I'm 76 years old and asked the lifeguard to take a video of my doing the butterfly since my daughter told me that I look like a toad ready to drown. I butterflied in a 50-meter lane non-stop and saw that my butterfly was slow and my legs widespread! nothing like all Godzilla men I see around. I should be able to keep my legs together but will never have the impressive strength of young men and women. Yet I do get my arms nicely out of the water albeit without much splash. It's only the lower parts butt and legs that need some serious improvements.
your kick should splash the water like the tail of dolphin or orca does in the ocean. even my leg kick touch the water but wont splash. trying to practice.
I am very lucky, because I learned this as a kid. It's a lot of fun. Sadly I am doing something wrong with the breathwork because after about 40meters I have to stop and breath. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, whether It's too much or not enough breathing in or breathing out.
Butterly pull is not "essentially the same" as freestyle. Sure, if you consider pulling water the same no matter how you do it.... but the actual catch and pull is not the same as freestyle because the dynamics of the water movement are completely different. The shape of the pull for butterfly is vastly different to that of freestyle.
Im learning this in the pool & surprisingly nobody has interrupted my swimming for chit chats, they're giving me a wide birth so it has some pros to learn this stroke 🤣
Not bad but not much mention of the arms. Doing one arm is actually harder than doing two, despite what nearly every teacher says. Don't believe me? Try it. Doing two arms with no breathing is a good way to work on both the arm motion and the timing. Also doing arms only is a great way to get a feel for what the body is supposed to be doing. 90% of teachers teach bad habbits in Butterfly. No wonder it's so hard.
I would agree with you when I first start learning butterfly. One arm butterfly is indeed very awkward and doesn't seems to help with learning actual butterfly. However, after learning the stroke and wanting to improve, I run into two problems. 1) Butterfly is very taxing. Especially for beginners like me who brute force the stroke. To get better, one need to practice the stroke, but practicing the stroke is too tiring. 2) Butterfly have too many parts all happening together at once. When swimming butterfly, everything is muscle memory and every thing happens in a blur. It is very hard to isolate a particular part of the stroke to optimise. One arm butterfly solves part of the problem. It doesn't take much effort, especially if you breath to the side. By doing 2 one arm stroke on each side, then concentrate on doing full butterfly for one or two stroke, I get to rest between full strokes and is able to practice more. Because I am rested and not dying from the exertion, I can focus, think and feel each full stroke, making it easier to improve. One arm butterfly also does help with mastering the rhythm of the stroke. Overall, I would say that one arm butterfly is essential for mastering butterfly. Although I would not recommend keeping arm at the side as suggested in the video, because it makes switching arm very difficult.
@@chenqin415 Interesting, you may get the right timing with a one arm drill but that doesn't mean you'll get the right body position at the right time with the arm. "Kick your arms in, kick your arms out" is only worth doing if the hips are on the right position which 80% of time I've seen people learning, they're not. I was guilty of this when I first started teaching. Butterfly is tiring yes but in my opinion, you don't need to do a whole length to practice it. You only need 10-15 meters. If you want to take some advice, you could try the SHAW method in learning butterfly. It's a very relaxed style like how I teach it. Also doing double arms but nothing else will help quite a bit to get you to understand what should be where, and when during the stroke. When I say nothing else I mean nothing. No breathing, no legs, no hips/dolphin. Just completely relaxed. If you do it correctly you'll find your hips will naturally sink and float (aka the dolphin) but not only will they do the right motion, it will also be at the right time too. Best of luck with it anyway. All the best.
Do you include butterfly in your swim training? 🏊♂
Of course, my all time fav to include in training
I think we know the answer to this ….. 50 years ago my brother was quite good at it. I think that’s the last time I saw anyone practising ‘fly 😁
Its the only stroke I've worked on for the last few weeks. Started swimming 2 months ago. Checkout my videos and leave some advice!
all the time.. it is only way to train. without it swimming is boring.
So, butterfly has been the one the stroke that I always
dreamed of learning when I was a teenager, never had the training or though to learn. Fast forward 2023 I am 41 now and swim fly at leat twice a week. This video and others only helped me to put this stroke together step by step. Yes it took me about 6 months to feel comfortable doing a 25 meters without stopping. Like somebody else said, it’s stroke that most avoid, but don’t let other put you off form putting the hours. The one mistake that literally make or break a butterfly is timing. I was stuck for 6 weeks not knowing what was wrong with my arms pull, until a teen swimming next to me said, your arms and beating timing are out of Sync from there on it all clicked in one place
One of the things that annoys me about learning butterfly is the fact that, usually, I'm the only one in the pool doing it and it looks like I'm flapping around like a drowning fish so I get a little self conscious.
Anyway, this video defo has some of the best lessons and tips I've seen for learning butterfly and I see where what I've been doing in my practice up to now marries up to what youse say in the video, which is encouraging.
I'm going to save this video for future reference.
I was just thinking this today when I was in the pool.😭 I was like, “mmm maybe I shouldn’t.” Most of them do breast stroke and freestyle.
Same here but the video worked a little I was swimming a 100 IM and I wasn’t last in the water but my butterfly still slowed me down a lot
Same here.
I always felt like I'm demonstrating a drowning scene and looks like a worm when doing the start.
But it has improved gradually. Now I'm a bit confident
I know what you mean. I get self-conscious too. Especially if you start thinking about all the mistakes you possibly and probably make. But, hey, we all have to start somewhere. That’s how we learn.
Today was my swimming competition in senior women's category and I got bronze medal ... I took tips from this video to not only improve my Butterfly but also breast stroke
This is way ahead of where I am at with swimming, but it is so interesting to see it explained. Butterfly is just one of those things that has always mystified me.
Hahaha it's a pretty weird looking stroke! Have you ever tried it? 🔎
@@gtn Never! But I am teaching myself how to swim so I can do my first triathlon next year, so maybe once I figure out the other strokes, I'll give it a go.
I have been attempting to learn the fly again after 50 years of not swimming it. Actually started swimming again about 15 years ago to prepare for bilateral hip replacement and one knee replacement. They have changed how they teach it. I have found that a gliding stroke when you throw your arms out front helps me with the timing. I think this is the idea behind the 'Shaw' method of fly. I believe that the entire body is used for generating the 'crack the whip' action of the dolphin kick, except for the breathing kick, The breath kick is generally higher amplitude and you can't totally engage your core since you are inhaling. Your calorie burn and oxygen burn go way up when swimming the fly, like way up....
I don't get why it's called "fly", because it's more like "die"
Fr
Yeah
Butterdie 💀
not funny gng
Real
My Garmin can detect my freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke. When I try butterfly it just shrugs.
Hahaha, getting heckled by a Garmin... what could be worse! 👀
My 4 yo Apple Watch learned how to discern all the styles. It just needed new software. Crazy how much you can analyze with some basic sensors. I bet Garmin could do it.
Just use the clock on the side of the pool..easy😊
My Apple Watch can detect my rudimentary butterfly even 😊
Mine goes into rest mode
very good timing GTN. My coach is on at me about that second dolphin kick but I've never been able to quite visualise it. Excellent demo Heather & cameraperson, thanks a million
Hope it helps! let us know how you get on 🙌
Nice drills!! will definitely try them out!
1:42...what an absolutely majestic piece of footage
I had stated swimming this past summer with my granddaughter. We joined the Y. So then I was going every day after summer school. Then that’s all I wanted to do was swim. So I get up at 4:20 am to swim laps. I’m teaching myself the butterfly as I want to strengthen my core. It’s definitely a work in progress. Thanks for the video 😊
the only video you need to understand butterfly. thank you for this!
thanks!
Thanks for a great video. Many triathlete do not think they will need butterfly for compete in triathlon. But really it can be necessary when the swim is in wavy water. At least practicing the kick . As more you can swim you will feel more comfortable in the water. Butterfly is the most demanding way but many say that actually breaststroke is the most difficult way.
Thanks Marie-louise! Glad you enjoyed it . Do you use Butterfly? 🦋
The drills look promising to improve your butterfly.👍 Will give it a try.
Thanks for these tips! I think I’ll try will pullboy to alternate hands a bit, so far my weak point are legs, can’t give a nice kick and that’s how it slows me..😞 I’ve just started this beautiful stroke hope to master it soon. Thanks a lot! 💙🫶
Yes very helpful and well documented. Thanks
Good advice, I’d love to see someone try this in a triathlon
chest press with forward propulsion was the ultimate step for me to find - then it can be done every stroke successfully and it helps much more than arms or legs to hang on
Great tip! How is your Butterfly now? 🔎
@@gtn it shaved off a couple of seconds in 100 m but I have yet to test it in long course which is a bit daunting for butterfly given I always train in short course 🫣
Thank you for this video! My coaches have tried to teach me but I just have not got it. I am still failing at it but am getting better. Thank you so much! :D
This video is gold, thanks for breaking it down to great excersises 🙌🙌😁 quick question, whats the normal number of times that i should breathe in this style (im starting with one per stroke)
Love your channel guys, greetings from Mexico! I began swimmming lessons in August and your videos have been a valiable resource.
Amazing - our pleasure! Hope the lessons are going well? 🏊♂️
You helped me a lot on my swimming skills!!!
I try to learn butterfly, can survive for 25 m . If you want to do Ironman Superfrog 70.3 , I recommend to practice your butterfly kicks before. I try your drills today 👍. Working good.
Great video thank you very much watching from London
Use a snorkel. Ha. Maybe in posh private pools. But in local leisure centres for the peasantry? Tried it. Got two lengths of blissful gasp-free swimming focusing on my freestyle pull technique before I was told it wasn't allowed.
I love butterfly and I'm good at it
you helped me a lot on my swimming skills!!!🏊♂🏊♂🔥
Thanks for the tips u gise r awesome. 😘
Learning to swim this looks so cool
You touched a bit on the undulation aspect of fly. Another thing is ankle flexibility. Heather has great ankle mobility and undulation. If you dont have the flexibility, core strength and ankle flexibility - butterfly is quite challenging. Can you recommend exercises to increase ankle flexibility and body undulation?
I am 49, an average swimmer. My ambitious goal is to be able swim 25 m with butterfly stroke in 6 months.
Nahhh u r too old for that, swim breastroke is good for u
I hope you’ve done that by now. You probably are 50 now and I hope you have a happy life.
I need this because I’m worried about getting picked for the 50 butterfly in swim meets
Well explained ❤️
The only problem that i face is i can swimm butterfly stroke with flipper but without them its impossible for, can you help me out plz
I've took 6 classes of half a hour and and managed to swim 25M butterfly. But now 2 weeks later i'am still stuck at 25M of butterfly. It's so hard to to improve this. But my will is strong and I will get to the 50M atleast in a couple of weeks
Great visualization. Thank you.
I have been feeling a pinch in my lower back every time I try to lift my arms out of the water and kick. I normally don't have any back issues. Do you have an idea what I could be doing wrong?
First, sorry for my bad English. that happen because You don't have coordination between your kick and they pull. They first kick start in the middle of the pull. When you start the pull and the kick together, the kick don't help you to lift your arms out of the water, then you make more force with your arms and force your lower back to get your arms out. That used to happen to me, when I corrected it I no longer had problems in my lower back.
Question: whenever im doing the butterfly stroke, i tend to cause big waves in the pool and can be distracting for some swimmers. Anyone know the reason why for this!
Good video! Tks
Glad you liked it! 🙌 Will you be taking on any of the tips?
I couldn't get the timing until I found an exercise on another channel where they put a kickboard between their legs and just pulled with the arms and moved their stomach (no legs). The first time you do it, you're barely moving and you can't go far. But it shows you when you should have kicked if you had used your legs.
Great to hear the penny dropped and you got it! Nice one 🙌 Do you use it much?
i train with the master squad and we do mix strokes including butterfly. not easy as i wasn't trained as swimmer when younger but i enjoy the challenge of it.
How are you getting on with it? 👀
@@gtn its good but hard. I will not be doing any IM swims in comps any time soon 😂 i enjoy butterfly drill. 3 strokes on each then full stroke.
Thank you
You're welcome!
Wow
Question unrelated to the video:
In your 1/2 marathon training programme pdf, you sometimes mention '2x 1.5k' or '4x 1.5k' on Thursdays (speed session). I don't understand what this means. Is it just two repeaters of 2x 1.5km tempo run? Should I recover in between? Thanks in advance for answering :)
that's correct, though you should definitely incorporate a recovery of a few minutes in between
I can dolphin kick using snorkel for laps. I find it easier to do than kicking legs. Not gonna try butterfly just yet until I am confident with stamina, breathing, and core atrength.
You'll get there. Keep it up and maybe double back to this video for help. How about these tips 👉 ua-cam.com/video/tlNotLX6g2s/v-deo.html
How to raise your arms above the water when swimming butterfly? I just learned to swim and my hands can't escape the water.
I'm 76 years old and asked the lifeguard to take a video of my doing the butterfly since my daughter told me that I look like a toad ready to drown. I butterflied in a 50-meter lane non-stop and saw that my butterfly was slow and my legs widespread! nothing like all Godzilla men I see around. I should be able to keep my legs together but will never have the impressive strength of young men and women. Yet I do get my arms nicely out of the water albeit without much splash. It's only the lower parts butt and legs that need some serious improvements.
your kick should splash the water like the tail of dolphin or orca does in the ocean. even my leg kick touch the water but wont splash. trying to practice.
I am very lucky, because I learned this as a kid. It's a lot of fun. Sadly I am doing something wrong with the breathwork because after about 40meters I have to stop and breath. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, whether It's too much or not enough breathing in or breathing out.
My favorite swimming style is butterfly cause its uses full body power 😅
Good
How can i breathe it is hard
Butterly pull is not "essentially the same" as freestyle. Sure, if you consider pulling water the same no matter how you do it.... but the actual catch and pull is not the same as freestyle because the dynamics of the water movement are completely different. The shape of the pull for butterfly is vastly different to that of freestyle.
That one time i went to a triathlon and swam butterfly
Sooooo sick
I, Pritam from India ❤
De 🦋slag!!
I might like dolphin more than freestyle? It’s always been hard for me to master the freestyle breathing. With dolphin style, it’s easier.
Im learning this in the pool & surprisingly nobody has interrupted my swimming for chit chats, they're giving me a wide birth so it has some pros to learn this stroke 🤣
when the hands go out the water why don't push them forward but she is doing stupid cyrcle from sides
As far as I understand, dropping your arms forward would likely push water into your face, which is suboptimal if you're trying to breathe
Cucumber
Not bad but not much mention of the arms. Doing one arm is actually harder than doing two, despite what nearly every teacher says. Don't believe me? Try it.
Doing two arms with no breathing is a good way to work on both the arm motion and the timing.
Also doing arms only is a great way to get a feel for what the body is supposed to be doing.
90% of teachers teach bad habbits in Butterfly. No wonder it's so hard.
I would agree with you when I first start learning butterfly. One arm butterfly is indeed very awkward and doesn't seems to help with learning actual butterfly. However, after learning the stroke and wanting to improve, I run into two problems.
1) Butterfly is very taxing. Especially for beginners like me who brute force the stroke. To get better, one need to practice the stroke, but practicing the stroke is too tiring.
2) Butterfly have too many parts all happening together at once. When swimming butterfly, everything is muscle memory and every thing happens in a blur. It is very hard to isolate a particular part of the stroke to optimise.
One arm butterfly solves part of the problem. It doesn't take much effort, especially if you breath to the side. By doing 2 one arm stroke on each side, then concentrate on doing full butterfly for one or two stroke, I get to rest between full strokes and is able to practice more. Because I am rested and not dying from the exertion, I can focus, think and feel each full stroke, making it easier to improve.
One arm butterfly also does help with mastering the rhythm of the stroke.
Overall, I would say that one arm butterfly is essential for mastering butterfly. Although I would not recommend keeping arm at the side as suggested in the video, because it makes switching arm very difficult.
@@chenqin415 Interesting, you may get the right timing with a one arm drill but that doesn't mean you'll get the right body position at the right time with the arm. "Kick your arms in, kick your arms out" is only worth doing if the hips are on the right position which 80% of time I've seen people learning, they're not. I was guilty of this when I first started teaching.
Butterfly is tiring yes but in my opinion, you don't need to do a whole length to practice it. You only need 10-15 meters.
If you want to take some advice, you could try the SHAW method in learning butterfly. It's a very relaxed style like how I teach it.
Also doing double arms but nothing else will help quite a bit to get you to understand what should be where, and when during the stroke. When I say nothing else I mean nothing. No breathing, no legs, no hips/dolphin. Just completely relaxed.
If you do it correctly you'll find your hips will naturally sink and float (aka the dolphin) but not only will they do the right motion, it will also be at the right time too.
Best of luck with it anyway. All the best.
@@tomatomb8704 Agree with you that SHAW butterfly is great for learning. I watched it repeatedly when trying to learn the stroke.
Iam national medalist in butterfly my age is 12 and my time is 01:02
The woodsman
i am a bit lazy, i only fly with fins...
My hands are just dragging and I am soooo slow
I am
I can swimm butterfly
The ain't me working on a new pool😓😓😓😓😂
👍👍👍
麻麻地
Me coming here after watching Baki like 👀
Breast stroke is really difficult not butterfly
Most difficult stroke for me is breaststroke
@@millag93 Technically breast stroke is the toughest stroke. Especially for adults. But I wouldn’t sacrifice freestyle for breast stroke.
@@НурикОмарев I want to learn them all. I hope one day I can swim every style.
Butterfly and backstroke are my favourite though
@@НурикОмарев happy swimming by the way ❤️
@@millag93 thanks 🌹
butterfly makes you look like a shark
Bouy
Who is from india 😂😂
From assam
🖐️
Interesting, in german we call it "Dolphin" not "Butterfly" :)
This definitely does not help beginners.
True
I couldn't understand a thing. Lot of talk, less demonstration
too much talking and nothing really usefull..waiste of time for videos like that
sobs in failing to do this stroke🥲
Thank you