Why swim butterfly in training?

This stroke is very interesting to work on in training, because it complements the crawl  with lifeguard training near me.

It is above all a stroke based on power more than on swimming technique. The two important physical criteria are:

1. The flexibility of the shoulders
2. The power of underwater thrust.

We could add the undulation to these criteria, but it is not an essential criterion for swimming the butterfly correctly, even if, of course, it is essential to know how to undulate to swim the butterfly .

Exporting the butterfly in his training is an avenue to explore to improve his crawl .

It is not uncommon to see sprinters in front crawl align themselves with the butterfly or then long-distance swimmers doing the butterfly to gain endurance.

Learn to swim butterfly.

Now we will see the method to learn the butterfly in 5 steps . You can find this method in our book on swimming in PDF , the technical guide to the 4 strokes .
Step 1 – The wave.

The butterfly has a particular undulatory movement , which can resemble that of the dolphin. As for the beat, the undulation will start from the hip: it is the abdominals that will trigger the movement of the undulation.
We have already talked about it in the article ” how to improve your kicks “, the whipping movement with the leg is very important .

Exercise to perform : lie on your stomach, head in the water and arms in front. You will perform 4 consecutive undulations before raising your head to get some air.

Important tips:

1. Keep a tight ankle but flexible toes;
2. Execute the gesture with the whole leg;
3. Working with your abs;

Step 2 – underwater butterfly

In this step, you will focus on a single criterion: marine thrust . The principle of this exercise is to feel the masses of water that you move with your two arms.

Exercise to perform: lie on your stomach, arms above your head, you will perform the movement of the butterfly thrust underwater.

Variation with breathing, you have to raise your head when you perform your underwater thrust . In this variant, you push your arms under the water up to the level of the thighs, you take your arms out to the maximum elbow.

Important tips:

1. Accelerate the gesture of the underwater thrust;
2. Raise your head to get some air at the start of the push;
3. Bring your arms back under the water, brushing your body as much as possible;

Step 3 – Butterfly 1 arm.

We begin to integrate the work of the arms and the return above the water. You have to focus on the placement of your head when breathing. Working with 1 arm allows less stress on the shoulders and makes it easier to lift the head in front.

Exercise to perform : you will keep one arm in front and work with the other arm. You have to find the right timing between your thrust and the air intake in front to avoid imbalances.

Important Tips:

1. Push hard enough to facilitate the passage of the arms above the water;
2. Work with both arms;

Step 4 – Educational Butterfly.

This is a variant of the previous stage, but more difficult. The idea is to work on swimming continuity and fluidity . The objectives are twofold: the placement of his breathing and the aerial return above the water.

Exercise to perform: you must respect the following order, 1 stroke of the right arm with a breath in front, 1 stroke of the left arm with a breath in front and finally, 2 strokes of the arm at the same time without breathing.

Important Tips:

1. take the arms out of the water on each pass;
2. work on your coordination, arm passage breathing;

Step 5 – Complete butterfly stroke

Normally, you have all the basics necessary to attack the butterfly in full stroke. At this stage, the most important thing is to work on the overall coordination of your swimming .

The key points:

1. Synchronize your breathing with your arms.
2. Swim in 2 steps.
3. Place 2 undulations for 1 arm pass.

Swimming the butterfly is essential to gain power.

My opinion, to have a significant improvement in general in swimming, you must absolutely learn the butterfly. There is much more to integrating this stroke into your preparation, even for triathletes. It is even essential for a triathlete who wishes to improve his swimming course, to learn to swim the butterfly.