New Way to Swim Butterfly

Hi, I'm Susan Ingram and I'm a U.S. Master's Swimming Level 4 coach. Today we're going to explore butterfly and the ways it has changed over the years and looking at three different ways that are now outdated to advance your butterfly skills. The torso remained low in the water due to the nature of the original breaststroke kick. A fishtail or dolphin kick assisted the swimmer to travel faster, yet the body position remained with low hips in the water. The upper body created drag while the swimmer attempted to travel forward. The butterfly kick starts with a downbeat of your kick which pushes your hips up. This action allows your body to hold a proper position at the surface of the water. Your body weight will shift forward toward your chest and the pressure on your palms hands will increase. Your hands will then transfer this into a stronger feel and anchor in the front at the start of your pull. Coaches emphasize the end of the pull by asking swimmers to have their hands exit the water near their thighs. Many swimmers were even instructed to finish the pull by flicking their hands up and or out. This made for some unnecessary strain on the shoulders. This action also caused the arms to become delayed as they returned to the entry point during the recovery phase. During the pull phase, once your hands pass your hips, sweep your hands out away from your body to exit the water. Imagine that from the moment your hands are exiting the water by your thigh to when they're entering the water in front of you is a distance of 4 feet. Now if your hand exits just past your hip, the distance is shortened as much as 6 to 10 inches. Your hands are traveling a shorter distance forward, thus making for a quicker recovery to the front of your stroke. Instead of exiting the water with palms up, your hands should slice out towards the surface led by the pinky side of your hands. This allows the hands to accelerate at a faster rate as opposed to previously being slowed down to the amount of water resting on and being lifted by the palms of your hands. Finishing your stroke away from your body relieves much of the workload placed on your triceps and the back of your shoulders. Accelerating your hands as they exit creates a faster turnover. Coaches taught their swimmers to lift the top of their head up and push the chin forward when breathing. Swimmers would press on the water with their hands, then nudge the chin forward and push up. Coaches also instructed swimmers to breathe late in the arm pull, taking the breath at the end of the pull or beginning of the recovery. Swimmers were told to drive their chins down during the first half of the recovery, which was thought to help the arms recover over the water quickly. The arms pushed the swimmer up and forward while attempting to bring the torso as high out of the water as possible. Breathe by leading with the crown of your head and keep your eyes looking down. As your body rises, take a sneaky breath with your mouth barely over the surface of the water. When your head remains more aligned with your torso, your body maintains a proper position on the water, keeping your body moving forward instead of in and out and up and down. The balance point of the body is moved forward, allowing your hands to have a stronger catch at the beginning of your underwater pull. Once again, this is Susan Ingram, US Masters Swimming Level 4 Coach. I hope you enjoyed today's video. Please like and subscribe to receive more great content. Thank you for watching.