On my channel, you'll find a video all about butterfly technique
There you can learn about the principles of the arm stroke
Now in this video we are going to learn how to do that!
A great way to train the arm stroke movements and to get a sense of how the movements
will feel in the water is to perform dryland strokes with the rubber band
The rubber band should be quite stretchy
Because the idea of these exercises is not to improve the arm muscles,
but rather to get the correct technique for the arm stroke
While doing this exercise there is no need to be in a hurry
Take your time and do the movements accurately
The first drill is the catch of water
The starting position is when your arm is straight
Then you need to do the movement downwards using only the forearm
Do you know what the high elbow position feels like and how to achieve it?
If not, I will explain!
It is the position of the arm when the elbow is in the highest point of the arm shape during the stroke
To achieve it you need to rotate the forearm
so that the palm and inside part of the hand is facing downwards
and the elbow and outside part of the hand faces upwards
In this exercise you do the movement only with the forearm
while the elbow and the arm stay in the same position
You do the motion until your arms bent 90 degrees at the elbow
and then you return your hands forward
The next drill is the end of the stroke
The start of this exercise is when the arm and forearm are perpendicular to each other
with the 90 degrees angle
From this position you perform the last part of the stroke to straighten your arms only with the forearm
Don't do this exercise quickly and make sure to focus that the band is always well tensioned
After these two important drills you need to do full butterfly arm strokes
Remember what you felt while doing the previous exercises?
Keep a high elbow position while doing the stroke and straighten the arms in the end of the stroke
By doing these exercises before swimming practices, you'll gain the correct technique much faster
Because you'll already have the correct feeling in your body of how it should do the stroke
Now we are going to look at some swimming drills in order to set up the technique
Drills are very helpful, they will help you to get a feeling of how it should do the movements
So while you swim these drills try to memorize how they feel and try to repeat them while you're swimming
In the beginning of the stroke, It is crucial to grab the water as you have done in the dryland exercise
For this, your arm needs to be in the correct position so that your elbow faces upwards
After this, you continue doing the movement downwards using the forearm
In comparison with the dryland exercise where the arm and elbow don't move,
In the water, their arm and elbow perform a small movement downwards with the hand,
but the elbow is always high
In butterfly, the arm stroke is done using the vintage-style
Keyhole trajectory as you can see in the video
In the first part of the stroke when you grab the water
The swimmer does the first half of a circle
In this phase, I don't recommend supplying the maximum amount of power
since the main goal is to catch the water
If you apply too much power in the beginning of the stroke
There is a high risk that the arm will simply pass through the water
The main reason is that firstly you need to gain the resistance of the surface
so that you have something to push against
And once you catch the surface, you can apply maximum power
Let's imagine you are swimming and you want to grab the swimming pool lane rope and pull it
What happens if you apply the maximum power in the very beginning, at the same time as you grab it?
There is high risk that you won't grab it properly and your fingers will slip
However, it will be much better
if you first grab the lane rope properly so that your hand is in comfortable position
and then apply maximum power
You will be able to pull the lane rope strongly
The same applies to swimming, firstly grab the water and then apply maximum power
After the grabbing phase of the arm stroke,
you can apply much power without the risk that your hands will go through the water
At this point you draw the second half of a circle
The entire stroke should be done smoothly and with little acceleration of the stroke speed
Remember the feelings that you've had in your arms and body while doing the dryland exercises
and perform the end part of the stroke in the same way
Now, let's take a look at a mistake that many swimmers often make
During the first phase of the stroke, their elbow drops down
Therefore, swimmer doesn't grab the water and the arms go through the water without getting speed
The main reason for this mistake is incorrect position of the arms
In the starting position, the elbow looks downwards when it should be facing upwards
Thus, the swimmer doesn't get any speed after the arm stroke
However, I have good news, it is easy to fix this problem
Your arms and elbows should find the correct starting position as I described earlier
When the elbow faces up and the inside part of the hand and palm faces down
In this position, it is impossible to do the arm stroke incorrectly as we saw before
with their elbow dropping down
When you learn this, you will feel a big difference and your speed will certainly increase
It is very important that you understand this common mistake
and learn correctly how you need to perform the stroke
Let me know in the comments, if this is clear or if I should spend more time explaining it
While improving your butterfly technique, I recommend swimming 25 or maximum 50 meters
While swimming longer distances you will get tired and your technique will start to suffer
The first technique drill is butterfly swimming but using only one arm to perform the stroke
During this, the second arm will rest in front gliding forward
This exercise allows you to focus on only one arm of the stroke
You can do the breath to the side or to the front
For beginners, I recommend to take a breath to the side
since the upper part of your body stays more relaxed due to the low position of the head
You can swim a similar exercise
Doing arm strokes with only one arm
but keeping your second arm located near your leg in this drill
In this drill, you also should concentrate on arm stroke technique
However, this technique drill is more difficult
Since the second arm is near the leg and the shoulder is opened for the streamline
which is why, the water resistance is larger
Remember all the elements of the arm stroke:
the grabbing phase, the phase when you apply the largest power and the end of the stroke
To achieve a technique that is correct and stable
you need to swim this technique drills a lot
I recommend to swim as much as possible the arm strokes with only one arm
You can regularly change arms from right to left every 25 or 50 meters
The next technique drill is an arm stroke using only the right hand while the left stays in front
You will then do left arm stroke while the right hand stays in front
Following these, you'll do the arm stroke with both arms
By swinging this drill, you'll combine the arm strokes which you trained separately
Butterfly swimming with freestyle kicks is a very useful drill for all swimmers
You need to focus on the arm strokes keeping any fluctuations as small as possible
Remember, all unnecessary fluctuations up and down will decrease your speed
While swimming this drill, keep your freestyle kicks working all the time
Remember to get the high position in the water and before powerful arm strokes
By swimming this drill, your arm stroke will improve a lot
When your technique is stable you can use paddles for swimming butterfly
With their help, you will improve your power and strength in your arms as well as your back
Swimming with paddle will feel much harder
So that's why, it's good to continue first focus on the technical elements
There is a great drill for the hand returned and the arm stroke
this starts when both hands are located near the legs
Firstly, you returned only one hand and do kicks
Then, you return the second hand and do another set of kicks
And then you do the arm stroke with both hands and leave the hands near the legs
In this technique drill, your attention won't be distracted by anything except the arm stroke
it will help you to gain and train the arm stroke technique
After watching this video you might have some remaining points to clarify
I recommend to watch this video several times to understand all the elements of the butterfly arm stroke
But if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments
Every professional swimmer swims these drills or similar drills in order to improve the technique
Add these drills to your training program and by swimming them you'll master the correct technique
Swimming training should be regular
What do you think? How many times per week? Do you tries to train? What's enough and what's not?
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