The butterfly is the swim stroke that has evolved most over the last 10 years. Breathing every stroke, “shifting your weight” forwards (also a feature of the breaststroke) and as little forward head movement as possible.
It is the hardest and most difficult stroke for an amateur swimmer, because power and coordination are very important and hard to learn.
The butterfly has two phases: the arm pull up and arm pull down. The movement is symmetrical, breathing is frontwards, and two smooth leg kicks are performed for each arm stroke.
A tip for anybody struggling with the butterfly is to combine a symmetrical butterfly arm stroke with breaststroke legs. This is less tiring but still requires excellent coordination.
Here is a short work out:
WARMUP 300 m
SET
Drills:
As you can see, the session is divided up as follows: warmup (300), harder swimming (200) plus technique work, main workout (12 550), cooldown (100). Try and keep to this routine if you can.
Do not forget that it is important to stretch before training, particularly when you will be swimming such a tough stroke from a muscular viewpoint.
We are gradually increasing the volume of our training sessions. Well done!
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