An Overview of the Butterfly Stroke

Last Updated on March 15, 2024 by admin

**Butterfly is the second-fastest competitive stroke**

In this article, we will provide advice, hacks & tips as a part of an overview of the butterfly stroke.

Butterfly is the most recent of the four competitive swimming strokes, becoming standardised in the early 1950s.

It is the second-fastest competitive stroke.
Butterfly originated out of a hybrid breaststroke and therefore several butterfly drills are similar to breaststroke drills.

Swimming butterfly can be physically demanding, especially for younger or inexperienced swimmers.

Many find butterfly difficult to coach or teach, which can often lead to butterfly being swum and taught the least.
To master butterfly requires a combination of coordination, timing and technique.
By breaking down the stroke into bite-sized drills, it can be coached and taught correctly without becoming too physically demanding.

Butterfly should only be performed at the intensity and distance where swimmers can maintain a good technique.

It is often counter-productive to get swimmers to perform butterfly when fatigued.
This may ingrain poor technique into the swimmer’s muscle memory* and establish longer-term stroke faults, which can be difficult to eradicate.

(*muscle memory – the ability to reproduce a movement without conscious thought, acquired as a result of frequent repetition of that movement)

Butterfly should be coached over short distances until the swimmer has adapted to its physical and technical demands.

I have my swimmers use fins for approximately half of their butterfly drills.
I believe this helps them to attain the correct technique.
It also gives them the confidence to perform the drills correctly.

An Overview of Butterfly: The key technical components of an effective butterfly

The key technical components of an effective butterfly include,

A horizontal/supine body and leg position.
A low head position looking down at the bottom of the pool, during the arm stroke’s propulsive phase.
When breathing the head should be kept as low as possible with the swimmer’s chin on or as close to the surface as possible.
A shallow ‘dolphin’ type body action, moving forward through the water with a fluid wave action with a ‘head to toes’ undulation of the body.
A long, quick and powerful arm stroke.
A low, straight arm recovery of the arm stroke.
A strong leg kick should be initiated by the body’s undulation.
There should be two leg kicks per arm cycle.
The swimmer should kick their arms into the water (smaller kick) and then kick their arms out of the water (larger kick).
Their feet should be in a pointed (plantar flexion) position, which reduces drag and places the feet in the optimum position for maximum propulsion.
Once the basic components are mastered, swimmers should spend time perfecting the coordination of the arm stroke, the leg kick, the body undulation and their breathing.
The correct timing of the stroke is the key to an efficient butterfly.

An Overview of the Butterfly Stroke: The body position and timing sequence

Body position

The swimmer’s body should undulate throughout the butterfly stroke.

The crown of the swimmer’s head should initiate the undulation as it varies its position during the stroke.
Their head should be just under the surface during the propulsion phases of the arm stroke, this in conjunction with the pressing downwards of their chest, forces their hips to rise.
The swimmer’s chin should be on or as close to the surface as possible, whilst breathing, this forces their hips to lower.
The head should be followed by the pressing of the chest, then the hips, the legs and feet to complete the undulation sequence.

The timing sequence

To achieve an effective butterfly, swimmers should maintain a smooth balanced and coordinated stroke, combined with the correct tempo.

This should be maintained throughout each of the stroke’s distinct phases, the catch (combined with a small kick), the pull and the recovery (combined with a large kick).

Undulation

One of the key elements for an efficient butterfly is a wave-like ‘dolphin’ body motion, which undulates through the swimmer’s body from the ‘head to the toes.

This is achieved by first pressing down their HEAD below the surface, then pressing down their CHEST, then pressing down their HIPS and finally pressing down their LEGS
The swimmer should ensure that there is no excessive upward or downward undulation, as the aim is to keep the body as flat as possible to assist optimum forward propulsion.
Body undulation can be introduced via a series of layout drills, which require the swimmer to perform a series of shallow surface dives.
While performing these drills the swimmer should note that the force exerted by their head and chest when pressing down at the front end of the stroke determines the depth of the surface dive.

Related publication: BUTTERFLY Competitive Swimming Drills

We have published a related publication: BUTTERFLY Competitive Swimming Drills.

This publication provides coaches, teachers and swimmers with over 65 tried and tested competitive butterfly drills and progressions. For further details and ordering information please use the following link: BUTTERFLY Competitive Swimming Drills

An Overview of the Butterfly Stroke: Butterfly Leg Kick

Introduction: The butterfly leg kick provides balance, tempo and secondary propulsion to the butterfly stroke.

The leg kick is initiated by a shallow ‘head to toes’ undulation of the swimmer’s body.
To help develop an effective butterfly leg kick, swimmers should develop their core, glutes and lower back muscles.
Swimmers should also have good strength and flexibility in their ankles.

The key components for an effective butterfly kick are:

A strong leg kick powered by the body’s undulation.
There should be two leg kicks per arm cycle.
The swimmer should kick their arms into the water (small kick), then kick their arms out of the water (large kick).
The swimmer’s legs and feet should be together throughout the stroke.
The feet should be in a pointed (plantar flexion) position, which reduces drag and places the feet in the optimum position for maximum propulsion.

An Overview of the Butterfly Stroke: Breathing Technique

Introduction: A common butterfly breathing fault, is that swimmers hold their breath while their face is in the water.

They then exhale and inhale quickly while their face is out of the water.
This establishes a non-streamlined breathing position, which increases drag and slows the swimmer down.
This is also ineffective at supplying the oxygen that is required to the swimmer’s muscles and organs during training and competition.

Trickle breathing

Trickle breathing is a breathing technique that can help the swimmer develop a better streamlined and more efficient breathing technique.

It requires the swimmer to take a large quick breath, then slowly exhale in the water via their nose or their mouth
This technique also enables the swimmer to stay longer underwater while performing underwater dolphin kicking during their starts and turns.

An overview of the butterfly stroke: Takeaways

Swimming butterfly can be physically demanding, especially for younger or inexperienced swimmers.

Many find butterfly difficult to coach and teach, which can often lead to butterfly being swum and taught the least.
To master butterfly requires a combination of balance, timing and technique.
By breaking down the stroke into bite-sized drills, it can be coached and taught correctly without becoming too physically demanding.

Butterfly should only be performed at the intensity and distance where swimmers can maintain a good technique.

It can be counter-productive to get swimmers to perform butterfly when they are fatigued.
This may ingrain poor technique into the swimmer’s muscle memory* and establish longer-term stroke faults, which can be very difficult to eradicate.

(*muscle memory – the ability to reproduce a movement without conscious thought, acquired as a result of frequent repetition of that movement)

Competitive Swimming Drills Publications

We have published a portfolio of competitive swimming drill publications for butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Each publication contains a series of stroke-specific competitive drills.

They are now available in both Amazon Kindle and paperback formats.

https://eatsleepswimcoach.com/publications/

Swimming resource library

We have provided a swimming resource library.

This contains links to all of our publications and blog articles.
Now with an easy-to-use index.
To access any article simply click on the attached page link: swimming resource library

Recommended swimming equipment

We have provided a recommended swimming equipment page.

It contains the swimming equipment that we and our swimmers use and recommend.
You can access this page by clicking on the following link: recommended swimming equipment.

The Competitive Swimming Exchange – Facebook Group

We are members of the Competitive Swimming Exchange.

This is a competitive swimming Facebook group to help exchange ideas and information to collectively improve the sport we love.
It’s an international group for all swimmers, coaches, teachers, masters, triathletes and swimming parents.
In fact, it’s for all those who are interested in competitive swimming, either in the pool or in open water

For more information about joining this group please use the following link: The Competitive Swimming Exchange

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