Butterfly - Like it or Hate It?
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Ms_J1
Posts: 253 Member
I can't decide if I like it or hate it. I know I hated it when I was on the swim team as a kid. I think it looks pretty when I see other people doing it and I admit it feels neat when I do it but damn is it tiring! I finally swam one 50 meter lap of fly the other day for the first time in years and I was inhaling water by the end because I was so tired I could barely pull my head out of the water to breathe. Of course, that just tells me I need to do it more and do it more often. Another thing I hate about it is I feel like I'm creating tidal waves - like I'm this big whale body slamming the water.
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Absolutely LOVE it!!!!! I'm just building my strength back up with it now.......0
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I agree it is very tiring but it an awesome stroke. I just wish I weren't so selfconscious about doing it in front of anybody else in the pool. A graceful butterfly "I ain't".0
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So I can't spell either. Is an awesome stroke.0
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Holly, I'll bet you're more graceful than it feels to you0
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It's my 2nd favourite stroke after the backstroke. I love the 50 & 100m sprint in particular!0
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I love flying, but can't do it now because I'm still recovering from a digestive illness and the stroke is too hard on the core muscles. One of these days I hope to be back at it.0
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Pinata, that can be a long term goal as you recover, when you're recovered enough from the illness work on the core with the goal of getting back to butterfly. In the meantime, feel better & take care of yourself to get to that point.......0
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Yes, I am just trying to get back to the point where I am going to the pool daily. That's the hard part, getting back into good habits again. My arms are already feeling stronger.0
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Excellent!!!! I know it's hard to do, but try to keep the long-term view & build consistently to your goals. Don't do too much too soon, so that you don't set yourself back........0
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I used to hate it.
Since I've taught swimming for 5 years, I learn more and more about butterfly each year, and it's not so bad once you get the rhythm down. It's finding that rhythm that is difficult for most people.
I guess I still prefer freestyle because I like swimming long distance instead of swimming 100 fly and wanting to pass out.
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Finding that rhythm is like learning to ride a bicycle - it's really difficult until it "clicks", but once it does you've got it for life & the only thing you need to do is keep strong enough in the core, arms & shoulders to be able to do it.........0
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Like it. It does good things for my flexibility, in my shoulders and in my back, and freestyle always seems more effective after butterfly for some reason. One of my swimming teacher friends says "bum-bum-boing" to teach the rhythm.0
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It's that stroke that makes me feel like a gymnast even though I am so far from a gymnast. But in the water I can do stuff that I can't on dry land.0
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Like it. It does good things for my flexibility, in my shoulders and in my back, and freestyle always seems more effective after butterfly for some reason. One of my swimming teacher friends says "bum-bum-boing" to teach the rhythm.
Your freestyle feels like that because you are REALLY loosening up from doing fly...........0 -
I absolutely love it! Although I have to be conscious of making my back stronger outside of the pool because if I do too much butterfly my back will start to hurt.
Here's one drill I like to do, my coach always called it "Build-a-fly" It goes:
Right arm single stroke, Left arm single stroke, both arms full stroke. Then 2 Right, 2 Left, 2 Full, then 3/3/3, 4/4/4, etc. as high as you want. I like to go up to 10/10/10 and then go back down.0 -
Rom - that's a great fly drill & I love the way it builds longer as the swimmer gets stronger.......0
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Well, I've come up with a set of goals for myself that so far, is workng out pretty well.
Goal #1: (25 yd butterfly sprint + 25 yd relaxed backstroke kick) x 5 - COMPLETED
Goal #2: (25 yd butterfly sprint + 25 yd relaxed backstroke kick) x10 - COMPLETED
Goal #3: (50 yd butterfly sprint + 25 yd relaxed backstroke kick) x 5
Goal #4: (50 yd butterfly sprint + 25 yd relaxed backstroke kick) x 10
I'm starting to like it more and hate it less. But man, by the time I get to the end of the sprints, I can barely get my arms out of the water. But that's ok. My stamina will improve.0 -
Ms_J1, fantastic job setting up the goals & congratulations on your progress. Your stamina WILL improve, as you can already see by comparing goal # 2 to goal 31. Remember to make sure your kick is strong to the end, that will help your arms. I'm also in the process of building my fly stamina, it's going slower than it used to but I'm a LOT older than I used to be, so all in all I'm pretty happy with it.........0
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Here's another butterfly drill. I had to do it a few trainings ago.
First you should warm up your butterfly, e.g.:
50m butterfly kick
2x 50m: 25m right arm + 25m left arm (with kick)
50m 3x right arm, full stroke, 3x left arm, full stroke, repeat
Then 7x 100m (10sec rest):
25m butterfly - 75m breaststroke
50m butterfly - 50m breaststroke
75m butterfly - 25m breaststroke
100m butterfly
75m butterfly - 25m breaststroke
50m butterfly - 50m breaststroke
25m butterfly - 75m breaststroke0
