PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

By now you have learned all the aspects of the butterfly: the streamlined body position, the “keyhole” arm pull, the double-dolphin kick, the undulating body movement, and the proper breathing technique. As has been emphasized repeatedly, however, swimming a fluent butterfly depends on the ability to coordinate each of these skills with the others. This stroke is one of those phenomena about which it can truly be said that the whole is much more than the sum of its parts.

Cecil Colwin suggests learning the stroke in the following order:

1. Learn the dolphin kick.

2. Learn the arm stroke.

3. Coordinate the kick and the arm movement without the head action.

4. Coordinate the arm movement and the head action without the kick.

Once you have mastered steps 3 and 4, you are ready to put it all together. Figure 10.5 illustrates the proper way to swim the fly, as seen from the side and head-on.

One of the problems people encounter in learning to swim the fly is that it requires both coordination and strength. After taking just a few strokes, most people simply lack the strength necessary to do the stroke properly. The result is that they lapse into what my good friend Emmett Hines, coach of the H₂Ouston Swims Masters Club, calls the ButterStruggle. Hines, the 1993 U.S. Masters Coach of the Year, wryly defines the ButterStruggle as a less than graceful series of jerks and spasms that occur after fatigue has robbed a swimmer of his ability to do the butterfly correctly. “Watching it,” he notes with a Texas drawl, “is kind a like watching a cat cough up a fur ball—it’s painful to see, but there ain’t a whole lot you can do for it at the moment.”

Fortunately, there is a training technique that can help you over-come it. Hines calls it half fly. To do the half fly, all you need is the ability to swim at least one proper stroke of butterfly and the rest of a lap freestyle.

Here’s how it works. Let’s say you are swimming 200 yards. After the push off, take one stroke of butterfly, then finish the lap using freestyle. After the turn, do the same thing for the next lap, and so on.

As this gets easier, take two strokes of butterfly at the start of each lap. Once you are comfortable swimming the entire distance with two strokes of fly per lap, move up to three strokes—always being sure to drop back at the first hint of ButterStruggle. In this way, you can gradually improve your ability to swim the butterfly properly over longer and longer distances.