Butterfly Technique

Hands, Chest & Knees

Hands, Chest & Knees

In this tutorial we will go over some subtle things that you can do to improve your butterfly technique that will also make you swim faster.

1. Hands

1. Hands

The hands in swimming are like the blade of an oar, they have to be in the right place and position for a maximum efficiency.

  1.1 Pull

In butterfly that means starting the pull at a wide angle, use the glide to position your hands wider than your shoulders.

By starting the pull in a wide position you will use your larger back muscles (Latissimus Dorsi).

By using this muscles your pull will be stronger thus you will move more with each stroke, plus is less likely to get injured because you are using the smaller muscles less.

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Recommended Drill

With this drill you will get familiar with the wide movement.

Fins On

Now let’s practice the movement with our arms swimming butterfly with fins.

Go slowly don’t worry about going fast. Remember to focus on your hands grabbing the water.

2. Chest

2. Chest

The chest is important because it’s where the butterfly kick originates.

Wherever the chest goes the hips will follow.

Recommended Drill

It will help you get a feel for the movement of the chest. You might feel you are exaggerating the movement, but very good butterfliers move their chest down surprisingly deep.

Practice, get used to it and use it to your advantage.

Don’t forget to share it with your teammates!

3. Knees

3. Knees

The knees just like the chest can be a part of the body that gets forgotten.

When I watched a lot of Olympic swimmers in slow motion I found out that they bent their knees far more than I did.

So I got in the pool and forced myself to bend the knees more.

It didn’t feel very comfortable at first, but once I got used to it the kick felt much stronger.

Go ahead and try bending your knees a little more and feel how you improve your kick.

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Practice

To change any part of your stroke it requires a lot of repetition. So practice one thing at a time often and feel the improvement.

Once you dominate one thing go on to change the next one.

By Raul & Mauricio Uranga Last updated Jun 22, 2020

Go to your pool and practice smart!

Swim Fast!

For better results watch our video 

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