Francisco Navarro

Time key frames:

0:02 – 0:06  Do not rush your pull and your stoke and you are missing the movement of hips in butterfly.

You are missing lots of hip movement. In butterfly you do 2 kicks, one when you arms are in the front and the other when you finish the pull with your arms, the second kick (when your arms finish pulling) is the strong kick, the first one (when your arms enter the water is a smaller one.

Raise your hips higher when your arms are in front and your head and chest are sunken. This way you will have a more fluid kick and stroke.

0:07 – 0:10 The breath has to be earlier, when the pulling starts, the breathing starts.

Head entrance is late; it has to be in earlier than the hands.

0:11 – 0:20 When touching the wall, both hands touch at the same time and do the turn.

0:21 – 0:24 Move up your hips and your legs

When you have your arms in the front put your head and chest deeper, but keep your arms up close to the surface, this movement is going to help you have a more fluent stroke and be able to move your hips more and have a stronger kick.

Areas to work on, in general:

• Keep practicing the dolphin movement, the movement comes from your hips and core. You can practice on your back, front and vertical kick.
• When you Swim Butterfly it’s important to think and feel that all your movements are propulsing you forward.

Time key frames:

0:01 – 0:04 You need to do the full movement of the pull do not rush it, let your arm go in straight, bend your elbow to pull and finish all the way to the end then bring the arm up, the more strokes doesn’t mean you will go faster on the contrary, you will go slower and get more tired.

Use your shoulder rotation on your favor, when your hand goes in rotate and pull, it will be easier for your shoulders.

Your lower body is sinking, engage your core and bring your hips and legs closer to the surface. This will help you have a more efficient stroke. Your toes should touch the surface.

You are filling your lungs with air, trying to maintain your head out of the water, this is making your legs sink, try not having as much oxygen as possible on your lungs.

0:05 – 0:19 

You are not pulling water at the beginning of the stroke. Try to start your pull later and use your body rotation to go deeper.

At the pull your hands are too close to the surface, again use your body rotation to go deeper.

0:20 – 0:28 No turn. Be sure to practice your backstroke turn, so when you turn your feet are well position for a strong push and underwater dolphin kicks.

0:29 – 0:32

Do not do a pause with your arms when you finish the pull, when you end the pull bring it up right away, your arms should be like a windmill, opposite from one another all the time.

Keep your arms straight at all times when you are in the recovery phase.

Areas to work on, in general:

• Work on one thing at the time. Focus one day on one thing, then the next day another point, do not try to correct it all at once.
• Return to the basics and try to understand what your body needs to be completely horizontal.

Backstroke examples:

Time key frames:

0:02 – 0:09 Your looking down too much your head position should be in the middle between down and the front.

You are pushing the water to your inner side more than backwards, remember that you want to move forward and in order to move forward you have to pull the water towards your feet more in a straight line, this will increase the speed and will make you float more. Try bending your elbows with the fingers pointing a bit down instead to the side.

If you are sprinting you should narrow your kicks and have them in a faster tempo.

0:11 – 0:16 Don’t use the arms to start the turn, use your head for that and reach the streamline position in your under water kicks.

Remember you push then you start rotating, you are trying to rotate into freestyle before you turn. Keep practicing the turns when you swim and it will get easier every time.

Move more your hips when doing butterfly underwater kick. With the dolphin kicks you start to come closer to the surface, and make sure the first stroke is as strong as possible so you can carry the speed of the wall to your stroke.

0:16 – 0:27 You are taking your head out too much to breath, remember it should only come out half of the face.

When your arm goes in the water, try to glide more with your arms by rotating your body and do not drop your arm, when your hand enters the surface, rotate and glide it as much as you can to the front, right now you are gliding diagonal down and front (specially when breathing).

0:37 Sometimes your elbow breaks the surface first, the hand should enter first then the arm follows.

Areas to work on, in general:

• Work short distances keeping the best possible technique, as you improve, increase the swimming distances without changing your technique.

Free examples: