Butterfly 1
The arms fling forward and over the water and the face drops into the water. The feet begin a powerful downward kick. The hands and arms enter the water either directly in front of you, or just to the side of your shoulder width and your arms extended. The arms move outward to the catch position. The hands push backwards and the legs recover ready for the smaller second kick.
Your hands fix in the water and with your elbows cocked they begin to push outwards and backwards. As the hands come close together under the body, make sure you have expelled all the air from your lungs.
Butterfly 2
The sequence of the kick is that you give a big kick as your arms enter the water in front of you. The heels then come back to the surface and the second and less vigorous kick commences as your arms move into the pushing phase or when you are about to take a breath.
Butterfly 3
In this picture the hands continue their push down to the thighs and the head is kept in the water. If you were going to take a breath then the chin would be on the water as in picture 1, ready to breath in.
Mistakes made in butterfly are:
- Poor dolphin kick due to lack of ankle extension ability and not turning the feet in.
- Kicking too deeply or bending the knees too much in the upbeat. As the hands enter the water the sweep outward starts immediately and the upbeat of the first kick is made. As the arms leave the water the upbeat and then downbeat of the second kick is completed.
The Crawl
The Swimmer's Programme
