Butterfly

Last, but not least (ok, maybe it is the least), we have the butterfly. Very very very (and so on) few people will ever enjoy doing the butterfly. It is by far and away the stroke that requires the most energy. It can be a very fast stroke, but you have to have an incredibly strong upper body and lots of time to practice before you can think about finishing a butterfly race, let alone go fast.

The butterfly is the only symmetrical stroke. Your arms and legs are always doing the same thing and you're never on your side. Your arms simply go around in circles pulling water backwards then recovering forwards out of the water. The legs are always together and beat up and down. Two kicks for every full arm pull. You breathe simply by lifting your head, usually every other stroke.

It is a beautiful looking stroke though. Very fluid. Very intense.

Make sure you aren't swimming uphill during this stroke. You'll hate life. Tuck your head down far and use your momentum. Another thing to think about is the kick does not start at the feet. It doesn't start at the knees. It doesn't even start at the hips. It's a full body kick. It starts at the shoulders and makes one large power wave through your body and ends at your feet. It gives you rhythm and power. Watch the pros. Their whole body torques.

In the past 2008 summer Olympics arguably the greatest race in the history of swimming occurred. Its was the 100 butterfly and unless you've been living under a rock (a enormous rock at that) you know what I'm talking about. He's a video for a refresher.

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4862941565753538745

Phelps out-touches Serbia's Milorad Cavic to win the race by the slimmest of margins.

There's so much to look at in this race, but lets focus on the finish, because that's obviously the climax. When you finish any stroke (especially butterfly and breaststroke) it's very important to gauge your distance from the wall so you don't end up being a half of a stroke from the wall. Ideally you want to make your list 4ish strokes just a tiny bit longer (or take 5 and make them a little shorter instead) so you can hit the wall in perfect stride with the stroke.

Rarely do any of the pros make such a blaring error in judgment, but both Phelps and Cavic found themselves in rookie looking situations. 1.5 strokes from the wall. Cavic guessed it would be best to glide in for the remaining 2 meters or so, while Phelps decided to take tiny stroke to finish into the wall. Even though Phelps won, neither one of them had guessed right or wrong. They were both in bad positions. The reason Phelps won is not because he took the extra stroke. It's not that he had more heart than Cavic (though he may). The reason Cavic lost is because he didn't kick into the wall. He just relaxed and glided in. He swam 99 meters perfect, but he swam the last meter like a beginner. It might be because he lead the whole race and had no idea the race was so close. I don't know. I just know if he did one more kick at the finish, he'd have won by 10 hundredths instead of losing by 1.

Breaststroke

Breast stroke is the odd stroke out. It's the weird cousin that went off to be a ventriloquist. It's a Skittle in a bag of M@Ms.

The reason I say this, is because breaststroke is a horizontal stroke while all the others are vertical. The propulsion in breaststroke is created by moving your arms and legs side to side instead of forward and backward. The arms in the breaststroke start together in front of you. The elbows pull down until they're even with your shoulders the hands pull under you until they reach your chest and should be outside of your torso. Your head will pop out of the water to breath. From there, the hands come together and forward to the starting position.

The legs start straight. The feet then bend right to your butt. They finish by exploding out and back together. The knees are never far apart.

When finishing or doing a turn you need to touch the wall with both hands at the same time. During a turn, after you push off the wall, an underwater pull is done. It's the only stroke where you can do one, and you can only do one stroke underwater.

It's a hard stroke to describe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sW_HXbkqGc

After 30 seconds, you'll see what I mean.

The biggest problem I've seen in people learning the breaststroke is timing the breath. Unfortunately it's a common problem for a reason. There's no easy fix. The more you do it, the better it will be. Another problem is that they pull their arms too low. When doing the stroke your hands should never be parallel to your chest. They should be just a little passed the neck. This makes the stroke rate faster. More efficient strokes=going faster. Fix it by over emphasizing it. Swim with short fast arms until it becomes more natural.

Since breaststroke is so different than other strokes, you find a lot of swimmers that specialize in it and are poor at others. What makes Brenden Hansen and the other Olympians better than us, is their ability to pull their arms slowly and powerfully, while still recovering very fast. The result is a very awkward looking stroke, but they cruise. Another thing is their underwater pulls. Off of their starts, some swimmers go 20 meters underwater. They go fast underwater, but still maintain energy.

Breaststroke is a strange strange thing. It's also the slowest stroke. Despite looking a little

awkward and not making much sense, there's still some beauty to be found in it. It's fun. I know I

always enjoyed racing this stroke. It's something else to try to break the monotony of freestyle.