Improve Your Butterfly Swimming

Swimming butterfly strokes can be very challenging for beginners. After breaststroke, the butterfly is known to be a very complex swimming technique. In this article, we will learn tips and tricks to improve your butterfly swimming. Learning what to do and what not to do when swimming is really important for beginners. It’s always best to correct your technique at the beginning of your training practice.

Today, we have Alexa, she’s 8 Years old and is in her beginner stages of the learning butterfly stroke. We will talk about how we are going to improve her butterfly technique. 

Improving Head Position – Keep your head low.

Keeping your head low when breathing is always better when swimming in any stroke. 

It is very common in young swimmers that their head position is too high when trying to breathe. In the above pic, the swimmer’s head is so high that even the chest is coming out of the water. This creates a lot of resistance to water when swimming. Due to the increased resistance with water, swimmers get exhausted very quickly resulting in slow swimming speed or failing to complete the lap.

Note: It’s not the end of the world if young swimmers get their heads too high in the water because we want them to feel comfortable. They should be able to breathe properly and feel confident. But gradually practicing the correct head position is important for efficient swimming.

Perfecting any swimming stroke takes a lot of practice and guidance from well-trained instructors. If you or your kids are looking for private swimming lessons from the best instructors in Austin Texas, look no further! Schedule Private Swimming Lessons today and get 50% OFF on your first lesson!

Improving Hand Position – Get your hands high in the air.

Getting your hands high when swimming butterfly will give you more power and speed!

Alexa has the perfect hand position in the above image. As we have seen before that her head was too high above the water, but that’s not too bad because she is also getting her hands high in the air. A lot of young swimmers drag their hands forward when swimming butterflies which is not good or efficient. Keeping your head too high and then dragging your hands will massively impact your speed and stamina.

As shown in the above image, the hand position should be high in the air. As high as your head or even above! This will result in more power when the hands enter back into the water. More power equals more speed when swimming.

The angle of Alexa’s when re-entering the water.

If you carefully look at the image above, you will notice that Alexa’s hands are slightly tilted to a cross angle. This is a very smart technique to grab more water and prevent high impact with the water. Grabbing more water will give you a more powerful pull when swimming. Having a certain angle to your palms will also help redirect water more hydro-dynamically.

Timing is important

Hands coming under the chest at the right time is important.

As we all know that butterfly and breaststroke require perfect timing for efficient swimming. Syncing your hands, head and legs is very important. A lot of young swimmers always struggle with timing which results in exhaustion or complete stalling when swimming. In the above picture, Alexa’s hands come under her chest at the perfect time when her head is about to get out of the water. This will give her adequate time to breathe while her hands complete the rotation in the air.

Wrong timing will slow you down!

As young swimmers start to get exhausted, they get caught which means they can’t pause their hands out front long enough for a second kick. Some swimmers also cannot get their heads above the water soon enough to breathe. As you can notice in the above image, the swimmer couldn’t get her head above the water soon enough which is resulting in drag with water. Swimmers get stuck lifting their hands and heads at the same time. This will result in exhaustion, confusion, and stalling when swimming. This is not a very efficient way to swim a butterfly.

To swim a perfect butterfly strokes, you need to practice more on your head position, the timing of your arms, breathing, and kicking.

Watch the following video to improve your butterfly swimming.

Perfecting any swimming stroke takes a lot of practice and guidance from well-trained instructors. If you or your kids are looking for private swimming lessons from the best instructors in Austin Texas, look no further! Schedule Private Swimming lessons today and get 50% OFF on your first lesson!