Advanced Butterfly for Competitive

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Constant stroke improvement is a key element of Swimfit. So to make sure you are squeezing the most out of your time in the pool here are a few advanced butterfly tips and videos.

As a swimmer we don't have to tell you how important it is to perfect your strokes so we have developed some advanced butterfly advice from the experts at the ASA.

On this page you'll find butterfly stroke tips and videos to guide you - note there's no sound to the videos, only action.

If you want to get into greater detail try our Ask The Expert facility. Before you do, check out our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page first to see if the answer has already been provided.

In the water

Your body should be led by the crown of your head with your shoulders and hips horizontal.
Try to keep your body as close as possible to the surface of the water.

Arm action

The arm action can be split into three propulsive, simultaneous sweeps.
The arms should stretch out in front of the body above the water surface and be led into the water by the thumb. The hands should enter about shoulder width apart with elbows bent and slightly higher than the hands.
Your hands then sweep down and out to form a Y shape in front of the body. Turn and sweep your hands back in towards each other, keeping your elbows high.
Finally, turn your hands up and back and sweep parallel to the side of your body.
Recovery of the arms is aggressive as you stretch them back out in front of you to re-enter. Keep your arms out of the water but try to avoid lowering your hips – the aim is to keep as streamlined as close to the water as possible.

Kicking

The leg action comes from the hips. The heels and soles of your feet should break the surface from underneath with your knees slightly bent on the upbeat.
Powerful downbeats of the feet then propel the body forward. Try to keep your legs close together with your ankles relaxed.
Your downbeat kick should occur as the arms enter and sweep out.
Try to kick twice per arm cycle – once to propel your arms out of the water for recovery and once as the arms enter the water.

Breathing

The most common butterfly breathing is to the front.
Like in breaststroke, your shoulders should lead your head out of the water. Your front should rise naturally with the undulation of your body.
Keep your chin in front of your forehead and inhale quickly in through your mouth.
After inhalation, quickly lower your head before exhaling quickly under the water through your mouth and nose. Your head should re-enter the water before your arms.
Exhalation usually occurs during the final upsweep and inhalation as the arms start to recover.
Some competitive swimmers choose to breathe to the side. This technique involves the same timing as breathing ahead but the swimmer turns their head to one side for inhalation rather than lifting their head.
Breathing to the side can help keep the body closer to the water but many swimmers find the neck twist uncomfortable.
The most common breathing cycle is once every two arm cycles but some competitive swimmers choose to swim every cycle for longer races or every three cycles for shorter races.
Another common technique is breathing twice every three cycles – just use whichever you find most comfortable.

Turning

As you approach the wall for the turn, your hands should touch simultaneously below, at, or above the surface like in breaststroke.
After touching, immediately thrust one hand backwards away from the wall. Next, rotate your body on to its side by poking your hips and tucking your knees before planting your feet on the wall.
As you push off, powerfully straighten your legs to transfer the momentum away from the side of the pool.
Start a dolphin leg kick underwater as your momentum slows down, keeping your arms in front of you, ready to start the propulsive phase under the water.
The first arm pull – to a Y shape – should be timed while the body is still slightly submerged but parallel to the water surface.

Useful?

Talk

8

1.23am 26th December 2012
Hector Luna from Mexico

I am amateur swimmer and I want to improve my technique
7

2.48pm 6th August 2012
Chris Pratt

I don’t swim fly as much as other strokes because I find it hard. I wonder if the reason is shoulder flexibility. The photo at the top of the page illustrates really good shoulder flexibility - her hands are well behind/above her back which presumably helps arm recovery a lot especially if, like me, you’re a relatively slow flyer and rather low in the water. Maybe I should do some land-based exercises to stretch and strengthen my arms so I can do the arm recovery like the photo above. Are there any exercises for this?
6

7.37pm 31st March 2012
Kim from England

As a swim coach I am very confused with the advice here to breath with the chin in front of the forehead. I was always advised to coach fly leading with the forehead not the nose/chin as keeping the chin tucked in and forehead foreward maintains a high hip position and in turn causes less resistance during the stroke. Can anyone clarify this difference in advice.
5

5.15pm 26th January 2012
Iain from England

I’m a 42 year old male back swimming competitively over the last year after 22 years out. I’m struggling to maintain form over 100m and wonder if you have some specific strength training tips either in the pool or using weights - thanks
4

6.18pm 10th December 2011
colm from ireland

i’m a 52 year old male adult..new to swimming..started about 2yrs. now..much of that time was spent on getting over fear of water/confidence..am confident in shallow end of pool, no deep end experience yet..also am trying to teach myself , and i want my first stroke to be butterfly..i have the basics of butterfly..find arms at the beginning of stroke complicated..why is this….as in the description below.
The arm action can be split into three propulsive, simultaneous sweeps.
The arms should stretch out in front of the body above the water surface and be led into the water by the thumb. The hands should enter about shoulder width apart with elbows bent and slightly higher than the hands.
Your hands then sweep down and out to form a Y shape in front of the body. Turn and sweep your hands back in towards each other, keeping your elbows high.
Finally, turn your hands up and back and sweep parallel to the side of your body.
Recovery of the arms is aggressive as you stretch them back out in front of you to re-enter. Keep your arms out of the water but try to avoid lowering your hips – the aim is to keep as streamlined as close to the water as possible.
3

4.04am 9th April 2011
lawrence from Canada

Thank you David, we’ll talk about it on the way to swimming tomorrow. He does have a tremendous kick so hopefully he can use it to propel himself forward. Can you describe the Layout Fly as the terminology may differ a little between our two countries.
2

3.29pm 8th April 2011
david mills from england

try getting him to breathe to the side as in frontcrawl,as it sounds like he is lifting his head up to breathe,which will have the affect of making his legs drop in the water.remember action and reaction.Layout fly is a good drill for this.
1

4.40pm 14th March 2011
Lawrence from Canada

Thank you for the article. My son is a competitive Flyer and for his age group is in the top 10 in the country however unlike the other kids, he really swims the 220 fly which is a distinct disadvantage. I say the 220 because he brings his chest so far out of the water that he is rising at about a 35 degree angle rather than the 10 degree angle that everyone else attains. The upshot of this of course is that while everyone else’s momentum takes them forward, his takes him in an upward forward direction. If he could achieve a forward momentum he could take a lot of time off of his stroke. He breathes every stroke and is trying to breathe every second stroke.

We’d be absolutely thrilled to learn any tips you have on how to fix this.