I swim each week day so 5 days to focus on butterfly - it takes time. I do the warmup and stretching as per Video 1 before the swim. More feedback on this video later as I need to watch a few times - great video, great English and great swimming
I am a former competitive gymnast I am learning to swim properly at 50 years of age. Your videos are the best I have found anywhere. Your explanations of technique, drills and dry land training are very thorough and I have improved my swimming a lot already! I will continue to use you as my "coach" and I hope to continue to improve! Thank you so much for all of your help! :)
Absolutely one of the best video I have seen so far. However, I still had a hard time to see the difference with the elbow position. I had to play the same video on two screens and I'm still not 100% sure I got it all understood. Thanks again.
I follwed your body position and timing... I can finally swim 25 meters with 5 strokes after 5 dolphin kicks! Big Thanks! the most useful tip on youtube :D
Michael Phelps coach recommended one arm fly breathing from the side. Breathing from the front makes the legs drop too low. I also think a snorkel helps to feel how the body should be balanced.
This is excellent instruction on butterfly - much better than any other channel. Evgeny has good English and is very positive and encouraging. Alexander swims and demonstrates butterfly really well. For the high elbow catch perhaps add a close up of how the elbow is rotated (in the band drill and in the water). I think the important point I got is that the high elbow position should start when the hands enter after the recovery. A close up and more annotations during swimming would also help. With each drill ideally explain it's purpose and how it helps. (i.e) whats the difference between each drill and is one better than any other ?. On the Free kick drill, when you say keep fluctuations to a min - what does that mean ? as the swimmer is still doing some undulation (head into water). When I watch I sometimes turn the RU-vid speed to 0.75. I know you do vary the speed but perhaps think about slowing down some parts to talk in detail about them. These are some points - all in all really helpful video and thanks you and swimmer Alexander (now I am a big fan of Russians).
Thank you very much Tom for your detailed feedback. I will take it into account for the next swimming lessons! By minimum fluctuations up and down, I mean that swimmer should not rise too high from the water and then go deep. Basically, it should be the same level in the water.
Your videos are great. I'm able now to swim a bigger distance but I feel very tired yet. The most difficult part to me is the returning phase of the arm stroke. Can you show us some dry exercises or water drills to improve this part of butterfly?
Super nice video!! I can’t quite see the difference between the low elbow and the elbow pointing upwards though, would be nice to see more slomo & close up!
In my opinion your videos are perhaps the most detailed advanced explanation and demos I have ever seen (and I've seen A LOT!) , do you have clinics in USA, do you guide swimmers on personal base (through interchange videos and video analysis? , Virtual coaching?)
I really found good teaching for my swimming. How grateful!Recently I feel difficult when I do one arm fly . While one arm reaches near belly button my body begin to lost ballance, twisted. If I do freestyle stroke body's not shaking. Is there some solution?
ı tried some drills and they are very beneficial. but to me, using breaststroke pull with dolphin kick at the same time is the flashpoint of fly timing. timing- one stroke and two dolphin- was very confusing for me before this method. it is now easier to feel the right rhytm on fly technique
Hi, Nice guy ! You absolutely gave me a great skill and training method to learn how to improve my butterfly. I really can get better technique and swimming in butterfly after seeing your butterfly drill you had shown. I think your video for improving butterfly is most efficient and less consuming energy technique in butterfly swimming. for at both of the athlete and beginner swimmer. I really appreciate your devotion to make people have easy and powerful butterfly technique. Thank you very much, again !
Thank you for the very valuable information and training drills. How do you time the two kicks to ensure maximum fwd thrust and continuity with arm strokes?
Bonjour et merci pour la vidéo. Pouvez vous me parler du retour aérien des bras...j ai remarqué comme chez milak une position des mains qui entrent dans l eau quasiment a la verticale. Quand les mains sortent de l eau faut il pour cela privilégier le retour aérien en commençant par l auriculaire afin que l entrée se fasse par le pouce et l index.? Pour ma part j ai remarqué que ça favorise une bonne entrée de la tête avec ondulation ..et une bonne prise d appuis et de bien pousser l eau.. mon analyse est elle juste?
When after recovery you should immediately pull down for the next stroke right ? The arms bend in EVF when pulling but it is mostly straight pull down all the way past the hips out of the water , is it right ? Thank you
Well, i think "this" butterfly with that late kick and those arms and head down, is very much like the one is teached to kids. But it's not the butterfly that is used when racing. This could be called "broken fly", there's no "flow".
I would like practice these exercises before doing strokes. Elbow and Forearm are important although is a hard exercise to perform. however, I am going to try to do as it is described in the video. I have tried the land exercise and I am waiting to use them in the pool.
I've been coached not to pause at the top of the stroke (hand entry to catch), however there is a obvious glide in your video with a dolphin kick driving the hands into the catch. Any tips for developing this timing?
Hello Carl, you have been taught correctly. Swimmers should not pause at the top. However, we cannot have too high tempo. This is why, we need to slow down the speed of catching phase of the stroke. In the video, Alexander is slowing down the speed, but does not pause. If we pause for a long time, speed will decrease and we need to start the stroke from scratch! Thank you for your comment!
At 1.07, is that exercise for the catch more for freestyle than butterfly? Is butterfly arm stroke more of a key hole pattern, so the initial phase will be like a breast stroke? Please show a exercise with a stretch band to specifically train for that initial phase of the butterfly pull? Thanks.
Very useful and instructive video! It helped me a lot. In particular, I noticed that the arms after the breathing phase should be under water and pointing slightly downwards, I was instead keeping them at the water surface! I will try tomorrow to fix it.
excellent content. thanks man. I am learning this from RU-vid and its working. One question: you seem to dive very low between strokes. In your case you look smooth and natural, but I work that by diving in the water so deep after the arm pulls there is too much up and down movement and therefore expending more energy. Phelps fly video seems to oscillate much much less. your style is beautiful though.
Compared to other competitive butterfly swimmers, It seems that the second kick is a little bit too late. The second kick should start as soon as the hands enter the water. Unlike other swimming styles, there should be no gliding in butterfly.
Thank you for the explanation. The one arm drill looks like a freestyle drill. Is it safe to conclude that arm movement in butterfly is actually the same as in freestyle, except that it's done simultaneously?
Hello, thanks for the video. I am not able to understand all. For example, at 6:09 "in the start postition, the elbow looks donwards when it should be facing upwards". I don't understand here. The elbow is in a high position indeed, what is the problem here? Thanks.
For me this video is advocating for bad and outdated technique. The keyhole is no longer recommended. A straight pull back, ala Sara Sjostrom is recommended. The kick shown in this video is mistimed also and there is an extended glide at the front which is uneccessary.
Does the hand movement similar/same as freestyle but do both sides at same time?? Can i think it this way? I see there are a lot of body coordination, and thats make butterfly so hard....
Hello, well, I would not say that it is similar to freestyle. It is quite similar to breaststroke arm stroke. In butterfly you start the arm stroke with arm movements to the side, however in freestyle you move your arm down from the beginning.
Swimmate Thanks! I wil be glad if you explain this issue with a fly swimming and not freestyle, in freestyle I see the difference but in fly its more difficult for me. Also, hands position under water - when u open your hands to the sides - can u explain more about it? sometimes I feel my arms go lost under water before the pull phase and I dont understand what to do with them , how to scull and how many time to stay in this position before the pull...😦
Hagit Ad high and low elbow is the same for butterfly and freestyle. Butterfly swimming lessons are already filmed. I will make a separate video later on about high and low elbow in butterfly
Droido 05 yeah it can be wider but if shoulder flexibility allows to do more narrow it’s worth doing it. When hands are close in the end of the recovery phase, it saves speed better