Fly Like a Pro: Butterfly Swim Drills For Speed

At the Race Club, we employ a variety of swim drills to develop an effective butterfly stroke technique. The butterfly stroke demands significant strength and endurance to achieve speed. It’s crucial for a swimmer to have a technique that conserves energy efficiently. To excel in the 100 and 200-meter butterfly events, a swimmer needs to breathe while maintaining an optimal technique, which involves a strong kick, a powerful arm recovery, and utilizing the neck’s full range of motion. For the arm recovery, some swimmers with exceptional shoulder flexibility can achieve a vertical recovery. However, most fast swimmers utilize an ascending recovery, where the hands enter the water above the head and within the shoulder line. To improve recovery, we practice the Left, Right, Front Drill. Keeping the shoulders low during breathing requires full neck extension, which we address by practicing the freestyle kick butterfly drill, helping swimmers maintain low shoulders while breathing. We also focus on snapping the head down forcefully after breathing. There are two breathing styles in butterfly: early and late. Many swimmers use an early breath, maximizing propulsion but keeping the head above water longer, increasing drag and energy expenditure. Swimmers like Kate Douglas, Luca Orlando, and Joseph Schooling use a late breath technique, which keeps the head lower while pulling and elevating it late for breathing. Although this might reduce propulsion, it minimizes drag and conserves energy. To evaluate a swimmer’s late breath technique, we employ a series of stone skipper drills. Once we determine the ideal swim technique for each swimmer, we proceed to refine their stroke rate.