Learn to Swim Butterfly: Slide to the Corners Drill

Slide to the Corners is a drill to learn to swim butterfly. It is the next drill after Hand-Lead Body Dolphin in our series of butterfly stroke drills. Here’s a video that shows this drill:

Slide to the Corners lets you practice the setup of the arms before the underwater pull and its connection to the body undulation. Here are the instructions to practice this drill:

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Drill Instructions

• Push off the wall in a prone (face down) position with your arms extended forward and shoulder width apart.
• Do three body undulations like you practiced in Hand-Lead Body Dolphin.
• As you press your chest down in the water at the end of the third pulse, slide your arms apart under the water surface until they form a V-shape. Keep your arms high as you do this. This is called sliding to the corners.
• Feel how tension builds up in your upper body in this position, like a loaded spring. Later, when swimming butterfly, you will use this tension to add power to your pull.
• Slide your arms back to their parallel position as you release your chest.
• Stop, catch your breath, and repeat the procedure.
• Add breathing once you get the hang of sliding your arms to the corners. After sliding your arms to the corners and as your arms return to the parallel position, raise your chest and head above the water to take a quick breath. Then immediately proceed with the next pulses.
• Experiment with the number of undulations you can add or remove between each breath.

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Some tips

• Keep your hands relaxed while you practice this swimming drill. Don’t use your hands to begin the body undulation, or to raise your head above the water surface for breathing.
• At first, you can use a swimmer’s snorkel to avoid having to stop to breathe.
• Look down and slightly forward while breathing.

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