Master the Butterfly Stroke: Easy Drill for Improved Technique

Easy Butterfly is the final drill in our series of swimming drills to learn to swim butterfly. The video below shows this drill:

As you can see above, the Easy Butterfly drill is uncomplicated: you do a few butterfly stroke cycles at the beginning of a length, then switch to another swim stroke to avoid fatigue. This keeps your muscles fresh and you can swim more lengths of butterfly with correct form.

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Drill Instructions

• Push off the wall in a prone streamlined position, then take a butterfly stroke.
• Switch to a less exhausting swimming stroke (for example freestyle) for the rest of the length.
• Repeat for a few lengths.
• Repeat the drill but now take two butterfly strokes before switching to another swim stroke.
• Repeat for a few lengths.
• Repeat the procedure, starting each length with three butterfly stroke cycles.
• And so on…

Additional Tips

• Only take as few butterfly stroke cycles per length as you can do without becoming tired.
• In a first step, don’t breathe during the butterfly stroke cycles. Later on add breathing every other stroke cycle.
• Swim in a relaxed way to recover once you switch to the other swim stroke.

Swimming Butterfly

Once you have practiced the above drill, it is time to swim whole lengths of butterfly. At first alternate butterfly lengths with lengths using another swim stroke. Then increase this ratio to two butterfly lengths per other swim stroke length.

With practice you can progress to a ratio of three to one, or even four to one. Always maintain good form however. Switch to another stroke when you become tired.

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You can also experiment with alternating breathing and non-breathing strokes to see which combination allows you to get enough air without tiring too fast. Non-breathing strokes are less tiring but restrict oxygen availability.

Butterfly Swimming Video

Conclusion

If you have made it so far, you should be able to swim butterfly with relative ease. This puts you in the restricted circle of swimmers that have mastered the butterfly stroke. Congratulations!

It pays off to periodically revisit those butterfly stroke drills to improve your technique. And while you’re at it, have a look at our series of drills to learn other swim strokes.

 Previous Drill: Body-Dolphin Butterfly  Learn to Swim Butterfly – Overview