The Butterfly Stroke

The butterfly stroke has a special place among the competitive swimming strokes. It has a reputation of being hard to learn. It is quickly exhausting. Yet when you have mastered the stroke, swimming a few lengths of butterfly is a lot of fun.

Butterfly Stroke Video

Let's have a look at how Michael Phelps swims the stroke.

Swim Phases

Let's analyze the butterfly stroke's swim phases. We imagine that the swimmer is at the beginning of the stroke's cycle:

  • He lies flat in the water.
  • The head is aligned with the spine, the face is down.
  • The arms are extended to the front and shoulder width apart. The palms are turned downwards.
  • The legs are kept together, the knees are slightly bent.
  • The feet are flexed and point away from the body.

Now the swimmer starts the stroke's cycle:

  1. The arms separate more. Seen from above the swimmer's body forms an Y-like shape.
  2. The chest and head are pressed down in the water, then released.
  3. As the chest and head are released, the wrists flex, the palms are turned to the end of the pool, the elbows bend and the hands start to move backwards in direction of the swimmer's belly.
  4. Simultaneously, as the chest rises, the hips drive down and the legs follow along.
  5. When the chest is at its highest point, it passes above the arms, then starts to drop again.
  6. When the chest starts to drop again, the hips start to rise, the knees extend and the feet execute a kick.
  7. The hands starts to separate, the chest drives further down and the hips rise further up.
  8. The chest starts to move back up, the hips start to go down again.
  9. As soon as the shoulders clear the water, the elbows straighten and the arms are quickly thrown sideways and backwards out of the water. The palms are turned upwards.
  10. The head has also cleared the water. The swimmer looks down and a little bit to the front. Now is the time to take a quick breath.
  11. The arms hover above the water and return to their initial position. Simultaneously the shoulders rotate so that at the end of the recovery the palms are turned downwards again.
  12. Shortly before the arms are fully extended to the front, the head and shoulders enter the water.
  13. When the arms are fully extended to the front and shoulder width apart, they enter the water. The cycle can then start again.

Swimming Technique

The following articles cover the butterfly stroke's technique in more detail:

Head and Body Positions: Learn how to properly position your head and move your body in the butterfly swimming stroke. Avoid a common mistake that can lead to swimming injuries.

Arm and Hand Movements: Learn to swim the butterfly with the correct arm and hand motions to move efficiently in the water.

The Butterfly Kick: Learn how to correctly do the dolphin kick. Get some swimming tips and watch a video of Michael Phelps demonstrating the technique.

Breathing Technique: All you need to know about breathing while you swim butterfly! Describes breathing technique, patterns and tips.

Learn How To Swim

Learn How To Swim Butterfly: Teaches a set of progressive swimming drills to learn the butterfly stroke. At first you learn the body undulation and dolphin kick which are the foundations of the stroke. Then you learn the under water catch, pull and push phases of the arms. Afterwards you learn the recovery of the arms above the water. Finally you integrate all the motions learned in the previous drills and transition into swimming butterfly.

Related Pages


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