How To Swim Butterfly: Slide To The Corners Drill

Slide to the Corners is the next drill in the sequence of drills to learn to swim butterfly. It's an extension of the Hand-Lead Body Dolphin drill.

It teaches the right setup of the arms and body in the butterfly stroke just before the arms start to pull.

Swimming Drill Video

Here's a video that demonstrates the drill:

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Push off the wall in a prone position with arms extended to the front, shoulder width apart.
Execute three body undulations like explained previously in the hand-lead body dolphin drill.
When you press the chest down the third time, slide the hands further to the sides, until they are about three feet away, as if sliding them to corners.
When you release the chest, slide the hands back to their initial position, shoulder width apart.
Pause, breathe, then restart the cycle of three pulses.
When this becomes easy, instead of pausing to breathe, let the chest and head rise out of the water when the hands slide back shoulder width apart. Take a quick breath, then let the head and chest drop to start the next series of three pulses.
Finally, try to slide your hands to the corners with every body undulation, but still only breathing every third pulse.

During the drill, the arms should stay relaxed. You don't use them to initiate the body undulation or to raise the chest out of the water when breathing.
Keep the arms at the same level when sliding them to the corners, don't drop them deeper below the surface.

When breathing, the face should be rather looking down than to the front.
Take a mental note of the position when the arms are slid to the corners. In this position, the arms form a Y with the body and the chest is positioned slightly lower than the hips. It is as if the body was bent to store elastic potential energy which is then released when the chest rises and the arms start to pull.