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Find out here everything about Swimming butterfly stroke.
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Summarized explanation
Face down in the water, make two leg beats for one (arm) stroke forward and at the same time. Breath in each cycle.
Step by step
1-BODY POSITION: Body stays facing down with head a little bit lower than legs. Butterfly stroke must be a natural and undulating movement.
2-LEG ACTION: Both legs move at the same time, flexing and extending knees, the ankle must be as flexible as possible.
3-ARM ACTION: Two phases: Propelling (push) phase and recovery phase. In the first phase, hands go in the water in front of shoulders with palms facing down, to push diagonally out. Then hands face in and press back to finish near the thighs. In the recovery phase, hands do not push any more, and are out of the water.
4-BREATHING: Inhale when shoulders are elevated due to the arms action, at the last half of the push. Exhale when face is under water when we make the stroke.
5-COORDINATION: Swimmers usually make two kicks for each complete arm cycle.
| Must Make and undulating movement with legs when arms enter water. |
Don´t Elevate arms in the air too much. |
Tips Move legs by flexing and extending knees and accompany with ankle movements. (Dolphin kick). |
Extended Explanation
BODY POSITION: The undulating movement is caused by the downkick of the legs. Body remains in the crawl position (face down) with head lower that legs. The butterfly stroke must be a natural movement, trying to reach the horizontal position.
LEG ACTION: Legs move together so the number of kicks is low. Knees flex and extend and ankle must be as flexible as possible.
ARM ACTION: It looks a lot like the crawl and we have two phases: push phase and recovery phase. In the first one, hands go in the water in front of the shoulders with palms facing down, to push diagonally out. Then hands face in and push back to finish near the thighs. In the recovery phase, hands do not push, and are out of the water. To do this we must have good shoulder flexibility.
BREATHING: : Inhale during the second half of the push, when shoulders are taken up by the arm push. Exhale when face is under water when we make the stroke.
COORDINATION: In the butterfly stroke, there are two leg kicks for each complete arm cycle, although there are swimmers that only make one.
Basic Muscles Explanation
The latissimus dorsi, meaning ‘broadest muscle of the back’, is the larger, flat, dorso-lateral muscle on the trunk, posterior to the arm, and partly covered by the trapezius on its median dorsal region. The major round is a small and rounded muscle located alongside the superior part of the latissimus dorsi. In the scapular zone the rhomboid and the trapezius are involved in their middle part. The trapezius is a long diamond-shaped muscle that descends from the neck to the middle of the back. The trapezius, in its middle zone, is the most involved in this type of exercise, it is located in the middle part of the back. The rhomboid is hidden under the trapezius.
Muscles & Joint Actions
From a muscular standpoint swimming develops strenght, endurance and flexibility in the upper and lower limbs. The traction we make in the water with our hands to thrust body forward involves the majority of our trunk muscles. The same happens to our legs, when flexing and extending our knees and heels, the muscle involvement is complete.
Sport Uses
The benefits that come from the different syles of swimming are important especially in relation to the cardio-pulmonary development. They are ciclic movements that involve the whole body and this increases our blood flow everyplace. This is why we say that swimming is one of the most complete exercises.
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