1. Get the Rhythm
You rarely see the butterfly stroke on a lazy Sunday afternoon at the swimming pool. Rather a swim team practices the complicated stroke for swim meets. This is probably because the butterfly, or "fly" as it's sometimes called, requires a great deal of coordination and rhythm to get the body doing the right things at the right time. When starting out, it's easy to get discouraged as arms and legs move at the wrong time and direction, but once you get the correct timing of the hips going up as the arms go in the water, it gets easier. If you look underwater, the stroke looks like the letter "S." When a swimmer performs the fly correctly, it is a thing of beauty.
2. Work That Body
Think of the body as a teeter-totter. When you push down with your upper chest, your hips go up; when hips go in the water, the chest comes up. Now add arm movement. With arms posed in a low arc, send hands in the water at shoulder width at the same time that hips go up. Keep your elbows high and out as your hands go in the water for the "catch" with fingers almost together. Press the hands out and around you once they enter the water, pulling them down the center of the body toward the hips until they come out of the water.
3. Use Your Head
Now don't lose your head. Literally! The head should go in the water right before your hands go in. Tuck the chin in toward the chest in the water at the same time that hands enter the water, and then push the chin forward and allow the head to come out for a needed breath. The rhythm feels awkward at first, but it comes together with practice.
4. Do the Dolphin Kick
Watch dolphins swim, and it looks like the body undulates from the kick through the body. Butterfly swimmers use a similar kick from the chest down. With toes pointed near the surface, kick down when the arms enter the water and hips lift up. Kick again, a little stronger, as the arms pull through water. Therefore, it's a quick succession of two kicks where feet and legs stay close to each other. After the second kick, you're throwing your arms over to start the stroke again.
5. Breathing Pulls it All Together
While you're remembering the timing of all the movements of the butterfly stroke, it's easy to forget to breathe. Don't. But, don't breathe too often either. The standard breath pattern is one quick breath for every two strokes as arms go into the low arc through the air. Practiced butterfly swimmers on a swim team may not breathe the first time until they've traveled half the length of the pool to save crucial seconds in their butterfly time.
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