Butterfly Swim with Two Beat Kick

I don't swim a lot of lengths of the butterfly stroke.  It's hard.  I love it.  I love to swim it but it's hard. I love the feel of moving through the water this way.  I love watching a graceful person moving through the water using this swim stroke.  Lovely to watch.  But it's hard.

I try, towards the end of each workout, to swim 4x25 metres.  (That's 25 metres four times with a rest between each 25 metre swim.)  Don't ask me how long of a rest I take.  I might lie.

The key to a smooth butterfly stroke is a two beat kick per one arm stroke.  One kick down when your arms are going in and one kick down when your hands are coming out.  If you are kicking down when your hands are coming out of the water, your hips are up which makes it way easier to get your hands up and out. Takes some practice.  Not easy.  Did I mention that it's hard?

More often than not I will use fins when swimming my butterfly sets.  Makes it a little easier and I'm pretty sure it looks pretty cool. 

By the way, as an aside, I use longer fins.  Many will argue the the shorter fins are what lap swimmers should use.  I've used both.  Remember that everyone is different - not everything works for everyone.  But for me, I find that I get better flexibility in my feet and ankles.  Also, the longer fins work my calves, legs in general and my hips more.  I do a two beat kick in freestyle so I'm more interested in a good strong kick that stamina in my kicking.  Most swimmers do not gain a lot of speed with a kick.

But I digress. If you want more butterfly training tips, please let me know.