Butterfly leg movement

Hey people, and welcome back to my swimming blog! As usual, this week we're going to continue with the “butterfly style”. This time in learning about the butterfly style, we are studying the kick components of the style; in other words, how to make your feet go as fast as possible when swimming this style.

As I may have reminded you in my previous posts, I had a REALLY BAD history with the butterfly style, ESPECIALLY the hands. But fortunately, the hands are the main problem when swimming butterfly, and here's some good news about this style at last: You can count on me to fill you in with the details of the leg movement, since I've already got that mastered.

But then again, what's a teacher without his teaching equipment? (or, in simpler language, what's my blog about teaching without any proof that what I teach is true?) As usual, you'll find the link to the video here. Remember, you're free NOT to watch the video, but I'd advise you to watch it if you want to understand the rest of the post starting from the next paragraph more. If you DON'T watch it, however, you'll have a harder time understanding this post. OK, enough talk, let's get straight to it!

As we have seen in the video (for those of you who've watched it, that is), The kick in the butterfly style is also known as the “dolphin kick”. The reason for this is that the kick in the butterfly style is a very powerful one, one that exerts a great deal of momentum, just like a dolphin, which also exerts a powerful “kick” through the water, suggesting the great power of the animal's swimming.

Also note that the kick in the butterfly style has a great influence over your body while swimming butterfly (therefore also affecting your swimming performance or record if you're in a competition). The kick is what will boost your body upward from the water, giving time for you to perform your hand strike in the time window when your body is boosted upward. It also makes up about 45% of your overall speed while swimming butterfly.

When performing the butterfly kick, it is vital to have proper timing between your kicks. The preferred kicking rhythm is two kicks per hand “strike” (that's what a turn of hand movement is called in swimming) as shown in the video. When moving your feet, also remember to make it stay close together, as if they were one. This way, there's more flexibility in the feet (mostly the ankle area). If you kick like this, your feet will create a large amount of force, therefore also generating a large amount of momentum for moving forwards.

Well, sorry guys, but that's about all I've got for leg movement for the butterfly style. Fortunately, we've still got a few more days to discuss about this style and more of its tips and tricks that you can use in order to maximize your skills in butterfly (despite my deep hatred of this style, I'll try my best to help you). So goodbye for now, and see you until the next post guys!