Butterfly Stroke: How to Swim the Butterfly Stroke

The butterfly stroke is a foundational swimming technique. The dynamic stroke requires practiced form and fitness. Swimmers perform the butterfly stroke face-down, symmetrically moving their arms while kicking the feet together in a movement known as a “butterfly kick” or “dolphin kick.” Butterfly stroke is one of the more challenging swimming strokes.

The butterfly stroke is the newest of the four competitive swimming strokes—the other three are freestyle, breaststroke, and backstroke. Swimmers practice these strokes worldwide, and at the highest level, swimmers compete for Olympic medals. The butterfly stroke is generally recognized as evolving from the breaststroke, the slowest of the strokes. Australian swimmer Sydney Cavill is credited with innovating the butterfly stroke in the early twentieth century. Other competitive swimmers and coaches, such as Henry Myers and David Armbruster, helped develop the stroke.

Learning how to swim butterfly can be challenging, as it takes both advanced technique and physical stamina. It is helpful to break the stroke into different sections by focusing on the parts of the body:

• Body position: When beginning to swim the butterfly stroke, face downward in the water, with your arms outstretched ahead of you about shoulder-distance apart. Your legs should be behind you with your knees slightly bent. As you move through the phases of the stroke, your body will tilt slightly back then forward in an undulating motion. Whole-body coordination is essential and also quite tricky when swimming the butterfly.
• Arm stroke: Like other swim strokes, you can break the butterfly arm movements into three primary phases: the pull, the push, and the recovery. From a starting position, pull your hands back towards your body. Keep your palms facing out and your elbows higher than your hands. Continuing from the previous stroke, push your hands down and back through the water, past your hips. Once your hands are past your hips, sweep them up and forward, breaking the surface of the water with your palms facing outward. Now you’re back to the beginning of the stroke.
• Leg stroke: There are two kicks as part of the butterfly stroke. As you are performing the pull part of the arm stroke, move your legs together in an upward, then downward motion, with your knees bending to allow a continuous, fluid stroke. This is known as a dolphin kick. During the pull-to-push transition, perform the same movement, except this time, make it bigger. This second kick will have more power since your arms are in recovery and your momentum is slowing.

As with most swimming strokes, breaking it down into different parts can be very helpful. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re learning the butterfly stroke.

1. 1. Graze your hips. After the pull phase of the arm stroke, just before you are bringing your ams forward in recovery, lightly drag your thumbs across your hips. This will ensure that your arms stay close to your body and help you keep your palms in the correct orientation.
2. 2. Ride the wave. When swimming butterfly, your whole body should move together in a wave-shaped undulation.
3. 3. Focus on breathing. Breathing is another challenging aspect of swimming butterfly. Ideally, as your arms are about to break the surface of the water for the recovery phase, begin to tilt your head back. As your arms come up and around, lift your face until your chin is just out of the water, and take a quick deep breath through your mouth. Then, plunge your face downward toward your chest to help your arm stroke. Exhale as you perform the rest of the stroke. Experienced swimmers will breathe every other stroke—or even less frequently, depending on their skill level and lung capacity.
4. 4. Keep your legs together. When doing the dolphin kick, avoid letting your legs drift apart. Keeping them together means less drag and a more efficient kick technique.
5. 5. Take it slow. Set aside time for your kicks and your arm movements. You can even break it down further: Try swimming with one arm at a time, just to get the motion down.
6. 6. Don’t overthink it. The butterfly stroke entails unfamiliar body movements. If you rush and push yourself before developing your technique, you’ll be working a lot harder than you have to and may strain tendons and muscles.

If you have a previous or pre-existing health condition, consult your physician before beginning an exercise program. Proper exercise technique is essential to ensure the safety and effectiveness of an exercise program, but you may need to modify each exercise to attain optimal results based on your individual needs. Always select a weight that allows you to have full control of your body throughout the movement. When performing any exercise, pay close attention to your body, and stop immediately if you note pain or discomfort.

In order to see continual progress and build body strength, incorporate proper warm-ups, rest, and nutrition into your exercise program. Your results will ultimately be based on your ability to adequately recover from your workouts. Rest for 24 to 48 hours before training the same muscle groups to allow sufficient recovery.

Want to become a better athlete? The MasterClass Annual Membership provides exclusive video lessons from the world’s best athletes, including Serena Williams, Stephen Curry, Tony Hawk, Wayne Gretzky, Misty Copeland, and more.