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Butterfly - Hand Entry

Posted by Glenn Mills on Dec 16, 2008 05:13AM (56,063 views)

How do your hands enter on butterfly? While it's pretty common that they enter sweeping out, some swimmers are able to get their hands to hook as well as sweep, when they touch the water.

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Which is better? That's up to you. Much depends on how your shoulders work, how powerful you are, and how quickly you can recover the arms and get your hands back out front. These are just some of the things you need to consider as you play with different types of hand entry. While one type of hand entry can give you more power, or the feeling of power, the other may allow you to draw yourself forward quicker, while allowing you more turnover, or even more efficiency by limiting the overall power put into each stroke.

Here are a couple of quick examples of the same swimmer making subtle changes to her hand entry.

If you compare the two pictures, you'll see that just a subtle change in direction of the hands will impact how your pull will follow through. Remember, one of the goals in all the strokes is to keep your elbows high, and you have to figure out which direction of the hands best allows you to accomplish that.

While the more standard progression on the left looks good, and the catch on the right seems to be falling, we have to take into consideration that while the catch on the left will eventually develop more power, the catch on the right leads more quickly to a propulsive forward move.

This is where the questions really come in. While the pull on the left (the more standard approach) provides the feeling of power, and will probably yield MORE power on the back half of the pull, the catch on the right, while losing some of the power underneath, allows for a quicker turnover, and limits the exertion of energy during the pull.

The "catch" is: Which way works better for you or your athlete? The later, wider catch allows for more of the power to be put in a very productive area a bit further back. The narrow, quick catch allows for a direct motion forward, almost immediately after the hands enter the water.

Only through experimentation (by yourself or with your athletes) will you be able to determine which one is right for you. Chances are, 9 out of 10 times, you're going to opt for the entry and catch on the left. There may be that ONE swimmer who needs a more narrow catch. Get them focused on pulling FORWARD as quickly as possible, and it could turn out to be a good move.

butterfly, pull

Responses

Tomás	Responded Dec 16, 2008 03:59PM What I have seen is that in the short 50 meters sprint butterfly, the hook style is used more often. In the 100 meters butterfly you still see (but less) the hook style and in the 200 meters butterfly very rarely you see the hook style. The other consideration is that now that they are flattening the butterfly stroke the position of the shoulders allow for a more comfortable hook style. The one thing that is a MUST is to develop a soft entry that immediately connects with the water to initiate the underwater pull.
Cesar	Responded Dec 16, 2008 10:04PM Narrow catch is so fast pulling, that I get no time for strong kicks.
xyz	Responded Dec 17, 2008 02:01AM What does "soft entry" mean? I've heard this term used a number of times, sometimes when referring to breakout strokes.
hendry	Responded Dec 17, 2008 04:42AM how to keep elbow high it is difficult?
Glenn Mills	Responded Dec 17, 2008 12:48PM Soft entry would be talking about how your hands enter the water. Rather than crashing through the surface, a soft entry would relax the hands and slide them into the water. Butterfly would be the stroke most commonly to utilize a soft entry to help create a connection through the chest. Backstroke would be the least, as a much firmer, or harder smash through the surface is generally preferred. Hope that helps.
gnem	Responded Dec 19, 2008 12:08AM if you've seen Cavic's underwater stroke you'll see just how narrow and soft his entry is. His hands almost touch and he doesn't sweep out like the traditional stroke, he goes straight into a high elbow pull... I've tried foregoing the outsweep before and i think it makes the stroke a little faster but way more intense and stressing. what do you people think?
James Stuart	Responded Dec 28, 2008 09:59PM Its might be effective but I have tried it - its impossible to keep elbow high
Glenn Mills	Responded Dec 29, 2008 02:03AM Impossible? For everyone?
Gwangzeen Ko	Responded Dec 29, 2008 07:25AM This consideration is useful for me. Additionally, my another conclusion, after reading above article, is that "left entry(wider one)" proper the long race such as 200m butterfly, due to the wider sweep needs more time to sweep. Whereas the right entry proper the short race e.g., 50m butterfly, because of faster pulling time.Glenn, is my conclusion right? Anyway thanks for good instruction :-)
Glenn Mills	Responded Dec 29, 2008 10:17PM I think you're correct in what you're thinking. A more direct pull would be more applicable for a sprint.
James Stuart	Responded Dec 30, 2008 01:24AM Well its impossible for me cos I has try it but no avail so I switch back to normal ones
James Stuart	Responded Dec 30, 2008 01:25AM But I will try harder to learn this technique
Glenn Mills	Responded Dec 30, 2008 03:45AM Don't ever forget James... not any technique is for everyone. If it's not working, don't knock your head against the wall... move on to what DOES work for you. Each of the drills will ultimately only work for a % of people. Anyone who claims their drills work for everyone are selling something. BEWARE. :)
sprinter	Responded Jan 02, 2009 05:29PM hm.... I haven'T been in the pool since 5 days :( . I hope to go back to training on Monday... I'll pay attention then.
James Stuart	Responded Jan 19, 2009 01:24AM My butterfly is not bad, but has problem cos I cannot swim butterfly while doing 100m and 200m as I am strong fella who working hard doing dry workouts. The main problem is my arm stroke goes break down completely after just FEW stroke so I told to swimming coach about the problem, she said its just take time and its all about shoulder etc well I don't believe so what solution to sort it out those problem?
Lori	Responded Jan 19, 2009 08:56PM Just don't give up James. My kids think they never get better but with every meet it shows in their times. Start believing in yourself
Juliette	Responded Mar 22, 2009 03:07PM Did my first 50mtr buterfly in competition....0.51.56 sec.....how is that for a time?????....
James Stuart	Responded Mar 22, 2009 11:38PM Its great timing Juliette, cos its your first EVER 50m butterfly competiton - you will get better if you keep training at pool
Glenn Mills	Responded Mar 23, 2009 04:36PM Nice job Juliette. Now you have something to base your improvement on. It's a fine time.
javier	Responded Mar 31, 2009 05:35PM I am mainly breaststroke. Now I am practising fly that I started swimming two years ago. I did my first 200 in 3.57 few days ago, arriving in good shape , I did concentrated in my catching waiting to be down on my chest, but I believe I almost forgot the second kick and undulate too little according to friends. Actually I felt I was swimming breast stroke but slowly. No arms muscle fatigue.In my 200 breast (3.37) my arms are always exhausted at the end. Any comment ( I´m 67)
Swim1234	Responded Jan 04, 2010 02:53PM in my meets i do i00 fly how can i do it with out getting winded on the last 25?
predrag	Responded Jan 06, 2010 10:46PM Thanks for a nice article Glenn. I'm trying to improve my butterfly technique, although I'm not so young anymore (39). I was in triathlon when I was younger. I referred to your article on my blog (http://blog.grkovic.com/?p=30) where I also posted some underwater videos of my butterfly. You're very welcome to visit it. Any comment is highly appreciated. You all at GoSwim.tv are doing a great job, I became your regular visitor. Congratulations on that. Best regards. - Predrag.
Al Kubeluis	Responded Mar 02, 2010 11:24AM Glenn - Good article - I'm playing with entry width and soft hands to see what works for me - Al K
Charles Charnstrom	Responded May 29, 2010 04:25AM i found it easier to get my elbows high if i thought of myself reaching over a barrel in front of me. You can also practice the same feeling by putting your palm on a high countertop and look where the elbow is pointing, while keeping the hand on the countertop, point the elbow up to the ceiling. Both motions will help you get the feel for initiating the stroke with a high elbow.
Davide	Responded May 30, 2012 09:16PM I tend to anticipate my second kick (kick hands out). I'm still working on correcting this butterfly flaw. I thought the hook style (right column) could help me in achieving a proper timing in the second kick. What do you think about it? I would like to ask you if the second kick must be the same amplitude of the first one and if it's correct that the hips roll less to initiate the second kick compared to the first one. Thanks!
Superfly	Responded Jan 10, 2013 10:50PM I thought that EVF (Early Vertical Forearm) is the technique that is used now? Most current olympic medalists seem to use it. It is closer to the hook style shown here, but with higher elbows. Davide, To your questions: Both kicks should be of equal amplitude to minimize the loss of momentum. One kick pushes the head down, the other kick pushes the head up. The best analogy I can draw is a children's swing. When swimming butterfly, you should feel like you're lying horizontally on the middle portion of a swing. The hips are the fulcrum. Regarding the timing of the second kick: Kick down when the hands enter the water for the catch, driving the head down from a neutral position to a low position. Also, kick down when the arms are at the 6 o'clock position, driving the head up from a neutral position to a high position. Note that the up-kick restores the head to a neutral position.
Superfly	Responded Jan 10, 2013 10:57PM Sorry, I just realized I made a mistake in the last post. I said "children's swing". What I meant to say is "children's see-saw" (AKA: teeter-totter or teeter board). Sorry for the confusion. Off to swim butterfly, see-sawing up and down...

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Butterfly - Hand Entry

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