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Butterfly & Freestyle - James Guy

Important Note to the Viewer

LESSONS: 14 VIDEOS

Flutter Kick - Fins

Flutter Kick - Fins

If you'd like your own pair of FINIS Edge Fins, pick them up here, and don't forget to use the "goswimtv" coupon code for a special price. Here’s a progression that James uses to develop a more constant, continuous kick. He uses the FINIS Edge Fin, which is designed to catch water on the up-kick, which activates the hamstrings and glutes, and encourages you to start the kick from the hips rather than the knees. That said, you can see that James has a supple kick, with some bend in the knee, but he’s focusing on kicking from the hips and kicking with equal power UP and DOWN. James establishes a horizontal body line and a continuous kick. When he adds the arms, he maintains that great body line and constant kick. James pushes off with a dolphin kick, transitions to flutter, and breaks out into a length of freestyle. His thought process? Maintain a constant, continuous flutter kick and horizontal body line, synchronizing the kick with his armstroke. James now starts the length with a constant, continuous kick. He begins by initiating a pull and a half recovery. He’ll hold his arm above the water in a recovery position, and then with a slow, steady move, initiate a pull with the extended arm and switch to the other side. You can see from underwater, that he begins his recovery arm, but then HOLDS it above the water with the arm straight up from shoulder to elbow. This puts a bit more demand on body balance and allows James to feel how that weighted arm above, helps to shift the body into rotation, and aid in the pull of the extended arm. James has to work hard to maintain a constant kick because he’s placing extra weight over his center of gravity with the recovering arm.

Butterfly Breakout - James Guy

Butterfly Breakout - James Guy

The difference between a powerful length of butterfly…and a painful length of fly is often the breakout. In this lesson, we’ll take a closer look at the kind of breakout that helped James Guy win a relay silver medal in Rio. What we notice first is something your coach tells you every day: STREAMLINE. From the moment James’s feet leave the wall….HERE…he is in world-class streamline. He has one hand over the other, with fingers pointing forward rather than down. His head is tightly locked between the shoulders, with eyes below elbows and eyes looking DOWN. His back is flat, creating one clean line from fingertips to toes. To begin his underwater dolphins, James presses in at the chest and lets the legs rise – all while maintaining tight streamline from fingertips through the shoulders. As he continues to undulate, the integrity of his streamline never changes. His leading edge is stable and streamlined, allowing him to drive forward with each press of the chest…and each powerful down-kick. As he rises into the first armstroke, James maintains his streamline and the eyes-down position of his head. We’re going to freeze it right here because we love this position. This is just an exceptional power position for butterfly. The hands and hips are high. The chest is low. The eyes are down and the head is JUST below the surface. James’s body is like a rubber band stretched and ready to let go. You can see the energy potential ready to be unleashed with his first stroke. And here’s the first stroke into the breakout. Notice that the eye position hasn’t changed, that there’s no breathing on the first stroke, and that the nose and mouth remain in the water. James stays low and horizontal, which lets him get maximum power out of the first armstroke. Staying low helps him maintain all the momentum he established from his pushoff, his powerful dolphins, and that massive first armstroke. This kind of breakout sets him up for a powerful length of fly.

Butterfly - Turn

Butterfly - Turn

Watch more James Guy content here. At race pace, James’s butterfly turn takes about one second – from the moment his fingertips touch the wall to the moment his feet leave the wall. This is way too fast to see the details, so we’re going to slow it down, and take a look at about a dozen small things that James does…that add up to a lightning-fast turn. So let’s start with the moment when James’s fingers first touch the wall. Naturally, he practices a two-handed touch on every wall. That’s a given, so let’s look beyond that – at the arms. James has timed his approach so that his arms are fully extended at the touch. He wants to be traveling at maximum velocity going into the turn, and that’s going to be RIGHT AFTER his hands hit the water after the pull and recovery. Next thing we notice is the head and eyes. James doesn’t look at the wall. He looks down, and this keeps his head and shoulders in a better line heading into the turn. Again, it’s all about maintaining velocity going into the turn. Next thing we notice are the legs, especially the slight bend at the knee. Without disrupting his overall body line, James is already moving into the tuck as his hands reach for the wall. This is just one of the many fine points that make James’s turns so fast. Instead of touching the wall and THEN thinking about the tuck, James ANTICIPATES the tuck and gets ready for it. Instead of REACTING to the wall, he ANTICIPATES what will come next when his fingers touch the wall. So now let’s look at the actual touch – here -- and what happens in the split second right after the touch. The first thing we see is that the right arm collapses and the head continues to move toward the wall. James knows that speed and momentum carried INTO the wall equals speed and momentum OUT of the wall. Next thing we notice is the coordination between the left arm and the legs. The left hand comes off the wall IMMEDIATELY after the touch. James sends the ELBOW back and the hand back in one decisive, continuous move. At the same time, he tucks his knees and sends his hips and feet into the wall. The BACKWARD motion of the left arm intensifies the FORWARD motion of the hips and feet. These two opposing motions work TOGETHER to intensify the speed of his turn. Let’s notice one more fine point – the feet. James actually CROSSES his feet during the tuck. Not all breaststrokers do this, but James finds that it decreases resistance and increases the speed of his rotation. James practices turning to both sides, and here we get a better look at how the turning hand just BRUSHES the wall and lets go immediately, as James sends the elbow back and the hips and legs forward. One thing James does, that we’re seeing more and more at the elite level, is that he spins slightly sideways rather than falling back as he gets his feet to the wall. He wants to be just slightly toward the breast when his feet hit the wall, and the spin turn gets him into position a bit quicker than a fall-back turn. Finally, we love how James is in a super-streamline position with the hands, arms, and head BEFORE his feet leave the wall. It’s just one more fine point that James works on, that we like to see ALL swimmers work on…to achieve maximum speed on their turns.

Butterfly Full Body

Butterfly Full Body

Representing Great Britain at the 2016 Rio Olympics, James Guy won silver in the 4 X 200 freestyle relay AND in the 4 X 100 medley relay, where he swam the butterfly leg. His fastest time in the 100-meter fly, long course, is 50.67 seconds. In this lesson, we’ll take a closer look at James’s butterfly, trying to identify the things he does, that all swimmers could do. Many things catch our eye with James’s stroke, and the best way to learn from him is to focus on one thing at a time. What strikes us first is James’s steady rhythm and the fact that he takes two kicks per armstroke. He places one down-kick as the hands enter and extend forward… and the second down-kick as the hands begin to sweep back and out for the recovery. As you watch James progress from a slower pace to faster pace, focus just on his two-kicks-per-armstroke timing and how he maintains a steady rhythm, no matter how fast he’s swimming. Another thing we notice about James’s butterfly is THIS…his LINE. This is just a beautiful, classic line for butterfly. The arms are fully extended through the shoulders. The hands are high in the water with fingers slightly separated and relaxed. The head and neck are in neutral alignment, with eyes looking down. The chest and rib cage are deep in the water. The hips are high – with the suit right at the surface. The kick is delivered with toes pointed. This is everything we want to see on a butterfly bodyline. As you watch James go from slow to fast, keep watching his LINE. The extension forward – never down – with the hands and arms. The hips ALWAYS near the surface. The chest always deep in relation to the hands and head. James breathes every stroke in butterfly. Watch for that but – more important – notice that his face and almost his entire head are back in the water before the hands enter. This is excellent timing of the breath. It helps DRIVE the arms through the recovery and helps the hips to ride high in the water. As you watch slow to fast, watch how the early entry of the face helps James achieve a horizontal bodyline on every stroke.

Freestyle Full Body

Freestyle Full Body

When we look at all the parts of James’s stroke, from fingertips to toes, several things stand out. His head is low – you can see almost all of it under the surface – and his hips are high. As a result (head low, hips high), he maintains a clean, horizontal bodyline. From above the surface, you can see just a tiny bit of James’s cap during the breath, but then it slides beneath the surface during the rest of the stroke. The hips are visible as he rotates cleanly through the water. But what REALLY catches our eye is how James drives his hand into full extension…on every single stroke. This extension is the defining aspect of James’s freestyle, and it makes everything else fall into place. It causes his body to rotate, it helps him achieve a horizontal body line. It lets him move forward with minimal effort from the kick and pull. At slow speed, James has almost a catch-up stroke. If we freeze it here…you can see that the lead arm is still almost fully extended as the recovering hand enters the water. From overhead, you can really see the catch-up nature of his stroke at slow speed. He swaps one hand for the other, maintaining maximum extension. When James picks up the pace, the legs become more active and he lets go, just a bit, of his catch-up timing. If we freeze it here…you can see that the lead arm has dropped into the catch as the recovering hand enters the water. But notice that he is STILL focused intently on driving his fingertips forward and maintaining his bodyline. At top speed, the legs are fully engaged, and James has moved away from catch-up timing. We can see that here… his pulling arm has connected and is well into the pull when the recovering hand enters the water. We can also see it in this overhead view. BUT…even as he approaches full speed, James still reaches FULL extension on every stroke. He remains laser-focused and true to this ONE technique point. He knows that, by reaching full extension…even if just for a moment…on every stroke…all the other aspects of a fast freestyle fall into place. His head will be low and stable. His breath will be low. His hips will ride high. His body line will be horizontal. He’s basically “getting out of his own way” and allowing his kick and pull to give maximum propulsion. And in this overhead shot, let’s notice one more thing: the way his hands stay relaxed as they search for clean water and a solid catch.