Timing mistakes in butterfly

The common mistakes swimmers make with regard to timing are: kicking too early during the recovery, gliding too long after the entry, and kicking only once during each stroke cycle.

Kicking too early during the recovery. Some swimmers finish the downbeat of the first dolphin kick before the hands enter the water. These swimmers usually have difficulty recovering the arms without dragging them through the water. Therefore, they kick down at this time to offset the pushing drag they create by pushing the arms through the water before the hands enter. Unfortunately, kicking at this time will only reduce their rate of deceleration during the arm recovery. They will not be accelerated forward enough by the downbeat of the first dolphin kick.

Swimmers should try to time the downbeat of the first dolphin kick so that it takes place just as the hands enter the water and stretch forward. They should try to raise the head and trunk out of the water more, and flex the elbows as they reach forward for the entry, so that they are as likely to drag the arms forward through the water before the hands enter.

Gliding too long after the entry. This mistake is common among young swimmers when they first learn the butterfly stroke. They will stretch the arms forward after the entry and kick down twice before starting the outsweep of the armstroke. Butterfly swimmers must be coached to kick down only once as the arms enter the water and then to wait until they are midway through the underwater armstroke before kicking down again. 

Kicking only once per stroke. In reality, the one kick butterfly is really a one-and-one-half-kick butterfly because swimmers start but do not complete the downbeat of the second kick. This makes it difficult for them to maintain the hips near the surface and the inclined body position will increase form drag during the finish of the underwater armstroke and recovery.

The one kick butterfly is difficult to correct because the solution is not as obvious as it seems. Simply telling swimmers to kick twice will not remedy the situation. Butterfly swimmers who kick only once during each stroke cycle usually try to catch too quickly and then push straight back without sweeping the hands in under the body. This sets up a chain of events that makes the underwater armstroke so short that swimmers do not have enough time to bring the legs up and then kick them down a second time before the hands leave the water. As a result, they only have time to execute a partial downbeat. One kick butterflyers should be instructed to exaggerate the outsweep and insweep of their armstrokes to provide enough time to get the legs in position to complete the second downbeat of the dolphin kick before the hands leave the water.