Butterfly stroke

The butterfly, (fly for short) is a swimming stroke swum on the breast, with the arms moving synchronously. The butterfly kick was developed separately, and is also known as the Dolphin. While other styles like breaststroke, front crawl, or backstroke can be swum easily even for beginners, the butterfly requires a very good technique to be feasible. Most students consider it the most difficult style. It is also the newest swimming style swum on competitions, first swum around 1934.

Speed and Ergonomics

Butterfly is the second fastest style after front crawl, and the fastest style regulated by FINA. The speed of top swimmers is around 1.98 m/s, close to the speed of front crawl swimmers (2.17 m/s), and faster than backstroke (1.84 m/s) and breaststroke (1.67 m/s). The peak speed Butterfly is even faster than the peak speed of front crawl due to the synchronous pull/push with both arms, yet drops significantly during the recovery phase, making it overall slightly slower than front crawl.

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Breaststroke, backstroke, and front crawl can be swum easily even if the technique is flawed. Butterfly, however, is unforgiving to mistakes in the style, and it is very difficult to overcome a bad butterfly style with brute strength. Most people consider it the most difficult style to swim, yet done correctly competitive butterfly swimming requires less energy than breaststroke. The main difficulties for students are the synchronous over water recovery, especially when combined with breathing, as both arms, the head, and parts of the shoulder have to be lifted out of the water for these tasks.

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