Hip Delay Butterfly Drill
The Hip-Delay Butterfly Drill is a drill to help you learn and practice the butterfly stroke. The drill will teach you the proper movements and appropriate timing of the butterfly and arm recovery. This drill will also help you practice the needed movements in swimming the butterfly stroke.
Push off from the wall with your body in a prone position making sure that your arms are extended forward and your hands are shoulder width apart. You also need to make sure that your palms are facing downward and your head is in line with the trunk.
- Perform two hand-lead body dolphins.
- After doing the second hand-lead body dolphin, slide your arms to the corners then sweep your arms backward in the water. (See Stone Skipper Swimming Drill).
- After doing the underwater arm sweep, your arms should be extended backward and side ward creating a 45° with your body. Also, the palms should be facing up in the process.
- You will experience sinking by a few inches below water surface. In this case, perform around two to three head-lead body dolphins to get your upper body and shoulders close to water surface.
- The shoulders should clear the water at the end of each body dolphins. This should start your arm recovery.
- Lift your arms out of the water and hover forward just a few inches above the surface of the water.
- Do a rotating motion with your arms while moving them forward. At this point, your palms should be facing down again at the end of the recovery.
- Start a new drill cycle when you drop your arms in the water
Getting the accurate timing for arm recovery may take some practice. When is the best time to start recovery? That is when your shoulders have cleared the water right after you have released your chest after a body undulation. If you want to reduce the number of head-lead body dolphins you need for your shoulders to be able to clear the water, you should avoid getting too deep in the water after the underwater arm sweep.
And if you are having difficulties recovering your arms, it may be possible that they are too closely positioned to your sides at the end of the arm sweep. Take note that the sweep should finish with the hands a foot away from the sides and should not be directly at the hips.