Butterfly

Butterfly Arm Technique

The arm action in butterfly is a simultaneous sweep and the arms should stretch out in front of your body above the water surface and be led into the water by your thumbs, meaning that your thumbs need to be down. Your hands should enter about a shoulder width apart with your elbows bent and your shoulders should be slightly higher than your hands. Your hands would then sweep down and your hands should make a Y shape in front of your body and then you will turn and sweep your hands back in towards each other while keeping your elbows high. Then you turn your hands up, back, and sweep, and repeat until you finish your race. (Swim England Masters)

Butterfly Kicking

The kicking aspect of butterfly really comes from the hips so you do not want to let your hips drop. The heels and soles of your feet should always break the surface form underneath with your knees slightly bent. You want to have an upbeat and downbeat of your legs when kicking and the powerful downbeats of the feet will propel your body forward. You also want to keep your legs close together and do not have them spread out far like breaststroke. Also time your downbeat of your kick with your arms when they enter and sweep out. Also try to kick twice per arm cycle, the first time will be when you propel your arms out of the water for your recovery and then the second time should be when your arms enter the water again. This will seem hard at first but it becomes natural after doing it for a bit. (Swim England Masters)

Butterfly Breathing

Commonly breathing in butterfly is by breathing to the front, but you can also breathe to the side. Your shoulders should lead your head out of the water and your front will rise naturally from your shoulders and the undulation of your body. You will need to keep your chin in front of your forehead and take a quick breath and do not go up vertically. You want to be going horizontally when breathing to take a fast breath and launch yourself forwards. You can use any breathing pattern you would like, but some of the commonly used are breathing every arm cycle, every two arm cycles, or breathing twice every three cycles. With the breathing in butterfly you really just want to breathe with whichever technique feels most comfortable to you. (Swim England Masters)

Backstroke

Backstroke Arm Technique

In backstroke when you move your arms through the water you want to lead with your thumb as your arm comes out of the water. When you enter the water you want to have your pinky enter the water first with your arm straight and your palm facing outwards. Under the water you should be turning your hand so your thumb will come out of the water first and then turn your palm in the air to have your pinky finger go back into the water first, and repeat. When swimming backstroke you need to have a fast tempo with your arms. You can use a tempo trainer to improve your tempo in the water. You will want to move your shoulders and rotate them too.

(Swim England Masters)

Backstroke Kicking Technique

When kicking in backstroke it is almost like freestyle kick, but on your back. When doing backstroke kick you will want to keep your legs closed together and kick from your hips and not your knees. To go fast in backstroke you will want to kick hard and fast, sprinters may kick up to six beats per arm cycle, but distance backstrokers like a 200 typically do less. You still want to have your kick fast, but comfortable for the race or practice so you do not burn your legs out in the first 25 yards/meters. (Swim England Masters)

Backstroke Breathing

When you breathe in backstroke you want to avoid holding your breath because you need to get as much oxygen in your body as possible so when you do a flip turn you can do a good amount of dolphin kicks under water to get distance. You will also want to keep your head back and straight. (Swim England Masters)

Breastroke Technique

Breastroke Arm Technique

When doing backstroke you will need to lids with your hands down and out, and you will need to keep your elbows high as you skull your hands out. Skull is when you move your hands in and out like a breaststroke pull almost. After that your hands will come back into your body and your hands should meet back at your upper chest. Do not sweep your arms too wide because if you do it will be harder to pull back in and you will not have as fast as a tempo and most of the power in your breaststroke will come from your kick. Then you do this and repeat and keep a high tempo depending on your race event or style. (Swim England Masters)

Breastroke Kick Technique

When doing a breaststroke kick you need to have a powerful kick because this is where most of your power in your stroke will come from. When kicking your knees should be over your hip width apart by a little bit and slightly out behind the hip line. Your feet should turn out as you kick in a circular motion, you will not want to have your feet loose they should be flexed to get the most power throughout your kick. The legs will finish together and your ankles should touch when you finish your kick. (Swim England Masters)

Breaststroke Breathing Technique

When breathing in breaststroke you want to lift your shoulders and bring your face out of the water to breathe, do not raise your head up keep your head looking down and take your face out and breath and go back for another stroke and then breath, and then repeat. (Swim England Masters)

Tips On How To Get Rid Of Lactic Acid Quicker/Recovery

Warming up and cooling down is very important because it gets your muscles warm and ready to train and when warming down it stretches out the muscles and stops them from being as tight as they normally would after a hard workout. It is recommended to swim between 200m and 800m to remove lactic acid in your muscles. Stretching is also very important because stretching will loosen up your muscles and release the lactic acid. Hydration is super important because swimmers don’t realize how much they sweat in the pool because you're in water, so drinking water will help you a lot. Getting plenty of sleep will help your body recover for the next day of training in the water and let your muscles recover. (Swim England Masters)

Diet

Training Diet

Your training diet should be based on your training load, specific athlete needs, training goals, body composition goals, and health. If you attend a swim practice in the morning ideally you should aim to eat a light breakfast or snack before training. Liquid meal drinks like a protein shake could also be used to fuel your stomach for your morning practice. (Sport Dietitians Australia)

For swimmers nutrition is mainly based around protein, this is because protein helps muscle repair and recover. Carbohydrates are great for fuel. Fruits, nuts, vegetables, and other food items that provide the important vitamins and minerals, along with some healthy fats are great to eat too. (Sport Dietitians Australia)

What To Eat The Night Before A Swim Meet Or Before A Swim Meet

The night before a swim meet you will want to have something with protein and carbohydrate packed. The protein will help with muscle repair and recovery. The carbohydrates will give you fuel for the morning of the swim meet, and if your swim meet is later in the day then you will want to have a packed carbohydrate lunch or snack. A few carbohydrate foods would be pasta with a type of protein, for example spaghetti and meatballs. If you are eating this later in the day for a later swim meet in the day then this should be 2-4 hours before swimming so you can digest everything. When you start swimming your digestion system will slow down, so you want to have everything digested before you swim a race. (Sport Dietitians Australia)

What To Eat & Drink During Swim Meets

During swim meets swimmers need to make sure that they are hydrated and eat a quick snack. You want to eat light and easy food that can be digested quickly. A yogurt pouch, a bite of a bar, or fresh fruit would be a good snack, and this is if you have less than 60 minutes between your races. If you are looking at one to two hours between races than you may want to eat a more substantial meal, you could be looking at pasta, a sandwich, or sushi, just something to give you the energy you need and to avoid getting hungry. (Sport Dietitians Australia)

Works Cited

Sports Dietitians Australia. “Food for Swimming - Sports Dietitians Australia (SDA).” Sports Dietitians Australia (SDA), 2015, www.sportsdietitians.com.au/factsheets/food-for-your-sport/food-for-your-sport-swimming/

Swim England Masters. “Butterfly Stroke Technique.” Masters Swimming Hub, 24 Nov. 2014, www.swimming.org/masters/advanced-butterfly-stroke-technique/.

Swim England Masters. “Swimming Recovery Tips for Masters Swimmers.” Masters Swimming Hub, 22 Oct. 2015, www.swimming.org/masters/optimise-swimming-recovery-hard-workout/#:~:text=An%20effective%20cool%20down%20involves/

Swim England Masters. “Improving Your Breaststroke Technique.” Masters Swimming Hub, Dec. 2018, www.swimming.org/masters/improving-your-breaststroke-technique/.

Swim England Masters. “Improving Your Backstroke Technique.” Masters Swimming Hub, 24 Jan. 2019, www.swimming.org/masters/improving-your-backstroke-technique/.

Information about the article:  This article has ways on how to improve your strokes such as butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke with arm technique, leg technique, and breathing technique. With tips that can help you get rid of lactic acid quicker and recover. Also this article will help you improve your diet as a swimmer, prepare for swim meets with certain foods, and more. This article will help you improve your swimming, recovery, and diet.