Andrew Sheaff (@AndrewKSheaff)

Great butterflyers have a powerful kick that creates speed. A big kick on a kickboard is helpful, but the real goal is creating speed through the kick while swimming full stroke. Here is one way to put real demand on the legs while still swimming butterfly. ...

Watch how this forward recovery snaps the hips back into line. When the arms shoot forward, the whole body can be driven forward with them. ...

Big underwater kicking improvements come from progressing the best strategies, not rotating twenty drills. The core principle: take the most effective strategies, the best tools for creating change, and advance them week after week, instead of constantly swapping activities. ...

Undulation and short-axis pulling. A visual 🧵. While limiting undulation can create less drag, doing so too much can compromise the pull. By lifting throughout the pull, it an allow swimmers to stay on ‘top’ of the water, pressing down and back create more propulsion. Cont. ...

Constraints are one of the most powerful tools for breaststroke skill development in group settings. Practice time is limited. Coaching attention is limited. Communication with each swimmer on every length is impossible. Constraints help solve that problem. ...

Freestyle breathing must be straight, low, and fast. The breath needs to be fast and fit within the rhythm of the stroke without disrupting it. That rhythm is what allows swimmers to hold faster stroke rates. The breath also needs to be low and straight. ...

Most butterfly sets destroy timing instead of developing it. If swimmers can’t hold the rhythm when they’re tired, the stroke falls apart, and that is not good. Telling them ‘kick here, kick there’ doesn’t work. They need to feel the pattern and repeat it under fatigue. ...

Butterfly kick timing is often described in terms of what the arms are doing. Kick when the hands enter. Kick when the hands exit. While that’s accurate, it can be confusing. Some swimmers are surprisingly unaware of where their hands are in space. ...

Kickboards can have a negative impact on body position, and while this can be a problem, it can also be used to benefit swimmers. How? It can help them become more skilled at learning to kick to keep the hips up....