Butterfly Turns

Butterfly and breaststroke share a common history so it's no surprise that they share a turn. Aside from the approach to the wall and the takeoff, butterfly turns are exactly the same as breaststroke turns. Like breaststroke, butterfly requires a swimmer to touch the wall with both hands evenly at the end of each length of the pool. With the need to hit the wall twice during this turn, once with the hands for the rules requirement and once with the feet to push off from the wall, a swimmer must maintain as much momentum through the process as possible in order to execute the butterfly turn well. So like breaststroke turns, butterfly turns must be begun at the proper phase of the stroke in order to drive as much momentum into the turn as possible.

The best phase to contact the wall during a butterfly turn is at the very end of the arm recovery but before the catch. If you reach the wall too late, you'll end up gliding your way to the wall and have no momentum to carry yourself through the rest of the turn. A swimmer who reaches the wall too late in their stroke rotation will look like they're climbing out of the pool during their turn in order to bring their feet to the wall. If you reach the wall too early in your stroke rotation, you will be approaching the wall too slow and too low for your momentum to carry through to your feet when it comes time to drive off the wall. Considering how important first contact with the wall is in a butterfly turn, you might wonder how competitive swimmers hit the wall in this sweet spot so consistently. They count their strokes.

Some swimmers count every stroke in a length. While this is fine for top-notch swimmers in short course (25 yard pool) events who take between eight and twelve strokes per length, it gets a bit much to count for a long course (50 meter pool) event. In this case, most butterfliers start counting their strokes from the flags. How might a swimmer use the flags during their butterfly turns? Most lanelines in competition pools change color at the flags. This color change is what competitive swimmers watch for. Once you know how many strokes you take from the flags to the wall, you can slightly lengthen or shorten your strokes in order to hit the wall at precisely the sweet spot of your arm recovery in order to drive as much momentum into your butterfly turn as possible.

Once you've hit the wall, you're ready to redirect the energy you brought to the wall into your turn. Immediately upon hitting the wall, bring your left hand down to your hip and drop your left shoulder while tucking your knees under your body. Your momentum from your hands hitting the wall will carry your feet to the wall as you spin about your center of mass. As your feet near the wall, throw your head to your left shoulder and bring your right hand to your right ear. Now, while retaining as much momentum as possible from your original contact with the wall, drive your feet through the wall and explode into a full streamline.

Hold your streamline until you feel the water moving past your body is just under that of your normal butterfly speed then begin your kick. The kick needs to start slow and small and work its way larger and stronger as you near the surface. You will feel yourself near the surface of the water as the water moving over your shoulders and back starts to feel less dense. If you've waited until you feel ripples on your back, you've waited too long. Here, you break the surface tension of the water for the first time so it's important that you make this stroke the most powerful of the length of the pool. Break your streamline as you reach the surface by moving your hands to shoulder width and feel for the balls of water under your hands. Slowly bring your head up out of its tucked position and drive into your first stroke.

A good butterfly turn, much like a good breaststroke turn, is a double hit. You dive down on to the wall from the top of your stroke, punch the wall, then drive off as hard as you can. The finesse in this turn is all in the timing of the first hit, if you get that right, the rest of the turn is easy.