Butterfly Timing: The Complete Guide

Introduction to Butterfly Timing 

Creating sustainable speed in butterfly is all about putting the different components of your stroke together at the right time.  

Great timing involves syncing your arms and legs so that your pull and recovery are as effective as possible while maintaining a great body position. The timing of your breath is critical to ensure that you get access to air without disrupting your body position or unnecessarily slowing your stroke rate. Your kicks need to happen at certain points in your stroke cycle, so your body is as aligned as possible while also providing some much-needed speed during critical aspects of your stroke. 

When you do the right pieces at the right time, you’ll create more propulsion and face less resistance while expending less effort. That means faster swimming. If you have bad timing, you’ll create less propulsion with each pull and kick, face more resistance through your stroke cycle, and have trouble doing the stroke. Timing is critical for fast butterfly. 

All the muscles in your body help you swim butterfly with great timing. The muscles of your upper body, lower body, and torso work together to ensure you’re swimming smooth and efficient butterfly. You need a coordinated effort of your entire body rather than an emphasis or focus on any one component. 

The Key Timing Events in Butterfly 

There are several key timing events in butterfly.  

• Timing your kicks. The most important timing aspect of your stroke is the relationship between your kick and your pull. Do two kicks per pull at very specific times. Finish one kick at the completion of your pull. This kick allows your hips to elevate in the water when you begin to recover your arms. It also helps you generate sufficient hand speed to swing your arms over the water and body speed to minimize the effect of a lack of propulsion during the recovery. Your other kick should finish right after your hands enter the water following your recovery, helping you reestablish great alignment in the water. Because you have to lift your upper body up during your arm recovery, it’s critical to get your hips back up afterward to minimize the resistance you create as you move forward. 
• Timing your pull and undulation. The up-and-down or wave motion in butterfly needs to be timed so you can swim fast. To help you get more out of each pull, time your pull so that it occurs as you begin to elevate your shoulders in the water, which lets you create more leverage on the water and more propulsion.
• Timing your breath. When you take your breath has a significant influence on how easy it is to breathe. Proper breath timing affects your ability to keep resistance low throughout breathing as well. By timing your breaths with the undulation of your body, you can breathe faster, more easily, and more effectively. 

How Timing Affects Your Butterfly Recovery 

One of the biggest challenges in butterfly is recovering your arms over the water. When you begin to fatigue, recovering your arms becomes the biggest obstacle. Although this skill is always challenging, effective timing can make it a lot more manageable. As you do your pull, your upper body will naturally rise in the water, so you can have the range of motion necessary to recover your arms.  

At the same time, lifting your upper body presses your hips down. The lower your hips are, the more difficult recovering your arms will be because you’ll have to pull your arms up out of deeper water. By kicking at the end of your pull, you’ll kick your hips back up to the surface, allowing your hands to be well positioned for a more effective recovery. 

Kicking at the end of your pull has other benefits as well. By doing so, you can increase your hand speed. The faster your hands are moving at the end of your pull, the more momentum they’ll have prior to your recovery. The more momentum your hands have, the easier swinging your arms over the surface will be. You won’t have to lift and drag your arms forward. That means more speed for less effort. 

A strong, well-timed kick also contributes speed. When you recover your arms, your arms aren’t generating any propulsion. Therefore, you need to have as much speed as possible going into your recovery. By kicking at the end of your pull, you’re creating the necessary speed to get you through your recovery. 

How Your Kick Helps With Your Body Alignment  

During your arm recovery, your upper body and arms are above the surface of the water. This elevation will cause your hips to drop, creating resistance. During this time, your body will slow down to a greater degree than at any other point throughout your stroke cycle. This is a necessary part of your stroke, but you should spend as little time here as possible and make sure you get completely out of this position after your recovery.  

That’s where kick timing comes in. The most effective way to get your hips back to the surface is to kick. By kicking as your hands enter, you’ll ensure that your hips are back in line to start your next stroke cycle. Your arms will be extended in front of you, your hips will be up, and your legs will be long. That’s a position of great alignment. Without the kick, you’re much less likely to achieve it. 

The timing of the kick matters. If you try to kick early, while you’re still recovering your arms, your kick isn’t likely to do much of anything. You’ll be in an awkward position and wasting energy. If you’re late for your kick, you’re going to spend more time in a bad body position, which you want to avoid. 

This kick provides you with a short burst of propulsion to accelerate your body once again after the prolonged recovery. This helps you better carry speed into your pull. Although your kick creates propulsion, your pull powers your stroke. A late kick upon entry increases the amount of time it takes before you can start your pull, which slows you down. 

How Timing Powers Your Butterfly Pull 

The timing of your pull can help you create more propulsion with each stroke. The goal is to begin to lift your body right as you begin to apply pressure backward onto the water after you set up your stroke. By lifting your body as you pull, just as you might lean back during a lat pull-down, you can put your arms in a much stronger position to create force. 

As you continue to rise in the water, you’ll have more and more leverage on the water. During the middle part of your pull, your entire arm will be facing backward and be deeper in the water than at any other point during your stroke. This is the hardest part to accelerate through without losing your position—it’s when you’re most likely to drop your elbows, which collapses your stroke. 

If you pull too late or too early, you’ll miss the opportunity to pull when you have the most leverage, and doing a great pull will be much more difficult. If you pull too early, you won’t be able to take advantage of the more effective pulling position. If you pull too late, your upper body has already risen, and you’ll have missed out on half of your pull. Get the timing right, and your pull will be as effective as possible. 

Rising higher isn’t better. That only creates more resistance because your body is inclined in the water. What’s important is the gradual elevation through the most challenging part of your pull, in which you’re moving the most water. The timing of the undulation with the pull is what’s important, not the amplitude of the undulation. 

How to Time Your Butterfly Breathing 

Breathing low and fast are key to swimming butterfly fast. Lifting your head to breathe causes your hips to drop, which creates more resistance as you move through the water. So the lower you can breathe, the less resistance you’ll create and the faster you’ll go. Because even an extremely low breath will disrupt your alignment in the water, you want that breath to happen as fast as possible to minimize any negative impact. 

Breathing at the right time is critical for breathing low and fast. Start your breath as you start applying pressure to the water. This is when your upper body and shoulders begin to rise in the water. By breathing with your pull, your head is up when your shoulders are highest at the end of your pull. This reduces the distance you’ll need to lift your head to breathe because your shoulders have already lifted. 

Another benefit of raising your head by the time your pull is completed is that you can get your head back down before your arms have recovered. If you wait to return your head as you recover your arms, you’ll unnecessarily prolong how long your head is elevated. You also want your head to be back down in alignment before your arms enter the water because your arms should begin to set up for your next stroke immediately upon entry. Any delay in recovering your head after a breath delays your stroke, which further disrupts your rhythm. 

A simple way to think about breath timing is to breathe with your body. Breathe as your body rises and lower your head as your body falls. In terms of your arms, breathe with your pull, and stay ahead of your recovery back into the water.  

The more you can stick with these simple rules, the more effective you’ll be at breathing while swimming butterfly. 

Common Butterfly Timing Mistakes 

The most common butterfly timing mistakes involve kick timing, pull timing, and breath timing. 

Kick timing is the most critical mistake to avoid because great kick timing sets the foundation for your stroke. If you’re not kicking at the right time, your hips won’t be coming up at the right time. That makes achieving fast and sustainable butterfly impossible. 

Effective kick timing comes down to kicking when your hands enter the water and when they exit the water. There are three common mistakes to avoid:  

• A weak kick upon entry. If you’re not aggressive with your kick when your hands enter the water, reestablishing your alignment will be very difficult. Keep it strong.
• Not kicking at all upon exit. The second kick should occur as your hands exit.
• Kicking twice after your hands enter. Wait until your hands exit to execute your second kick.  

Smoothly recovering your arms over the surface will become more difficult if you make the mistakes above. 

If you have great kick timing, you’re on your way. You’ll still want to avoid timing errors with your pull and breath, however. Start to apply pressure during your pull as soon as your upper body starts to rise in the water. Breathe but don’t linger—get your head back down before your arms complete their recovery. Keep it smooth and simple.