What is Butterfly Stroke Swimming?

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If you’re looking for an excellent all-around workout that increases aerobic fitness, burns calories, and tones muscles, you’ve come to the right place. Enter the butterfly stroke. 

It’s one of the best strokes to practice for maximum benefits to your body. This stroke requires a lot of energy and strength but burns the most calories out of all the strokes. In this article, we discuss what butterfly stroke is and some important information about the stroke.

 

What is the Butterfly Stroke Technique in Swimming?

The butterfly stroke and the freestyle or front crawl, breaststroke, and backstroke are among the four strokes used in international swimming events. The butterfly stroke is a great way to get your whole body in shape.

In swimming, there are four key parts to the butterfly stroke technique:

 

• Position of the body
• Arm movement
• Butterfly/Dolphin kick
• Breathing

 

Each of these four parts must be completely developed in order to correctly perform the butterfly technique.

 

What is the Meaning of Butterfly Stroke?

Butterfly stroke simply refers to the name of the stroke. When swimming in this stroke, You are face down in the pool. Your arms move forward symmetrically in a large circular movement. Your feet are together and doing a “butterfly” kick.

 

Why is Butterfly Stroke Important in Swimming?

The butterfly stroke is important in swimming because it’s the stroke that burns the most calories. Therefore, butterfly stroke is a must if you are swimming for weight loss or to improve and tone your body. 

Although butterfly stroke is not very common for beginner swimmers and is mainly used in competitions, it is important because it’s the stroke that has the maximum effect on your core muscles.

 

Is Butterfly Stroke a Good Stroke to Learn?

The butterfly is a good learning stroke, especially if your swimming workouts are starting to feel repetitive. Adding butterfly strokes into the mix will make your practice feel fresh and exciting by adding a new challenge to conquer. 

It requires a lot of practice to become good at the butterfly stroke. This means you’ll have to spend quite some time in the pool. As a result, you’ll burn a lot of calories. The stroke itself also burns the most calories out of any other stroke. 

Butterfly provides a great core and upper body workout too. So if your goal is to lose weight or tone your core and upper body, learning butterfly stroke will benefit you. 

Not only does it burn calories and tone your muscles. Another reason butterfly stroke is good to learn is that it also increases your motor skills and flexibility.

 

Is Butterfly Stroke the Fastest Way to Swim?

The answer to this is yes and no. The butterfly stroke does have a faster top speed than any other stroke. When you pull with both arms simultaneously, you can generate greater power and speed than with one. 

But, during the recovery phase, this power and speed decrease dramatically, making it slightly slower than the front crawl. The butterfly stroke is also slower thanks to the enormous contrast in physical effort required compared to the front crawl.

 

Final Thoughts on What is Butterfly Stroke Swimming

Learning to swim with the butterfly stroke will completely elevate your swimming abilities and add so much variety to your swimming workouts. As you become comfortable with this stroke, you will gain confidence, strength, and stamina in the pool. 

In addition, by practicing the four main elements of this stroke: body position, arm stroke, butterfly kick, and breathing, you’ll be able to have an extremely effective full-body workout.