What do you see here in this picture? Does it speak to you? Do you feel what I feel? It's begging me to jump inside and have a splashing good time! It's pleading me to swim lapse after lapse to and fro from this to the other end! In fact, this is not another regular public pool, it's olympic sized which is 50m from here to that end. The deepest end stands at 1.8m with a small area of 3m(if my memory serves me right) for diving.
This is the pool in my uni where I frequented quite regularly. Each time, I came with an objective to test and improve lil by lil on the butterfly stroke. I've been longing to grasp this stroke as long as I started swimming. It always envy me to watch people flying gracefully in the pool and be the centre of attention.
*courtesy of 234snake at http://www.youtube.com/*
Agree with me that the fly is just simply the coolest stroke? And who's better to swim it other than world champ Michael Phelps. He swims it VERY THE SUPERBLY. Especially this video, his energy is simply contagious. I don't know about you but everytime I watch this video, it inspires me to get to the pool and improve my style. His body is so flexible that his lower half from the chest down(yeap, not the hips but chest downwards) is so flexible. The undulation is simply so natural and effortless as if he's a real dolphin.
To swim the fly perfectly, one has to have a flexible body like him. Of course, his perfection is a result of drills and practices. To one who already know the basics, just bear in mind that your elbows must be kept near the surface when they're underwater. Your head must not be lifted too high to maintain the undulation. Head goes into the water before the hands. Lift the hips when the head goes in. Phelps' cute posterior juts out of the water surface at this. Kick from your hips(or some say from the chest) instead of merely from the legs.
Not to say that I'm a pro for now...I still don't get it quite right. Need to improve on my coordination and timing. Hopefully, I can swim as awesome as Phelps someday. If not, I'm happy enough to be close.
Anyone crazy about this stroke as much as I do?
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