Butterfly Vs. Freestyle Swimming

Bas-reliefs dating back to 850 B.C. depict soldiers crossing streams by swimming with the aid of inflated goat skins, using the hand-over-hand stroke and vertical kick. Mosaics from Middle Eastern civilizations depict what looks like a dog-paddle swimming activity. Swimming, over the years, has evolved to include a number of different strokes including the freestyle stroke and butterfly stroke.

  1. Speed

    • The freestyle stroke, termed the front crawl, is the fastest of the different swim strokes features at competitive levels. The speed generated by the stroke makes it popular in triathlons and swimming competitions. According to the International Swimming Federation (FINA), the butterfly stroke comes a close second to the freestyle stroke in terms of speed. Style and technique are essential when executing the butterfly stroke. Wrong technique cannot be overcome by strength, adversely affecting speed.

    Difficulty

    • The freestyle stroke is a basic stroke taught in swimming classes for beginners. Submersion of the face and surfacing to breathe at the right pose difficulty when swimming freestyle. Perfect coordination between swimming and breathing tend to make the stroke difficult. Swimmers attempting to learn the butterfly stroke for the first time face difficulty in terms of coordination and strength. The stroke requires that both arms move in tandem above the water while the legs move together underwater. Breathing needs to be fitted into the process, which increases the level of difficulty.

    Technique

    • The swimmer executes the freestyle stroke by lying flat on his stomach. The arms move from hip level to the front over the water pulling back to the hip underwater. The legs propel the body forward with a flutter-kick movement. In the butterfly stroke, the swimmer’s arms move in tandem creating an undulating movement beginning at head level and ending at feet level. The legs also move in tandem whipping downwards each time. The arms move from head to front, down to hip level and get thrust out sideways. The entire sequence of the stroke resembles ballistic motion.

    Benefits

    • Freestyle swimming enables the swimmer to swim in diverse patterns and waters. For example, the sidestroke can be performed in the ocean in combination with the front crawl for long-distance performance. The freestyle swimming technique makes movement through water smooth without much strain on the joints. The advantage in using the butterfly stroke technique affords the swimmer well-developed muscles from the arm and leg actions of the stroke. The triceps, chest muscles, back muscles and lung muscles benefit from this style of swimming.