Shortness of breath when attempting 50m butterfly

[u/Lazybums_account]

As the title says, whenever I try to swim 50 or 75m (in a 25m pool) i lose my breath really fast especially at the turns and I lose all cohesion in my stroke.

[u/Dark-Horse-Nebula]

Common issue it’s a difficult stroke. Keep practicing to develop your endurance. Make sure you get technique coaching so you’re not working against yourself.

[u/Lazybums_account → u/Dark-Horse-Nebula]

Okay thanks, I will try to get better coaching as my coach only trains me intermittently

[u/Dark-Horse-Nebula → u/Lazybums_account]

Without having seen you swim, breathe at the start of the pull, and make sure your kicks are timed for entry and exit. Trying to breathe as your arms are coming over sinks your hips and is a bad time.

[u/Lazybums_account → u/Dark-Horse-Nebula]

Yeahhh, I think I do that a lot. I'll be wayy more aware of that now

[u/Dark-Horse-Nebula → u/Lazybums_account]

Try a 3/3/3 drill

Fins on dolphin kick. 3 single arm butterfly strokes on the left, 3 single arm strokes on the right, 3 normal strokes. Repeat.

Means you might concentrate on each arm a bit more and get the timing a bit better.

[u/resilient_bird]

The key is to be able to do fly at a lower power level—this means you’re pushing too hard (probably to ensure you’re able to return your arms out of the water).

Try doing it with fins?

[u/Lazybums_account → u/resilient_bird]

Okay, I'll try practicing with fins this week and bring feedback on how it affected my technique

[u/BackstrokingInDebt]

Common issues:
1. you’re spending a lot of energy pulling yourself out of the water to breath. Your head is too high out it’s killing your efficiency
2. Your kick maybe out of sync or at the wrong time so you’re relying so much on your arm.
3. Your bubbles are too inconsistent so your brain still thinks you got no air therefore you’re compelled to get that big gulp thus you’re out of breath and panicking.

Just wild guesses

[u/Pwffin]

For me it really helped breathing on every others stroke, as it meant I developed a better rhythm and a more efficient stroke.

[u/ca_annyMonticello111]

Single, single double. Do a single arm stroke on each side and then a double. Do it slow enough that you can go 100 yd easily. Then build up to doing a single, single, double, double.

[u/milesercat]

If you are like normal mortals, then you expend close to 100% of your strength just to swim butterfly correctly. If that is the case then it is normal to fall apart after 30 seconds or so. Happily, can be overcome by getting a lot stronger.

[u/Ldarieut]

Using fins will help building the endurance.

You can also practice single arm drills. One arm stroke left breathing, one arm stroke right breathing, double arm stroke no breathing.