How to Do the Butterfly Stroke: Technique Guide

To do the butterfly stroke, drive a whip-like dolphin kick from your chest and core while your arms pull through in a keyhole shape and recover low over the water. The secret is two-kick timing: one kick as your hands enter, one as they exit. Add a forward, low breath and a rhythmic press of the chest, and fly becomes a smooth wave rather than a struggle.

Butterfly looks brutal, but it is the most rhythm-dependent stroke in swimming. Once the timing clicks, you glide instead of grind. This guide breaks down the body wave, the dolphin kick, the arm pull, breathing, and the drills that make it click. For the wider picture, start with our complete swim technique guide, then come back here for the hardest stroke of the four.

Master the Body Undulation First

Butterfly is powered by a wave, not by your arms. Before you ever add a full arm cycle, learn to move your torso like a dolphin. Float on your chest, press your sternum down toward the pool bottom, then let your hips rise, then press your hips down and let your chest rise. This press-and-release cycle is the engine of the whole stroke.

Keep the motion small and continuous. Beginners exaggerate the wave into a big up-and-down bounce, which wastes energy and stalls forward progress. A tight, front-to-back undulation moves you forward; a giant vertical bounce just tires you out.

• Press the chest, not the head, to start each wave.
• Keep your neck neutral so your head rides along with the wave.
• Let the motion travel down your spine to your hips, then your legs.

If body position feels shaky, spend a session on core float drills from our swimming drills for beginners before layering in the kick.

Build a Powerful Dolphin Kick

The dolphin kick is two legs moving as one. Hold them together, ankles loose, toes pointed, and drive the kick from your hips and core rather than bending hard at the knees. A good kick looks like a whip: the energy starts at your chest, rolls through your hips, and cracks out through your feet.

There are two kicks in every arm cycle, and they are not equal. The first is a big, propulsive downbeat. The second is a smaller, quicker beat that helps launch the recovery. Aim for relaxed knees on the downbeat and pointed, flexible ankles so your feet act like flippers.

Practice kick on its own with arms extended in a streamline, face down, breathing every few kicks by pressing the chest. Vertical dolphin kicking in deep water is another excellent builder: arms crossed on your chest, kick to keep your head up for 20 to 30 seconds. The same core-driven kick fuels fast freestyle underwaters, which we cover in how to swim faster.

Learn the Two-Kick Timing

Timing is where butterfly is won or lost. Sync the two dolphin kicks to your arm cycle like this:

Phase	What your arms do	Which kick fires
Entry	Hands enter and shoot forward	First (big) kick down
Catch and pull	Hands sweep out, in, then back	Body glides, hips rise
Release	Hands exit near the hips	Second (quick) kick down
Recovery	Arms sweep low over water	Ride the momentum forward

The coaching cue is simple: kick your hands in, kick your hands out. The first kick punches your hands and chest forward on entry. The second kick fires as your hands leave the water, throwing your arms into the recovery. Miss either kick and the stroke stalls, forcing your shoulders to drag your body up alone.

Practice the rhythm slowly. Take one full stroke, glide, then the next. Butterfly does not have to be fast to be correct; a slow, well-timed fly is far easier than a rushed one.

Refine the Arm Pull and Recovery

Your hands enter the water shoulder-width apart, thumbs slightly down, reaching forward. From there the underwater pull traces a keyhole or hourglass shape: press out, sweep in toward your belly, then push back and past your hips. Accelerate through the pull so your hands are moving fastest as they exit.

The recovery is where beginners waste the most energy. Keep your arms low, relaxed, and slightly bent, sweeping them out to the sides just above the surface like you are throwing water behind you. Do not lift them high or muscle them forward; let the second kick and the release of the pull sling them around.

• Enter thumbs-first, hands about shoulder-width, not crossed or too wide.
• Accelerate the hands from catch to exit; never let the pull slow down.
• Recover low and loose, palms angled slightly out, elbows soft.

This press-and-recover rhythm shares DNA with the timing challenges in breaststroke technique, where a well-timed glide also does the heavy lifting.

Time Your Breathing to the Stroke

Breathing sinks more butterfly attempts than any other fault. Breathe forward, not up. As your hands sweep back in the pull, your chest naturally rises; ride that rise, push your chin just past the surface, grab a quick breath, and drive your head back down before your arms recover.

The head leads the wave. If you keep your chin low and return your face to the water early, your hips stay high and the stroke flows. Lift too high or hold the breath too long and your hips drop like an anchor, killing your rhythm.

Most swimmers breathe every second stroke to preserve timing and speed, taking one non-breathing stroke with the face down between breaths. When you are learning, breathing every stroke is fine while you groove the pattern. If forward breathing feels foreign, the same low, relaxed head position matters in how to breathe while swimming across every stroke.

Drills That Make Butterfly Click

You do not learn fly by swimming full laps of it. You build it in pieces:

1. Body dolphin (no arms): Arms at your sides or in streamline, undulate and kick the length of the pool. Feel the wave.
2. Single-arm fly: One arm pulls, the other stays extended forward. Keeps the timing honest without the full load.
3. Three-kick, one-pull: Take three dolphin kicks in streamline, then one full butterfly stroke. Reinforces kick-driven propulsion.
4. 2-2-2 drill: Two strokes right-arm-only, two left-arm-only, two full strokes. Builds symmetry.
5. Fly with fins: Fins amplify the dolphin kick so you feel a correct, powerful wave, then you replicate it without them.

Work these in short bursts of 15 to 25 yards with full rest between. Butterfly rewards quality over quantity; ten crisp strokes beat a sloppy full lap.

How Butterfly Compares to the Other Strokes

Understanding where fly sits among the four strokes helps you train it smartly.

Stroke	Power source	Breathing	Relative difficulty
Freestyle	Rotational arm pull + flutter kick	To the side	Easiest to sustain
Backstroke	Rotational pull, face up	Always available	Moderate
Breaststroke	Timed pull-kick glide	Forward, every stroke	Moderate, timing-heavy
Butterfly	Body wave + dolphin kick	Forward, late	Hardest, most rhythmic

If you are still building a base, get comfortable with freestyle swimming technique and solid freestyle breathing technique first. Freestyle teaches the streamline, catch, and continuous rhythm that transfer directly into a cleaner fly. Adults returning to the water will also find butterfly far easier after working through learning to swim as an adult.

Putting It All Together

Swim butterfly as a wave: press the chest, kick the hands in, pull through the keyhole, kick the hands out, breathe low and forward, and recover loose. Keep it slow while you build the timing, then let the two-kick rhythm carry you. Focus on one element per session, whether that is the dolphin kick, the breath, or the recovery, and the whole stroke gradually knits together. Master fly and you will have earned the most rhythmic, satisfying stroke in the pool.