Butterfly has a reputation as the most “grueling” stroke. But that reputation has come mainly because so many people swim ButterStruggle. When swum well, Butterfly is beautiful to watch and satisfying to swim. I learned this firsthand only after swimming ButterStruggle for 40 years.

Though I’ve had the good fortune to coach world-ranked “flyers,” the drills and techniques that helped those gifted swimmers did nothing for me. After countless miles of Single Arm Fly that felt great, even 50 yards of whole-stroke left me exhausted. At age 50, I finally concluded that I wasn’t “meant to fly” and gave myself a middle-age-exemption. For several years I didn’t attempt a single stroke.

But early last year, while studying video of Michael Phelps, frame by frame, I noticed subtleties that had eluded me before and modified the techniques I’d used for decades previously. After just a few hours of practice, I began to feel hope I’d never known before. Soon, I found I could swim 8, 12 and then 16 25-yard repeats with little fatigue.

I’ll never be a threat to Michael Phelps,
but after decades of frustration, my midlife breakthrough has me so excited that I’ve entered the 200 Fly and 400 IM at every opportunity. If you’ve never swum Butterfly (or last did so in high school) and think you may now be too old, keep in mind that I mastered Fly for the first time at age 55 and have seen swimmers in their 60s and 70s learn the basics in a matter of hours.

The first step in learning an efficient Fly is head position and breathing. Breathing is usually thought to be such a liability; it’s been something of a “rule” to hold your breath as much as possible to have any hope of maintaining body position. But your muscles need plenty of oxygen to perform at a high level. While coaching Jenny Thompson to break “Mary T’s” world record in the 100-meter Butterfly, Olympic Coach Richard Quick said “Don’t hide your breathing problems by not breathing. Fix them!”

Where problems arise is with what I call the “Bowling Ball and Broomstick Problem.” One, the head weighs about 10 lbs. Two, your “heavy” head is a long way from your center of balance – just above your navel. Three, unique among all strokes, in Fly you spend much of the stroke cycle without anything forward of your head to help channel or support its weight. The effect is like a bowling ball on a broomstick.

Complicating matters, swimmers feel the need to climb up for air and dive down to get the hips up. When the broomstick follows the bowling ball, you end up spending far more energy fighting gravity than moving forward. Want instant energy savings? Get your head position and movement under control. Here are five tips:

1. Exhale. While working on my new Fly form, I realized it wasn’t as intuitive as in Freestyle to exhale steadily. Holding my breath not only contributed to breathlessness, it also put a hitch in the seamless breathe-return I was aiming for. Start bubbling from the moment your face goes back in.
2. “Sneak” your breath. The surest way for that bowling ball to hurt your form is by moving it too far – or too abruptly – from the neutral. Imagine someone watching you swim. Try to hide your breath from that imagined observer.
3. “Scrape” the surface. Breathe with your chin in the water and your nose pointing down at the water just inches ahead of you.
4. Breathe “blind.” Don't try to see anything as you breathe. The time it takes to focus your eyes will delay your head’s return to the water.
5. Fall. Rather than driving your forehead down (I call this “crushing a beer can”) simply let gravity return your face to the water.

As I drilled the five focal points into habits, I thought about only one at a time, often for at least five minutes of repetition before shifting my emphasis. And those reps were never more than 25 yards, sometimes as little as three or four strokes. If it wasn’t feeling right, I stopped swimming Fly and finished the length with Freestyle.

The upshot is I now look forward to swimming Fly in both practices and meets. Though my pace is modest, I can hold it without slackening during a 200 – in fact, I descended the last three 50s of my most recent 200, a knack that eluded the “natural” Flyers I coached over the years – and feel remarkably fresh when I begin the second 100 of a 400 IM – two events with medals that always seem to go unclaimed.

This article is excerpted from Terry’s latest book Extraordinary Swimming for Every Body and the DVD “BetterFly for Every Body.”

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