Butterfly With a Snorkel

This week’s tip is to add a snorkel when working on your butterfly, which we know may seem counterintuitive. The breath is so intrinsically connected to the undulation in butterfly that also affects the pull, recovery, and kick. But there are many ways that using a snorkel can help correct some of the most common technical flaws in butterfly.

The biggest advantage to using a snorkel when swimming butterfly may be that it helps to flatten out the stroke. While you need to have undulation for butterfly to be effective, you also need to make sure the legs, hips, and core are all working together to drive the swimmer forward. We’ve all seen the butterflier who gets stuck going up and down more than they are driving forward. Using a snorkel helps limit the amplitude of that undulation and keep everything connected in a tighter, slimmer profile.