What do you get when you cross the swimming part of the Ironman with butterfly stroke?

Iron Butterfly, of course! No, not the 60's heavy metal rock band (Google up and give a listen (play it LOUD!) to "In A-Gadda-Da-Vida", it's a*w*e*s*o*m*e; ask your parents if you don't believe me. OK, ask your grandparents.)

Seriously, read this excerpt then click link for full article in... The Wall Street Journal? Yup.

Like many fitness swimmers, I can go mile after mile of freestyle without stopping. But a single lap of the butterfly stroke leaves me gasping.

Of the four strokes swum in competition, butterfly is almost universally regarded as more exhausting than freestyle, breaststroke or backstroke. And therein lies its allure. In an age of ultramarathons, Ironman triathlons and crowds chugging up Mount Everest, long-distance butterfly swimming is becoming a new and less-crowded frontier for fitness fanatics. It's also hugely advantageous, because fly swimming, as it's known, requires enormous strengthening of every muscle in the body, particularly the core muscles in the abdomen and back.

Story HERE


I'm starting to get practice ideas...