“When bottlenose dolphins swim — at a cruising speed around six miles an hour or a sprinting speed about twice that fast — they are constantly fighting against the water’s drag, which only gets worse as they swim harder.
Shawn R. Noren, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, set out to find how much extra drag would be experienced by a specific, aerodynamically disadvantaged subset of the dolphin population: adult females nearing the end of pregnancy.
…Pregnant dolphins also swim differently, making shorter but more frequent strokes. And the growing fetus stretches out the mother’s muscles, probably making it more difficult for her to thrust her tail up and down.”
www.nytimes.com/.../different-strokes-for-pregnant-dolphins.html
What can we swimmers learn from this? How does it relate to stroke rate and distance per stroke?
Through no fault of my own, I find that I have a less than optimal hydrodynamic profile. I wouldn't say I look like a pregnant dolphin, but opinions may vary. Should I shorten my stroke and increase my stroke rate to compensate for this unfortunate circumstance?
Discuss...
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Former Member
I think it makes some sense intuitively. The pregnant dolphins are less streamlined, so they can't glide as effectively. They make up for this by gliding less, i.e., kicking more frequently. Obviously there are lots of differences between the way dolphins and humans swim, but maybe the most obvious is dolphins swim primarily underwater. Would the technique adjustments pregnant dolphins make also apply to swimming in the surface? Hard to say for sure.
Nicely stated. I think the adaptive changes do cross over from dolphins to human swimming.
I think it makes some sense intuitively. The pregnant dolphins are less streamlined, so they can't glide as effectively. They make up for this by gliding less, i.e., kicking more frequently. Obviously there are lots of differences between the way dolphins and humans swim, but maybe the most obvious is dolphins swim primarily underwater. Would the technique adjustments pregnant dolphins make also apply to swimming in the surface? Hard to say for sure.
Nicely stated. I think the adaptive changes do cross over from dolphins to human swimming.
