Last week, I blundered upon a kick set that proved to be fun and challenging for the likes of me, that is to say, a fellow with pretty piss-poor SDKs.
The idea behind the set was to gradually build up my dolphin kicking capacity by starting out with all flutter kick and 0 dolphin kicks per length, then adding (1) dolphin kick off each wall per 50, then (2) per length per 50, then (3) per wall per 50, and so on, till I was kicking the whole thing butterfly.
This happened at the 1450 yard mark. By this point, I'd gradually worked my way up to 30 dolphin kicks (and 0 flutter kicks) per 25 to finish a set that ultimately proved 1500 yards of kicking.
I wrote about this blundering set and its aftermath two days later on my abdominal muscles in my most recent vlog entry here forums.usms.org/blog.php
Taking 30 dolphin kicks per 25, I realize, sounds pretty godawful to the natural cetaceans in our midst. Anyhow, a couple vlog readers wondered what the average number required is, so I thought I would conduct a poll.
This isn't an ordinary poll--I don't want responders to answer off the top of their heads. Rather, the next time you at practice, do this experiment and report back your actual findings.
1. Use a kick board
2. Do not use fins.
3. Conduct this experiment in a 25 yard course for consistency of replies.
4. Kick butterfly for an entire 50 without stopping. Count the number of total number of kicks you take. (I know you would take less doing actual SDKs without a board, but for this particular poll, please do it with a board on the surface.)
In my case, it took me 30 dolphin kicks down, and 30 dolphin kicks back, for the unremarkable score of 60. Please do not ask me what my time was, because I am sure it was over a minute.
And PLEASE only respond after you're tried this--do NOT go from memory or approximate what you think you should or could do. I want an accurate count!
Note: one last thing--just kick as normally as you can kick butterfly (which in my case is not that normal). No need to try for some record by gliding as far as possible after each kick; neither should you feel obligated to do millions of tiny whip like kicks, as if in imitation of your father's contribution to your begetting.
Just do it normally, or as normally as you can. I want to get an idea of what the range is.
Thanks!
One other question: I agree with Leslie that using a board to kick is hard on the shoulders, and for many reasons, this seems particularly true with fly kicks. On the other hand, it's hard to really work on endurance if you are forced to hold your breath length after length doing prolonged SDKs.
Do you see any value to those of us who are trying to get better at SDKs doing sets like the one I described in my vlog (1500 mixed flutter and fly kicks with a board, gradually reducing the percentage of flutter while increasing the percentage of fly)?
And is Leslie right about fin training being the way to go here? I know fins help increase ankle flexibility, but it's so much easier to kick SDKs with fins that I wonder if I should be practicing the fin-less variety I will actually be using in competition?
If boards don't hurt your shoulders then I think it is a fine way to work on both kick power and endurance. I often switch to boards for just the reason you cite, I don't want to have to worry about the hypoxic aspect of going underwater.
If a board hurts your shoulder(s) then you have a couple options. Many advocate kicking on your back in a streamline position. Personally I dislike this solution because it takes away much of the power of the kick since too much of the "downsweep" (which is actually the upsweep when you are on your back) is lost in making waves. (Ideally when you are doing SDK you are not making any ripples in the surface water. Many people don't go deep enough for that.)
So another option is to use a snorkel and do SDKs on your front. FINIS also makes a very small triangular-shaped board that is useful for this. If the streamline position doesn't hurt your shoulders, then maybe using this board won't either. Or just do it without the board, holding a streamline.
As far as the 1500 flutter/dolphin kick suggestion: a 1500 kick of any kind sounds pretty boring to me! We do aerobic/endurance kick sets sometimes but I think our longest repeats are maybe 300s. I am a little puzzled by the need to switch between flutter and dolphin; is DK so tiring to you that you need to do this? Flutter kick is more tiring for me because they seem to depend almost exclusively on quads rather than recruiting core muscles to help.
About fins: I don't agree that fins are "THE" way to develop a fast kick, if Leslie is implying that it is the only way. That is clearly not true in my case, since I have only very rarely used fins. I know some people (besides Leslie) who use them to help build strength/power. But they hurt my knees and ankles so I don't use them.
So I am probably not the best person about fins. I would tend to think you should do some SDK'ing without them to mimic actual race conditions, as you say. And even if they didn't hurt my joints, I would find them annoying to use in short course pools since they effectively make the pools even shorter: it seems like you'd be turning all the time, and I find turning with fins to be a little bit of a pain, though I imagine you'd get good at it if you practiced it enough. If I could use them, I'd probably use them more in LCM than SCY pools.
One other question: I agree with Leslie that using a board to kick is hard on the shoulders, and for many reasons, this seems particularly true with fly kicks. On the other hand, it's hard to really work on endurance if you are forced to hold your breath length after length doing prolonged SDKs.
Do you see any value to those of us who are trying to get better at SDKs doing sets like the one I described in my vlog (1500 mixed flutter and fly kicks with a board, gradually reducing the percentage of flutter while increasing the percentage of fly)?
And is Leslie right about fin training being the way to go here? I know fins help increase ankle flexibility, but it's so much easier to kick SDKs with fins that I wonder if I should be practicing the fin-less variety I will actually be using in competition?
If boards don't hurt your shoulders then I think it is a fine way to work on both kick power and endurance. I often switch to boards for just the reason you cite, I don't want to have to worry about the hypoxic aspect of going underwater.
If a board hurts your shoulder(s) then you have a couple options. Many advocate kicking on your back in a streamline position. Personally I dislike this solution because it takes away much of the power of the kick since too much of the "downsweep" (which is actually the upsweep when you are on your back) is lost in making waves. (Ideally when you are doing SDK you are not making any ripples in the surface water. Many people don't go deep enough for that.)
So another option is to use a snorkel and do SDKs on your front. FINIS also makes a very small triangular-shaped board that is useful for this. If the streamline position doesn't hurt your shoulders, then maybe using this board won't either. Or just do it without the board, holding a streamline.
As far as the 1500 flutter/dolphin kick suggestion: a 1500 kick of any kind sounds pretty boring to me! We do aerobic/endurance kick sets sometimes but I think our longest repeats are maybe 300s. I am a little puzzled by the need to switch between flutter and dolphin; is DK so tiring to you that you need to do this? Flutter kick is more tiring for me because they seem to depend almost exclusively on quads rather than recruiting core muscles to help.
About fins: I don't agree that fins are "THE" way to develop a fast kick, if Leslie is implying that it is the only way. That is clearly not true in my case, since I have only very rarely used fins. I know some people (besides Leslie) who use them to help build strength/power. But they hurt my knees and ankles so I don't use them.
So I am probably not the best person about fins. I would tend to think you should do some SDK'ing without them to mimic actual race conditions, as you say. And even if they didn't hurt my joints, I would find them annoying to use in short course pools since they effectively make the pools even shorter: it seems like you'd be turning all the time, and I find turning with fins to be a little bit of a pain, though I imagine you'd get good at it if you practiced it enough. If I could use them, I'd probably use them more in LCM than SCY pools.
