Hi i counted my dolphin kicks after flip turn and i took 11 dolphin kicks to reach the 15m mark. Is that a good number? those dolphin kick were swift and fast ones. Should i dolphin kick after walls or just flip turn and freestyle?
I am aiming for 5-6 dolphin kicks for a 200m freestyle race.
Also is there any advantage for dolphin kicking off walls instead of just transitioning to normal freestyle?
The point of this forum is to help and encourage our fellow Masters swimmers, to be a positive force, and to give them hope in the pursuit of their dreams, as opposed to claiming that some are just "born" with it and encouraging them to just settle for less.
Maybe this was directed at me; if so then you've misunderstood greatly. The question driving the thread, it seems to me, is how many DKs are optimal off the wall, and what I'm saying is that it will depend on the swimmer. That's not the same as telling someone to give it up.
As mentioned before, I encourage the OP (and anyone else) to work on their kick and experiment with the number of kicks that works best for them. My main point about "natural kicking ability" is that IMO for some people, that optimum number is never going to be close to the double digits. Yes, that's just my opinion but it is not meant to discourage anyone. The opposite, in fact: lots of incredibly fast swimmers aren't great dolphin kickers (especially breaststrokers and freestylers, it seems to me).
But yes, working on improving the dolphin kick will probably increase that optimum number. One of the nice things about masters swimming is that we have time to experiment, we don't have to produce results every year. I think taking some time to work on something different (or try completely new events or whatever) is a great benefit of this mindset. So if someone wants to do so, I think it is a great idea to work on increasing underwaters and see if that helps. If nothing else it keeps one engaged in the sport.
I always get lapped by my team mates during flutter kick, but i was faster than them at the dolphin kick. So what is that suppose to mean?
Probably just that you have a strong core. Flutter kicks is more about pure leg strength/conditioning, you can engage your core a lot better on DK. You should take it as a promising sign in your quest for improving undewaters.
The point of this forum is to help and encourage our fellow Masters swimmers, to be a positive force, and to give them hope in the pursuit of their dreams, as opposed to claiming that some are just "born" with it and encouraging them to just settle for less.
Maybe this was directed at me; if so then you've misunderstood greatly. The question driving the thread, it seems to me, is how many DKs are optimal off the wall, and what I'm saying is that it will depend on the swimmer. That's not the same as telling someone to give it up.
As mentioned before, I encourage the OP (and anyone else) to work on their kick and experiment with the number of kicks that works best for them. My main point about "natural kicking ability" is that IMO for some people, that optimum number is never going to be close to the double digits. Yes, that's just my opinion but it is not meant to discourage anyone. The opposite, in fact: lots of incredibly fast swimmers aren't great dolphin kickers (especially breaststrokers and freestylers, it seems to me).
But yes, working on improving the dolphin kick will probably increase that optimum number. One of the nice things about masters swimming is that we have time to experiment, we don't have to produce results every year. I think taking some time to work on something different (or try completely new events or whatever) is a great benefit of this mindset. So if someone wants to do so, I think it is a great idea to work on increasing underwaters and see if that helps. If nothing else it keeps one engaged in the sport.
I always get lapped by my team mates during flutter kick, but i was faster than them at the dolphin kick. So what is that suppose to mean?
Probably just that you have a strong core. Flutter kicks is more about pure leg strength/conditioning, you can engage your core a lot better on DK. You should take it as a promising sign in your quest for improving undewaters.
