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?
I would try to train a little more yardage for the 200 (i.e. on top of the water) than put too much effort on underwater kicks off your turn in that event. Yeah.... kick is important.... but underwater kicking is a real drain on the oxygen and if you're not good at it the results can back fire.
I don't think he posted it here. But I remember it too. In fact he specifically mentioned Natalie Caughlin and said if you cannot kick like her, then don't bother.
That may have been a different piece. I'm pretty confident it was posted here and was specifically about kicking, not shoulder driven freestyle.
Can you please elaborate. Does this mean his ankles eventually flexed brilliantly, and if so how, or that focusing on other aspects more than made up for the lack of ankle flex? I've been working at stretching my ankles, with little success, and still no forward progress with the kick.
The frog kick pressure surface for propulsion is on the bottom of the foot, flutter and fly kick is the opposite. Lack of ankle flexibility can hurt the latter may not keep you from becoming a WR breaststroker.
I think it's a very individualistic thing. Our coach encourages us to try different kicking strategies in practice. Once you find what works best for you individually, then make it part of your training regimen and do it for every turn in practice so it gets ingrained.
Two DK's on freestyle turns and four for fly seem to be my sweet spot.
I've got a reasonably good kick and work on it a lot. I love doing dolphins on my back in practice; if nothing else it's a great ab workout.
FWIW, when I was working on turns with Sheila Taormina last year I asked her what she did when she swam in the Olympics - she said she didn't do any dolphins, she just went straight to a flutter kick off the wall because that was what worked best for her.
Mark
Can you please elaborate. Does this mean his ankles eventually flexed brilliantly, and if so how, or that focusing on other aspects more than made up for the lack of ankle flex? I've been working at stretching my ankles, with little success, and still no forward progress with the kick.
No. Jeff does not have floppy flexi feet that brilliantly point. It's better for him to just do a few DKs and get up swimming sooner than do a lot of DKs. They flex well like a frog giving him a fast powerful breastroke kick.
I recall a post Jeff Commings mentioned his coach exhausted all efforts to get his ankles to flex with no success, what became speed brakes eventually led to a powerful weapon.
Can you please elaborate. Does this mean his ankles eventually flexed brilliantly, and if so how, or that focusing on other aspects more than made up for the lack of ankle flex? I've been working at stretching my ankles, with little success, and still no forward progress with the kick.
