I was told long ago that practicing dolphin kicks with short fins would help me train for learning the proper technique. I got back into swimming at 54 after a 36 year layoff and have now been at it for six years. Back in my youth days, swimmers did not do dolphin kicks. I feel like I do it great WITH the fins, but when I take them off, I got nothing!
I still don't think I can do a proper dolphin kick and think I do better (in freestyle) by just surfacing and starting my stroke as soon as possible. I can't seem to get the body undulation thing down.
Should I keep trying and if so, any tips? Am I alone in failing to properly be able to do this? Any drills to help master this?
I concentrated on letting my knees stay a little looser.
I would add not just knees. Caveat is that I know my UDK's are not where they need to be or could be. But I do notice one very consistent thing. I get the best results when I relax everything below my waist, really even my lower torso, as much as possible. I almost feel like I don't do good UDK's unless my whole body is relaxed. I try starting them in my torso, but really I have to feel as if I am starting them closer to my shoulders. And again, my waist down is like the fins you wear, just a big sail being whipped by my upper body. I can get about 2 yards further with the same number of kicks (I generally do 16 trying to get to 15M) in UDK sets.
I have found that even when I'm in the water a lot, it takes darn near half of my set to get the feel for them. But I've only identified what I need to do in the past few months.
I concentrated on letting my knees stay a little looser.
I would add not just knees. Caveat is that I know my UDK's are not where they need to be or could be. But I do notice one very consistent thing. I get the best results when I relax everything below my waist, really even my lower torso, as much as possible. I almost feel like I don't do good UDK's unless my whole body is relaxed. I try starting them in my torso, but really I have to feel as if I am starting them closer to my shoulders. And again, my waist down is like the fins you wear, just a big sail being whipped by my upper body. I can get about 2 yards further with the same number of kicks (I generally do 16 trying to get to 15M) in UDK sets.
I have found that even when I'm in the water a lot, it takes darn near half of my set to get the feel for them. But I've only identified what I need to do in the past few months.
