After getting some advice on improving my butterfly kick I rewatched the TI Butterfly/Breaststroke video with an eye to how much knee bend the swimmers had while they were body dolphining. It seems to me that the people who actually managed to move forward were the ones that bent their knees enough that their lower leg could provide some backward force. The ones that mostly bobbed up and down were the ones that kept their knees straighter. Even the runner who supposedly couldn't make progress due to inflexible ankles had much more pronounced knee bend when she put the fins on.
While I realize that it is easy to overdo the kick and lose the undulation, it seems to me that the video would be more effective if it spent a few moments explaining that forward propulsion comes from the backward movement of the calves and feet and how to develop that, rather than jumping to putting on fins. A LOT of people go nowhere trying to do body dolphins without fins and it seems like it would help to explain how to move the legs in a way that give some propulsion instead of saying that "there is no overt kick in a body dolphin", which I think is just false.
Anyway, different ways of describing things click for different people and what clicked for me was the idea of drawing the knees forward and then whipping the feet downward with a feel that is similar in some ways to *** stroke kick but with the legs together and toes pointed back instead of out.
Parents
Former Member
Short Axis Progression:
15 x 25s
1. Head lead Body Dolphin with fins. Slow down your pulsing cycle and try to complete the 25 in the lowest number of pulses.
2. Head lead Body Dolphin without fins. Try to use the same motion and make it feel like when you had the fins on. Obviously, you will use more pulses to cover the length. Count your pulses.
3. Head lead Body Dolphin without fins. Try to use fewer pulses than on (2).
4. Hand lead Body Dolphin with fins. Same idea as (1).
5. Hand lead Body Dolphin without fins. Same as (2).
6. Hand lead Body Dolphin without fins. Same as (3).
7. Slide to the corners with fins. Do a cycle or two each of:
- Slide to the corners and breath every other pulse,
- Slide to the corners every pulse while breathing every other pulse, and
- Slide to the corners and breath every pulse.
Keep your neck alignment neutral; don’t look up to breath
8. Slide to the corners without fins. Half a length slide to the corners and breathe every other pulse. Half a length slide to the corners every pulse, breathe every other pulse. Try to make it feel like when you had the fins on.
9. Slide to the corners without fins. Half a length slide to the corners every pulse, breathe every other pulse. Half a length slide to the corners and breathe every pulse. Try to make it feel like when you had the fins on.
10. Body Dolphin breaststroke with fins. Really emphasize body wave breaststroke with proper arm pull and recovery. Work on timing.
11. Body Dolphin breaststroke without fins. Same Body Dolphin, same timing as (10).
12. Full stroke breaststroke. Maintain your Body Dolphin but with normal breaststroke kick.
13. Double pulse Fly with fins. Do two hand lead Body Dolphins, and one full stroke butterfly. Repeat for length of the pool. Try to keep your stroke relaxed and slide your body over your anchored hands. Use your body and let your arms come along for the ride instead of leading the stroke.
14. Double pulse Fly without fins. Same as (13) without the fins.
15. Single pulse Fly without fins. Do one hand lead Body Dolphin and one full stroke butterfly, or if you prefer, just do a 25 fly. As with (13) & (14) stay relaxed; swim the stroke with your Body Dolphin and let your arms tag along rather than leading the stroke.
1 x 50 without fins: come off the wall in a normal breaststroke pull out, and do two strokes of ***. Then do two strokes of fly, two ***, two fly…into the wall. Come off the wall into a normal butterfly breakout (do two or more Body Dolphins underwater before surfacing), two strokes fly, two strokes ***, two strokes fly, two strokes ***…into the wall. Try to make you fly feel like your *** by adding a glide after each arm recovery. Try to make your *** feel like your fly by using body undulation as in (12).
Full article: www.totalimmersion.net/.../drillforwarming.html
Matt
Short Axis Progression:
15 x 25s
1. Head lead Body Dolphin with fins. Slow down your pulsing cycle and try to complete the 25 in the lowest number of pulses.
2. Head lead Body Dolphin without fins. Try to use the same motion and make it feel like when you had the fins on. Obviously, you will use more pulses to cover the length. Count your pulses.
3. Head lead Body Dolphin without fins. Try to use fewer pulses than on (2).
4. Hand lead Body Dolphin with fins. Same idea as (1).
5. Hand lead Body Dolphin without fins. Same as (2).
6. Hand lead Body Dolphin without fins. Same as (3).
7. Slide to the corners with fins. Do a cycle or two each of:
- Slide to the corners and breath every other pulse,
- Slide to the corners every pulse while breathing every other pulse, and
- Slide to the corners and breath every pulse.
Keep your neck alignment neutral; don’t look up to breath
8. Slide to the corners without fins. Half a length slide to the corners and breathe every other pulse. Half a length slide to the corners every pulse, breathe every other pulse. Try to make it feel like when you had the fins on.
9. Slide to the corners without fins. Half a length slide to the corners every pulse, breathe every other pulse. Half a length slide to the corners and breathe every pulse. Try to make it feel like when you had the fins on.
10. Body Dolphin breaststroke with fins. Really emphasize body wave breaststroke with proper arm pull and recovery. Work on timing.
11. Body Dolphin breaststroke without fins. Same Body Dolphin, same timing as (10).
12. Full stroke breaststroke. Maintain your Body Dolphin but with normal breaststroke kick.
13. Double pulse Fly with fins. Do two hand lead Body Dolphins, and one full stroke butterfly. Repeat for length of the pool. Try to keep your stroke relaxed and slide your body over your anchored hands. Use your body and let your arms come along for the ride instead of leading the stroke.
14. Double pulse Fly without fins. Same as (13) without the fins.
15. Single pulse Fly without fins. Do one hand lead Body Dolphin and one full stroke butterfly, or if you prefer, just do a 25 fly. As with (13) & (14) stay relaxed; swim the stroke with your Body Dolphin and let your arms tag along rather than leading the stroke.
1 x 50 without fins: come off the wall in a normal breaststroke pull out, and do two strokes of ***. Then do two strokes of fly, two ***, two fly…into the wall. Come off the wall into a normal butterfly breakout (do two or more Body Dolphins underwater before surfacing), two strokes fly, two strokes ***, two strokes fly, two strokes ***…into the wall. Try to make you fly feel like your *** by adding a glide after each arm recovery. Try to make your *** feel like your fly by using body undulation as in (12).
Full article: www.totalimmersion.net/.../drillforwarming.html
Matt
