Recently, I've been trying to stay under water longer and SDK more. But I notice my breakouts seem to be pretty sub-par on all strokes (especially *** where I practically come to a dead halt). Any tips for better breakouts on the start and turns? Also, on backstroke, when do you begin the transition from SDK-ing to flutter kicking before you surface?
Former Member
I'm glad to hear that this isn't a problem only for novices. I've been working on getting off the wall better (both with open and flip turns), but I still feel like I have to shift into a lower gear with those first few strokes to get back up to speed again (and I'm using the term speed loosely here ;)). Thanks for the good ideas. I'll work on making the angle more shallow and see how that works.
Possibly a dumb question, but if your dolphin kick is not particularly strong, and it takes a lot more energy to execute this than standard flutter kicking, is it a mistake to ignore dolphin kicking altogether on free and back and just use a flutter kick off the dive and walls?
Also, how much time--after the dive and wall push offs--should you just glide in streamlined position without any kicking at all? Should you count to yourself:
push off wall
one ninety nine
two ninety nine
start kicking but keep arms still tightly streamlined and ascend
and then take the first power stroke?
What's the optimum timing here, and how does it vary from, say, the 50 to 100 to 200 to longer free races?
Good tip regardless of stroke. I think we have a natural tendency to lift our heads when we get close to the surface, especially later in the race when we're craving that oxygen.
Allen is a source of great info. I still need to work on keeping the head still...
Have you looked at George's website? Some good videos and links to more.
http://www.swimdownhill.com/
There was also one on the GoSwim site a while back called "Kevin Underwater" that showed the dolphin kick -pulldown-breakout sequence.
I was printing tomorrow's workout and one of the sets reminded me of something else. Lots of 15's (my workout tomorrow includes 10 free & 10 fly) from a dive, if possible just to work the UW and breakout.
Thanks guys. I had forgotten, Allen, that I actually own the GoSwim video that focuses on breaststroke turns and pullouts. Duh. I'll go watch it again and look at George's site too.
As to Peter's tip, I totally lied. I checked it at practice this am. I'm doing it correctly for backstroke and wrong for freestyle. But when I put the other hand on top for free, it feels really strange.
I know this is obvious, but no one's else has said it on this thread. The number of SDK will vary inversely with the length of the race. I can do 7-9 pretty routinely off of my back starts, but I'd never make it through a 200 if I tried to do that. I'm going with 5 dolphin kicks on my 100's.
Like Ande says, it would be best to change it up a bit and have someone time you.
One thing I have to watch is that my transition from dolphin to flutter (when doing freestyle) is speedy and seamless. Sometimes there's a hitch, or a slow-down. Have someone watch you... I can't feel it when I screw it up myself, but apparently (according to hubby) it's quite visible from the deck! :)
A tiny tip, but of tiny stuff hundredths of seconds are made of: for freestyle, esp. sprinting, when you overlap your hands to form that rapier-like streamline, make sure that your underneath hand is the one you want to take your first power stroke with. If you have a dominant arm, that'll be it. It seems very obvious, but watch others sometimes and you'll see a little shuffling done (inefficient) when the 'wrong' hand is underneath.
It has never occurred to me to even notice that the first stroke hand isn't under the other hand. I guess I've been doing it for so long, I've never noticed. Sometimes just for the fun of it, I will turn the other direction and try to do the first stroke with my right hand. that's really fun to do.
