Dolphin kick or flutter kick off the wall?

depends try both and see what works best for you if your flutter kick is faster train to improve your SDK for a few months then retest use which ever kick is fastest for you train to make your SDK look like this youtube.com/watch ande After kicking off the wall during a tumble turn, or after a start for that matter, do dolphin kicks give you a better boost than flutter kicks? Almost all competition swimmers seem to dolphin kick. Do dolphin kicks give you a stronger boost off the wall than flutter kicks?

it depends. Some people are better at one than the other. I would say the majority is better at dolphin kicking.

I think the correct answer is above - do whatever is faster for you. Note that some elite swimmers like Jason Lezak and Peter Vanderkaay use a flutter kick. But I think the trend is clear that dolphin is preferred. My own experience was that until recently, my flutter was faster. But I came to realize that I was being lazy on my dolphin kick attempts off the wall. I wasn't trying to truly propell myself. I think dolphin is more tiring, but faster. I also race fly. For some reason the fly kick that feels so natural on fly didn't feel natural on freestyle. But I turned the corner and fully believe dolphin is now faster for me.

I unexpectedly swam on some freestyle sprint relays this past weekend. I can't sprint my way out of a paper bag. However, with a relay start I had a lot more power entering the water. I immediately started dolphin kicking to the surface, and I felt really strong on my first strokes. Dolphin is much stronger for me than flutter. So what I was thinking... do some starts. Try some with dolphin kicks and try some with flutter. Which one is more powerful to get you up and swimming quickly?

I am glad to see suggestions of working on both SDK and flutter. I agree that is important for you to work on both. Possibly have someone videotape you for you to see what you look like. Get into a 15 yard pool (diving well) and get timed doing both flutter and SDK (several times each) w/ your breakout.

Just my $.02 worth: dolphin kick.* Push off the wall, stretch out and dolphin kick, surface, take two strokes and breathe... *- I'm not a coach :p

I feel much better/faster doing flutter kicks off the wall. I've tried the dolphin kick and it threw my rhythm off on freestyle. I do SDK's off the walls on fly and backstroke though.

here's some great footage of phelps using his SDK in the 200 free and s00 IM notice how far he kicks off this 3rd turn in both 200 fr www.youtube.com/watch 200 IM www.youtube.com/watch also SDK might feel funny to some or make some feel like it throws their rhythm off. Practice SDK for several months before passing judgement, get used to what it feels like. I did a little dolphing kicking in college and always felt more comfortable with my arms at my side. I wish I'd learned and gotten great at SDK back then. Then as a master masters swimmer, I felt more comfortable on my back than on my belly so I started practicing on my belly too. Now I'm practicing it for freestyle sprints. Practice SDK off starts, on your back belly, and side off turns, get used to all the differnt ways you might apply it.

Beth, you bring up a great point - rhythym. One of the hardest things for me is getting the transition from the SDK to flutter to be seamless. There are times I totally muff the timing and feel like I come to a screeching halt off the walls. To combat that, we've been doing a lot of sets where we go X # of SDKs off the wall, building the # of SDKs as we go through (ie 300 w/ 6/8/10 sdk by 100), maintaining a strong pace, and then doing a fast set later, working on incorporating a fast SDK off each wall. Internally as well, for some boring sets, I will challenge myself with a "Ok Jeff, you need to do at LEAST 3 SDKs off each wall." Anytime we get 4/3/2/1 sets is a good time for that.

ande;88802 ....................snip................. I did a little dolphing kicking in college and always felt more comfortable with my arms at my side. I'm glad you brought that up, Ande. On another thread I did mention this. Dolphin kicking with the arms at the side (Man from Atlantis-style) is, for me, much faster than in Streamline. One would think that the speedboat shape would be faster than the barge or ferryboat shape, but .............. When I try SDKs (in practice ---It'll be another 40 years until I use them in meets---), I find that, as I undulate, from the hips, my head and arms tend to go up and down (maybe through a four or five inches arc), whereas, when I look at underwater footage of World-class swimmers, their arms (and the head buttressed in-between) do not bob up and down rhythmically with their hips and legs. If I try to keep my arms from bobbing, then my SDKs are even slower (I fell they're less efficient). I guess I'll just keep experimenting and see how variations feel (I have nobody to time me).