Newbie Questions and Answers

Former Member
Former Member
Hi there, new-ish swimmers! My name is Barb and I was a lurker. Then I registered and lurked some more. I heard all sorts of terms (long-axis/short-axis, SDKs, slippage - to name a few) that the more seasoned swimmers were tossing around and had no clue what they referred to, much less meant. I was a little shy about asking for clarification on some basic issues within a thread where something was being discussed or debated. I would like to create a space here for swimmers who are either new-ish to swimming, fitness swimming, or maybe competitive swimming to ask basic questions, the ones you're embarrassed to ask. If you don't want to ask them yourself, register and send me a private message, and I'll ask it for you. I don't have the answers, but many of the posters here have been and are helpful and supportive of me and probably will be the same for you.
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  • SDK is Streamline Dolphin Kick (without a board) you can SDK on your back, side, or belly. Swimmers use it when they push off the wall in FreeStyle, Butterfly and backstroke. I coined SDK because I didn't want to write out Streamline Dolphin Kick everytime I mentioned it in my blog. Thus the SDK acronym. In practice, people can dolphin kick with a board. So I try to be specific. I college we did way more kicking with boards than without. I know Eddie now has the team do a lot of SDK sets. People dolphin kick when they swim fly. The more you do it the better sense of technique and timing you develop. For many people SDK is the 2nd fastest way to move through the water. Streamline dolphin kicking is a critical skill that's transformed swimming over the last 20 years. In 1986 the Berkoff Blastoff debuted, when David Berkoff broke the American Record in the 100 yard backstroke, then he broke the world record. There were other swimmers who used SDK before that, but none had the kind of success he did. Surprisingly SDK didn't translate to butterfly and freestyle till a few years later. Then Fina implemented a rule that swimmers could only kick 15 meters off each wall. Swimmers need to learn how to SDK and improve their conditioning. Then they need to test their ability to see if they should use it or not. Also if they should use it, they need to figure out how much. Most swimmers have a cross over point, they point where they should transition from SDK to swimming Some swimmers have a very fast SDK. They can SDK faster or just as fast as they can swim. Fatigue and the need to breathe also determines the zone where swimmers should transition from SDK to swimming. In years past when swimmers pushed off the wall they'd streamline and flutter kick, many swimmers SDK way faster than they SFK If a swimmer doesn't have a fast SDK, they shouldn't use it, they should dive in streamlined flutter kick then start swimming Feel free to ask questions in Ask Ande too. www.usms.org/.../showthread.php Superb thread idea; thanks to originator. My dumb question of the day: Is there a difference between streamlined dolphin kick and "regular" dolphin kick? Thanks, VB
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  • SDK is Streamline Dolphin Kick (without a board) you can SDK on your back, side, or belly. Swimmers use it when they push off the wall in FreeStyle, Butterfly and backstroke. I coined SDK because I didn't want to write out Streamline Dolphin Kick everytime I mentioned it in my blog. Thus the SDK acronym. In practice, people can dolphin kick with a board. So I try to be specific. I college we did way more kicking with boards than without. I know Eddie now has the team do a lot of SDK sets. People dolphin kick when they swim fly. The more you do it the better sense of technique and timing you develop. For many people SDK is the 2nd fastest way to move through the water. Streamline dolphin kicking is a critical skill that's transformed swimming over the last 20 years. In 1986 the Berkoff Blastoff debuted, when David Berkoff broke the American Record in the 100 yard backstroke, then he broke the world record. There were other swimmers who used SDK before that, but none had the kind of success he did. Surprisingly SDK didn't translate to butterfly and freestyle till a few years later. Then Fina implemented a rule that swimmers could only kick 15 meters off each wall. Swimmers need to learn how to SDK and improve their conditioning. Then they need to test their ability to see if they should use it or not. Also if they should use it, they need to figure out how much. Most swimmers have a cross over point, they point where they should transition from SDK to swimming Some swimmers have a very fast SDK. They can SDK faster or just as fast as they can swim. Fatigue and the need to breathe also determines the zone where swimmers should transition from SDK to swimming. In years past when swimmers pushed off the wall they'd streamline and flutter kick, many swimmers SDK way faster than they SFK If a swimmer doesn't have a fast SDK, they shouldn't use it, they should dive in streamlined flutter kick then start swimming Feel free to ask questions in Ask Ande too. www.usms.org/.../showthread.php Superb thread idea; thanks to originator. My dumb question of the day: Is there a difference between streamlined dolphin kick and "regular" dolphin kick? Thanks, VB
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