How Can I Make My Body Dolphin Better?

i got the most improvement in my dolphin kick by doing kick drills on my back (along the surface) w/o a kick board. it felt REALLY awkward at first, and the head tends to stay in place (which is not necessarily true in fly), but eventually i found a groove, and things have improved a lot since then. this sdk thread has a number of coolbeans vid links. one thing i've found interesting is that in the SDK (streamlined dolphin kick) the head pretty much stays in place. in fly it tends to follow the sine wave motion of the stroke (but i'm finding in fly practice now that the flatter the "wave" the better). as with a lot of things, high frequency wave forms seem to be more efficient than low frequency ones (like twisted-pair telephone wires vs. fiber optics). if you can watch vids in QuickTime you can step them one frame at a time. i found this to be amazingly useful in analyzing strokes of the experts. this youtube download thread may help. expert \`ek-spert\ n - "x" = the unknown factor, "spurt" = a drip under pressure. :-) at this point i'm beginning to truly understand that you can't be tense in fly (i reckon the same applies to SDK). as i see it now, that is the ultimate hat trick (hey rocky! watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat!), knowing when to flex, and when to relax, and the changes are fast (which is a real challenge for those aging fast twitch muscle fibers). while i'm still testing it, i also recently discovered that if i kick in a slightly knock-knee (ankles wider) position it allows me to get more power as the top of my foot is flatter (so less slippage in the biggest power portion of the kick). hip flexibility (relaxation) is needed here for the legs to be able to turn that way. there are a lot of Yoga asanas (postures) that will help increase flexibility and strength in the pelvic region. ankle flexibility seems really critical too. swim.ee used to have a vid called "Frolander-flexible-legkicks" this guy is a rubber band! my fly sets now mostly consist of kick out (as described above) and fly back, catch my breath, repeat (but i'm a bit of a lightweight... relative to many posters here). my facility is SCY (25yds). in the earlier part of my fly practice/study i discovered i was really getting a deeper understanding of the body motion when i was able to start doing fly from a dead stop. this was a HUGE breakthrough discovery/moment for me. if you are interested in doing fly... try these two articles by Coach Emmett Hines, they helped me a lot: Slip-Slid’n’ Away Vive le Papillon! (or Is There Fly After 25?)

I just do not like to see anything done from a complete stop it is hard to get a continuous fluid motion. hence the challenge. like riding a bike: those with the best balance (think track stand) don't need any motion to stay upright, but most people can fake it if they're rolling.

The Head Lead Body Dolphin is Drill Numero Uno of the "Butterfly and Breaststroke: The TI Way" tape (Now found combined with the old "Freestyle and Backstroke" tape on the "Four Strokes Made Easy" DVD. www.totalimmersion.net/four-strokes-details.html ) The Hand Lead Body Dolphin is Drill Number 2. This DVD is currently my main instructional source for learning how to swim. Well, I already know how to swim. LOL. I still find it useful to do these drills a bit every workout to reinforce proper technique. Since I've never even seen these DVDs, the fact that I'm apparently swimming very TI only reinforces my opinion that shoulder injuries are not due to solely to poor technique. :thhbbb: :mooning: :dedhorse: Since you've already found these sources, Tom, once you've got a decent body motion going, I'd grab that monofin and go. Even TI Dave uses a monofin when he's not pottering about in the OW, right Dave? And practice! This motion takes awhile to really get.

I never did very many drills. I know a lot of them. I guess I was lucky I had no trouble doing the fly. I just brought my arms out clean entered clean, one big kick one little kick. Head went in and it was very natural for me. I di not have to think about it. Did a few one length and two lengths sprints, under water dolphin kicks with the hands at my side. I raced the crawl sprinters from our club. But most of my fly training was to swim a couple of endless relays at our club. When i dove in off the racing block I did the dolphin kick with the hands out front, not moving the head and shoulders, but moved everything below the shoulders. In a nutshell, head and chest go down, hips and legs go up, then thrust the hips down and I am doing the dolphin kick. All I can say is keep it simple, don't make it complicated.

I also do the drill George suggests. But I call it chest press fly. Arms at the side, doing the body dolphin, leading with the head, pressing with the chest. Last time my coach saw me doing this in warm up, she said I was very TI... The Head Lead Body Dolphin is Drill Numero Uno of the "Butterfly and Breaststroke: The TI Way" tape (Now found combined with the old "Freestyle and Backstroke" tape on the "Four Strokes Made Easy" DVD. www.totalimmersion.net/four-strokes-details.html ) The Hand Lead Body Dolphin is Drill Number 2. This DVD is currently my main instructional source for learning how to swim.

I just do not like to see anything done from a complete stop it is hard to get a continuous fluid motion. I will admit to pushing off the wall, coming almost -- but not quite -- to a semi-halt and then starting the chest presss. :laugh2:

Every thing is fine with me every thing mentioned here will work with time. I just don't want to spend more than a hour teaching the butterfly. After learning the movements it is going to be a work in progress. Throw away all your DVDs and get a coach. When you hit 50 seconds for a 100m then you will finally find out you have it right. I still have a long way to go to reach that time. My best time about 1 minute for the 100m lc was nearly 50 years ago. When we start to do 50 seconds for the 100 the goal then will be 40 seconds. Learning goes on forever.. 13 days to go Mexico Here I come, we leve for Mexico October 20.

Here is a video of a drill done by Alexander Popov where he is practicing the dolphin vertical in the water. I really like this drill as you can feel a difference in the water resistance. After, when you go back to horizontal, you can better feel the water resistance and what's slowing you down. www.youtube.com/watch ---------------- Heath Twenty-Three Seconds for in-depth freestyle swimming analysis www.wbmny.com/swimming

My body dolphin is not too good now. I'm just a beginner. I think deep down you know the answer. If you are a beginner, forget about the dolphin for the time being. First things first (assuming you are learning the freestyle aka front crawl)! I'm such a wise guy...;)

forget about the dolphin for the time being. (assuming you are learning the freestyle!) I'm working on both the short axis (***/Fly) and long axis (Free/Back). I switch it up. I'm mostly doing drills designed to teach the needed skills. I don't do much whole stroke swimming now. (What would be the point-to practice lousy technique?)