Does anyone know if submerged dolphin kicks are always better than submerged freestyle (or backstroke) kicks?
I find fly kicks very tiring and slow for my particular body. It seems I can go as fast if not faster off the walls kicking free or back underwater--and these take much less energy.
If SDK is the obviously preferred approach, can anybody provide actual evidence--swimming science studies, for instance--that compare the same person's speed doing both? Similarly, is there some physical cause for why split-leg kicking should be intrinsically slower than legs-together kicking?
Obviously, you have to do SDK on fly and *** pullouts (if you are going to do any kick at all.) But for free and back, you still have a choice, and I'd like to know if the SDK choice is always (or almost always) a better one.
I am wondering if it is sufficient to conclude that because most of the world's fastest swimmers do this, it necessarily means it's an optimal technique. Dara Torres, for her part, does not use SDK in her sprints. Is this just a case of old dogs having trouble with new tricks? Or could it be that SDKs work great for some--but not so great for other body types?
I tried something new this morning that made me think of this discussion. My lanemate was going to do 50's with a band around her ankles. I said I was interested, so she loaned me her band (just an old inner tube tied in a knot) and she used an old pair of goggles as her band. We did 8x50 SCM on the 1:00.
It took me a while to figure out how to get swimming downhill; the first few were legs down, head held proudly high flail fests. But after a while, I started to learn how to deal with not kicking at all. Then I started adding a few SDK's off the walls to help get me moving. Then I realized I was sort of dolphining as I swam to help keep my hips up. I could feel my core engaged. It was a lot of work, and I was fairly gassed despite the interval. I liked feeling muscle groups which aren't normally engaged weigh in and tell me they had been working.
I hadn't done this drill before, and I see where it could help me develop a better (read: somewhat effective, as opposed to worse than useless) dolphin kick. I think I'll try it every now and again and see if it has any effect.
YMMV.
I tried something new this morning that made me think of this discussion. My lanemate was going to do 50's with a band around her ankles. I said I was interested, so she loaned me her band (just an old inner tube tied in a knot) and she used an old pair of goggles as her band. We did 8x50 SCM on the 1:00.
It took me a while to figure out how to get swimming downhill; the first few were legs down, head held proudly high flail fests. But after a while, I started to learn how to deal with not kicking at all. Then I started adding a few SDK's off the walls to help get me moving. Then I realized I was sort of dolphining as I swam to help keep my hips up. I could feel my core engaged. It was a lot of work, and I was fairly gassed despite the interval. I liked feeling muscle groups which aren't normally engaged weigh in and tell me they had been working.
I hadn't done this drill before, and I see where it could help me develop a better (read: somewhat effective, as opposed to worse than useless) dolphin kick. I think I'll try it every now and again and see if it has any effect.
YMMV.
