We love to SDK. It's the 5th stroke. It takes skill, strength, flexibility, conditioning & mental toughness.
For many it's the 2nd fastest stroke, but it's not a legal stroke.
We wish it was legal. We wish there weren't 15 m restrictions in races.
We count our kicks because kicks count.
We train to SDK faster. Some call SDKs underwaters or dolphins.
What are you doing to improve your SDK?
How many do you take in each race?
Help! My SDK is Horrible! has many tips & a program to get faster.
Here's a helpful post in it.
What are your SDK times?
15, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150 & 200?
Spend some time in the SDK lane & you'll be kicking faster before you know it.
the breastroke lane
The Middle Distance Lane
The Backstroke Lane
The Butterfly Lane
The SDK Lane
The Taper Lane
The Distance Lane
The IM Lane
The Sprint Free Lane
The Pool Deck
In the 100 fly I take 7-8 kicks off the walls. I breathe most strokes, though not because of the SDKs (I have just found that it doesn't slow me down). Here is a clip from the floswimming from Clovis nationals last year (I'm in lane 5):
www.floswimming.org/.../177507
In the 200 fly, currently I take 6 kicks off the walls on the first 100, then 5 kicks on the second. Clovis clip (again, lane 5):
www.floswimming.org/.../178484
I do more kicks on backstroke, but it isn't because oxygen debt is less of a problem: actually it is worse in backstroke than fly b/c of the flipturn. I am simply faster at SDK on my back, and I believe my butterfly swim is a little faster than my backstroke swim. Combine the two, and it makes more sense to take 1-2 fewer kicks off the walls in my fly races.
In practices I never take fewer than 5 kicks off the wall on fly sets, no matter the distance. As Ahelee says, there is a big psychological component (though I also think there is some physiological adaptation): at this point, doing fewer than 5 kicks feels very odd to me.
In the 100 fly I take 7-8 kicks off the walls. I breathe most strokes, though not because of the SDKs (I have just found that it doesn't slow me down). Here is a clip from the floswimming from Clovis nationals last year (I'm in lane 5):
www.floswimming.org/.../177507
In the 200 fly, currently I take 6 kicks off the walls on the first 100, then 5 kicks on the second. Clovis clip (again, lane 5):
www.floswimming.org/.../178484
I do more kicks on backstroke, but it isn't because oxygen debt is less of a problem: actually it is worse in backstroke than fly b/c of the flipturn. I am simply faster at SDK on my back, and I believe my butterfly swim is a little faster than my backstroke swim. Combine the two, and it makes more sense to take 1-2 fewer kicks off the walls in my fly races.
In practices I never take fewer than 5 kicks off the wall on fly sets, no matter the distance. As Ahelee says, there is a big psychological component (though I also think there is some physiological adaptation): at this point, doing fewer than 5 kicks feels very odd to me.
