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
Chris Stevenson continues to impress me with his kick/SDK sets, especially his hypoxic stuff. He seems to be quite hung in the lung, or mentally tough, well conditioned and slightly crazy. This type of training allows him to maintain high SDK counts in his 200 races. Quite challenging. Might need a don't-try-this-at-home warning. (or training on your own)
His WOs are Definitely worth checking out at his blog
here's some of his recent impressive sets:
NO FINS
Hypoxic Kick (600/2800)
10 x 50 on 1:05, odds fast kick evens easy swim
-- did all these no-board hypoxic kicking, about 90% effort
-- alternated between back (18 kicks, breathe, flip, then no-breather) and fly (breathe at open turn)
-- goal was to go 27s on the back, 29s on the fly, and that's exactly what I did
Kick Set (750/3300)
8 x 75 back kick on 1:30, two sets of
#1 25 easy, 25 hypoxic, 25 easy
#2 25 hypoxic, 25 easy, 25 hypoxic
#3 same as #1
#4 hard
-- went about 55s on 1-3 & 5-7 (except on #6 my mind wandered and I went 48); went 42-43 on the fast ones
Kick Set (700/3550)
14 x 50 on 1:00, odds strong kick, evens easy swim
-- alternated the kicks between back and fly.
-- the back was 18 SDK, surface & breath, flip and then a no-breather. I held mostly 27s, a few 26s sprinkled in there.
-- the fly was front SDK, breath during the open turn flip but no-breather otherwise. I held mostly 28s, a couple 29s sprinkled in there.
Hard Hypoxic Kicking (1000/3000)
4 x 100 back kick on 2:00
-- 16 SDKs off the walls
-- wanted to hold 1:05s or better
-- went 1:05/1:03/1:03/1:02
SDK Pyramid
"pyramid" (goal is, as always, to hold at a pace of 15 sec/25 or better; I've only succeeded once before, and didn't succeed today). I did this all backstroke.
25 kick on 0:30 (no-breather; went 13)
50 kick on 1:00 (18 SDKs off walls; 28)
75 kick on 1:30 (17 SDKs; 44)
100 kick on 2:00 (16 SDKs except on last wall did 14; 1:01)
75 kick on 1:30 (17/17/15 SDKs; 45)
50 kick on 1:00 (18/17; 29)
25 kick (no-breather sprint; 12)
-- didn't seem to "have it" on the hypoxic for this 2nd set. Maybe I was just tired from the first set
Kick Set (850/3300)
4 x 100 back kick on 1:45 (held 1:05s, 17-18 SDKs off walls)
50 easy on 1:00
4 x 100 fly kick w/ board on 1:45 (skipped one, goofing around; 1:10-11s on others)
100 easy
Kick Set (500/2800)
8 x ?? on 1:15
-- Mark said the emphasis was on staying underwater. Gee...
-- did backstroke on all these. Decided to do 50s and try to descend the times (still tired from the previous set when I started this set) rather than do 75s with less rest
-- did 18 dolphin kicks off both walls, basically going to the flags. Went 30/30/29/29 then all 28s.
Desc 200s Kick (900/3500)
4 x 200 descend kick on 3:00
-- did these backstroke kick
-- went 2:42 (10 kicks off walls), 2:33 (11 kicks), 2:26 (11-12 kicks), 2:17 (12 kicks). Worked the last one pretty good.
Pretty Hard Kick Set (900/3600)
200 kick fast on back on 3:00 (12 SDKs off walls, went 2:19)
50 easy on 1:30
200 kick fast dolphin with board on 3:00 (2:25)
50 easy on 1:30
100 kick fast on back on 1:30 (16 SDKs, went 59)
50 easy on 1:30
100 kick fast dolphin with board on 1:30 (1:07)
150 easy
Hypoxic Kick Change-up (1000/3600)
2 x 4 x 100 on 2:00, 75 kick + 25 easy.
-- This was all backstroke kick.
-- The 1st 50 of the 75 kick was a "hard cruise," 16 SDKs, about 30 sec. Then flip and do the next 25 kick fast no-breather. Total time was 43-44 sec on all of them
-- idea was to simulate the last 1-2 walls of a backstroke race.
-- took 100 easy on about 2:00 between the two sets of 4x100
Fast Kicking (1000/3300)
Went back kick on all these.
4 x 100 on 2:00, 75 fast kick (get time), 25 easy swim (17 SDKs off walls, 47/45/44/43)
4 x 75 on 1:40, 50 fast kick, 25 easy swim (18 SDKs, breathe+flip then no-breather, went 26s)
4 x 50 on 1:20, 25 fast kick, 25 easy swim (no-breathers, went 12s)
100 easy
Chris Stevenson continues to impress me with his kick/SDK sets, especially his hypoxic stuff. He seems to be quite hung in the lung, or mentally tough, well conditioned and slightly crazy. This type of training allows him to maintain high SDK counts in his 200 races. Quite challenging. Might need a don't-try-this-at-home warning. (or training on your own)
His WOs are Definitely worth checking out at his blog
here's some of his recent impressive sets:
NO FINS
Hypoxic Kick (600/2800)
10 x 50 on 1:05, odds fast kick evens easy swim
-- did all these no-board hypoxic kicking, about 90% effort
-- alternated between back (18 kicks, breathe, flip, then no-breather) and fly (breathe at open turn)
-- goal was to go 27s on the back, 29s on the fly, and that's exactly what I did
Kick Set (750/3300)
8 x 75 back kick on 1:30, two sets of
#1 25 easy, 25 hypoxic, 25 easy
#2 25 hypoxic, 25 easy, 25 hypoxic
#3 same as #1
#4 hard
-- went about 55s on 1-3 & 5-7 (except on #6 my mind wandered and I went 48); went 42-43 on the fast ones
Kick Set (700/3550)
14 x 50 on 1:00, odds strong kick, evens easy swim
-- alternated the kicks between back and fly.
-- the back was 18 SDK, surface & breath, flip and then a no-breather. I held mostly 27s, a few 26s sprinkled in there.
-- the fly was front SDK, breath during the open turn flip but no-breather otherwise. I held mostly 28s, a couple 29s sprinkled in there.
Hard Hypoxic Kicking (1000/3000)
4 x 100 back kick on 2:00
-- 16 SDKs off the walls
-- wanted to hold 1:05s or better
-- went 1:05/1:03/1:03/1:02
SDK Pyramid
"pyramid" (goal is, as always, to hold at a pace of 15 sec/25 or better; I've only succeeded once before, and didn't succeed today). I did this all backstroke.
25 kick on 0:30 (no-breather; went 13)
50 kick on 1:00 (18 SDKs off walls; 28)
75 kick on 1:30 (17 SDKs; 44)
100 kick on 2:00 (16 SDKs except on last wall did 14; 1:01)
75 kick on 1:30 (17/17/15 SDKs; 45)
50 kick on 1:00 (18/17; 29)
25 kick (no-breather sprint; 12)
-- didn't seem to "have it" on the hypoxic for this 2nd set. Maybe I was just tired from the first set
Kick Set (850/3300)
4 x 100 back kick on 1:45 (held 1:05s, 17-18 SDKs off walls)
50 easy on 1:00
4 x 100 fly kick w/ board on 1:45 (skipped one, goofing around; 1:10-11s on others)
100 easy
Kick Set (500/2800)
8 x ?? on 1:15
-- Mark said the emphasis was on staying underwater. Gee...
-- did backstroke on all these. Decided to do 50s and try to descend the times (still tired from the previous set when I started this set) rather than do 75s with less rest
-- did 18 dolphin kicks off both walls, basically going to the flags. Went 30/30/29/29 then all 28s.
Desc 200s Kick (900/3500)
4 x 200 descend kick on 3:00
-- did these backstroke kick
-- went 2:42 (10 kicks off walls), 2:33 (11 kicks), 2:26 (11-12 kicks), 2:17 (12 kicks). Worked the last one pretty good.
Pretty Hard Kick Set (900/3600)
200 kick fast on back on 3:00 (12 SDKs off walls, went 2:19)
50 easy on 1:30
200 kick fast dolphin with board on 3:00 (2:25)
50 easy on 1:30
100 kick fast on back on 1:30 (16 SDKs, went 59)
50 easy on 1:30
100 kick fast dolphin with board on 1:30 (1:07)
150 easy
Hypoxic Kick Change-up (1000/3600)
2 x 4 x 100 on 2:00, 75 kick + 25 easy.
-- This was all backstroke kick.
-- The 1st 50 of the 75 kick was a "hard cruise," 16 SDKs, about 30 sec. Then flip and do the next 25 kick fast no-breather. Total time was 43-44 sec on all of them
-- idea was to simulate the last 1-2 walls of a backstroke race.
-- took 100 easy on about 2:00 between the two sets of 4x100
Fast Kicking (1000/3300)
Went back kick on all these.
4 x 100 on 2:00, 75 fast kick (get time), 25 easy swim (17 SDKs off walls, 47/45/44/43)
4 x 75 on 1:40, 50 fast kick, 25 easy swim (18 SDKs, breathe+flip then no-breather, went 26s)
4 x 50 on 1:20, 25 fast kick, 25 easy swim (no-breathers, went 12s)
100 easy
