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
Karl, my time before Christmas on my front, no fins was 22s with about 30 kicks. I'm having an SDK break right now, but will be back to it in a week or so. I do plan to use it when I race the 100 free next week as I find I get good, fast distance off my turns with 3 or 4 kicks. This will be my first race since the summer season so will be interesting to see how I have improved (if at all that is!).
How did the 100 free go?
When I do a full 25 SDK, I feel I do a reasonable 15 yds then struggle with the final part.
Yea, I agree. Mine seems reasonable for a while, then loses effectiveness, especially if I float up to the surface.
I know what you mean about the "magic spot" - Do you SDK off your turns in warm-up and every freestyle set? I have been concentrating on this and find I'm hitting that spot (2/3/4 SDK off the wall-into flutter-into stroke ) a lot more often now than a few months back.
I only SDK dilligently on back and fly, but my workouts are more than 50% back, often 70-80% back. I occasionally do one SDK off the wall on free, but I don't see much point, my flutter kick is faster and my free is way faster so I'm not going to SDK in a freestyle race.
Karl, my time before Christmas on my front, no fins was 22s with about 30 kicks. I'm having an SDK break right now, but will be back to it in a week or so. I do plan to use it when I race the 100 free next week as I find I get good, fast distance off my turns with 3 or 4 kicks. This will be my first race since the summer season so will be interesting to see how I have improved (if at all that is!).
How did the 100 free go?
When I do a full 25 SDK, I feel I do a reasonable 15 yds then struggle with the final part.
Yea, I agree. Mine seems reasonable for a while, then loses effectiveness, especially if I float up to the surface.
I know what you mean about the "magic spot" - Do you SDK off your turns in warm-up and every freestyle set? I have been concentrating on this and find I'm hitting that spot (2/3/4 SDK off the wall-into flutter-into stroke ) a lot more often now than a few months back.
I only SDK dilligently on back and fly, but my workouts are more than 50% back, often 70-80% back. I occasionally do one SDK off the wall on free, but I don't see much point, my flutter kick is faster and my free is way faster so I'm not going to SDK in a freestyle race.
