Short axis drills?

Thanks, all I'm curious; is a MF that much better for dolphin kick than regular fins? I've also never used water weights before. I wonder if a weight belt would help with my lower back, and what sort of biofeedback it would generate, as far as, like you say, where the hips are, and also how flexible/strong my spine is or isn't

I love those drills, though I've never done the last one. I've experimented with weights a few times. Like, I've done the 2x kick + 1 full stroke with a weight belt on, which really helps you focus on where your hips are. I've also used small 2.5lb weights during the arm pull--it strengthens your arms and helps you focus on streamlining during the glide. I wouldn't recommend doing that one too much, but it's a good exercise. I've also done the vertical kick drill using the breaststroke kick with a weight belt on. That one is fun. I do as much *** pulling with fins as my shoulders will bear. I find it excellent for keeping my stroke long and focusing on accelerating my arms forward on the finish (when I'm swimming tired, I find this very difficult).

thanks all of you; I see a wealth of new experiences in these drills and I'm lookin forward to practicing with all of them. :fish2:

I do this for the kick only.... You mean treading water with a dolphin kick? That's a good one with arms immobilized on the chest. Keep that head still, and then do it with as little kicking motion as possible, with torso movement only. You can also practice the butterfly snap while doing that dolphin kick treading to get the jerky launching motion. If you do kick, and jump off the bottom, with fins or monofin, you could actually go airborne out of the water. Flipper, look out.

My dolphin kick sucks. I can't keep my head above the water doing that.

My dolphin kick sucks. I can't keep my head above the water doing that. Something must be wrong. You gotta video of it that you can post? Don't forget that today is Columbus Day and the pool is probably closed so don't be running out there to work on this right away. Maybe there's too much knee action. We want to initiate all motion from the torso (think shoulders, chest & rump) with the abs sucked in and head as still as possible.

Don't forget that today is Columbus Day and the pool is probably closed so don't be running out there to work on this right away. Hmmmmm. While I was SUPPOSED to be doing my homework last night I SOMEHOW got distracted with refilling my shampoo bottles etc in my gym bag, reflecting on this thread and visualizing my swim for today, when my beloved spousal unit said "you don't think your going swimming tomorrow, do you?" Well, actually....yeah......?? :doh:

Does anyone here do vertical butterfly? It looks like you're doing jumping jacks in the water, except that you're in the deep end and your feet will never touch the bottom. It really fixes the fly posture. I suppose it could work on *** too. I do this for the kick only....

I do as much *** pulling with fins as my shoulders will bear. I find it excellent for keeping my stroke long and focusing on accelerating my arms forward on the finish (when I'm swimming tired, I find this very difficult). This is probably stating the obvious, but I've found it much easier to recover my arms underwater; so, when I'm doing a 200, or even a 100, I don't even try to recover them above the water. I find that this helps me stay long because I sort of slide through the water into the streamline rather than lunge down into it. Also, a great drill for staying long is DPS drills. Try to take as few strokes as possible to get across the pool. When I really push it, I can take as few as 3 or 4 strokes per 25. It really helps you focus on your streamlining.

Does anyone here do vertical butterfly? It looks like you're doing jumping jacks in the water, except that you're in the deep end and your feet will never touch the bottom. It really fixes the fly posture. I suppose it could work on *** too.