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Turns - Learning the Underwater Dolphin - Step 5

Posted by Glenn Mills on Mar 30, 2010 07:30AM (13,673 views)

In moving up the ladder in mastering the underwater dolphin, more fine points come out. The quickest way to work through these, is to focus on one.

Why Do It:
Isolating what makes you move forward in the underwater dolphin makes the entire motion more purposeful.

How to Do It:
1.  While you don't have to use a Finis Monofin to attempt this focal point, the larger the fin, the easier it is for you to experience this particular feeling.
2.  The goal is simple: Isolate a stable hand and head position as you accelerate down the pool with your larger fins.
3.  Try to go as fast as possible as you perform the underwater dolphin, keeping your mind focused on NOT moving your hands up and down at all.
4.  Feel the body dolphin movement starting as high in the body as possible (yet still behind the shoulders). Chest, then hips, then thighs, and extending through the feet. The farther back toward the feet the move gets, the larger it gets.

How to Do It Really Well (the Fine Points):
This drill, in itself, is a fine point. Too many swimmers lead this movement with the hands and head when, in reality, you need to have a very tight and solid edge cutting through the water out front, and piercing the water. The stiffer this leading edge, the bigger the whip at the end of the body.

dolphin, dolphin kick

Responses

Tomás	Responded Mar 30, 2010 03:08PM That monofin has to be a really cool thing to use.
alleycat	Responded Mar 30, 2010 03:30PM Wow - what a demonstration of the importance of a good underwater dolphin kick in that Youtube clip! I can only dream.....
Dena	Responded Mar 30, 2010 04:13PM We've been working on this alot with our age group swimmers. We talk alot about how important it is to streamline and kick off the walls, so I'm excited to see you guys talking about it as well. We don't have the monofins so what we do is use regular fins and we do sets of 25's and go as fast as you can and as long as you can without breathing (we call these shooters). We do them on our stomach, side, and back all deep under H2O. The 1 thing I have noticed is that the swimmers tend to forget about the upward part of the kick, they are only getting the down kick. So just remember when doing these types of drills to make sure you get both the up and down kick. Thanks again for posting this it's great to see someone else also working the walls because they are just as imporant as the actual swim(stroke) part of your swimming.
Coach Wobser	Responded Mar 30, 2010 06:44PM That is a great clip. It shows the importance of several specific technique issues that coaches need to work on with their athletes. First, as you mentioned the importance of the underwater dolphin. Dylla uses it very effectively in this race. We saw it time and time again in all races (even the breaststroke) at this meet. One of the best was David Mosko from Stanford kicking to half pool on the last lap of the 500 to move up three spots and grab 4th place. Second, and I believe as important, is the ability to finish on the wall with a full stroke at the turns and finish. You will notice that on turn 3 Josh Schneider is long on the wall and his oppenent, Mark Dylla from Georgia is dead on. This allows him to pull even in the race. This is a difficult skill to learn but in short course swimming it is terribly important on both fly and breast. The last point is not breathing into the finish. (We all remember Mr. Cavic) Watch the video again. Josh breaths the last 4 strokes into the finish while Mark Dylla puts his head down on the last two and wins the race by .05 seconds even though he was about a foot long on the finish. It was great to watch this race in Columbus but I can appreciate it even more after being able to review it on video.
Glenn Mills	Responded Mar 30, 2010 08:03PM CW. You and I sat there time and time again CRINGING as guys went into turns. It's incredible that swimmers at this level can make such simple mistakes... however, rather than accuse... I think you and I were thinking the same thing... if it can happen here... what are we supposed to expect from OUR swimmers? The lost momentum with miscounting was incredible, and although I don't want this to be exclusively about the turns (gives me more stuff to film now), it was educational. However... were both of these incredible to watch at the meet? I loved it.
Juliette	Responded Mar 31, 2010 12:07PM Great race.......and superb turns. Makes me aware again, of the importance of the turn. But for this item....great show of the kick....!!!!
Fritz Bedford	Responded Mar 31, 2010 01:20PM These guys at NCAA's are really incredible -- that looked like about a 45 and change. One comment for CW and Glenn, I've always found that hitting turns in butterfly is tough, especially if you only take five strokes per lap like these guys! It is easy to get between strokes, even when you do the same number of kicks off the wall because your speed is so dependent on body position, and in turn your body position is so dependent on your muscles not locking up. It is a lot easier to hold onto freestyle than it is to hold onto butterfly because of that. Thanks for the videos -- it gives us all something to shoot for.
James Stuart	Responded Mar 31, 2010 03:35PM Good fly indeed - that fella who under water longer wins - that was same weapon Phelps are so good at it
cswitals	Responded Apr 01, 2010 05:22AM great underwater dolphin! but i am kind of surprised to see a change in the kick during the breakout and swim? also, great to see a tight streamline from the chest to the fingertips. i always think of a this as a teardrop cutting through the water, and the abdomin to legs acting as the flagellum of a prokaryote? glad to hear others stressing the importance of the dolphin kick! underwater dolphin theoretically makes up 60% of the race for SCY/SCM and 30% for LCM events! and dolpin kick is used in EVERY stroke (some more than others). i've noticed a lot of breaststrokers are now using a breaststroke/butterfly hybrid kick (breast kick with lots of hip undulation) or freestylers using dolphin kick during the finish of a race (watch libby trickett! she makes it look beautiful).
lilnemo	Responded Apr 01, 2010 07:43AM Another great example of superb underwater work, this is so inspiring
James Stuart	Responded Apr 02, 2010 03:13PM wow Ian Crocker look good - pity he is not that good at 100m freestyle at 50m pool
Javi	Responded Feb 28, 2011 12:03PM Loved these series... and that monofin looks really cool, it makes it look so easy ;-)
Dwi Susanto N F	Responded Mar 03, 2011 02:42AM hello coach wobster..i am a new coach.may give me exercise program froom you?tanks before,,and anyone
Cathy, Choi	Responded Apr 14, 2011 02:40PM Wow.. somedays. I do that... I hope.. haha