All Strokes - Eric Shanteau

When most people watch my dolphin kick, they think it’s all about the hips and the chest.  That’s partly true, but what I’m really thinking about is...

...my feet.  On the butterfly kick, my big focus point is keeping the balls of my feet together...rather than keeping my heels together.

When I keep the balls of my feet together, they catch and hold more water -- way more than if I keep the heels together.  

The front of your feet is where you get all of your catch in the dolphin kick.  It’s a little thing -- just a small shift in your thought process -- but it’s made a big difference in how much power I get out of the kick.  

I try to keep the balls of the feet together and just whip through to deliver the kick.

But, the dolphin kick is more than just the feet.  For me, the dolphin kick starts at the hips.  

A lot of people say a dolphin kick should be a full-body motion but, for me, it starts with the hips, and everything else just follows.  Hips...knees...ankles...and all the way through to the ends of your feet. 

I keep the kick small and quick, and let it flow from hips to toes.


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Butterfly - Kick