Swimmers do a lot of dolphin kicking at the pool, day in, day out.
(Or at least, they should be!)
But how much of it is leading to improvement?
If your kick is feeling like it’s plateaued, start by playing around with kick counts, kick tempo, and kick distance.
Kick counts
Kick counts are non-negotiable for swimmers keen on faster underwaters.
Not only should you have a baseline kick count (i.e. 4 kicks per wall), you should also push and test yourself with
different kick counts in practice.
➡️ Doing 50s or 100s swim with your kick count plus one (i.e. 5 kicks)
➡️ Sets with revolving kick counts, holding the same pace. (i.e. 15x100 freestyle holding 1:10s, alternating kick count plus one, kick count plus two, kick count plus three by 100)
Kick tempo
Kick tempo (or kick frequency) is a measurement of how often you are moving the legs up and down through the water.
While it doesn’t directly measure speed, it can be a good indicator of kick fitness and how much propulsion you can generate.
Ways to use tempo include:
➡️ Vertical kicking to see how long you can hold your target kick tempo
➡️ Overclocking tempo to attempt to maintain distance per kick
➡️ Slower tempos (but with fast velocity) to maximize kick length and engage more of the body with each kick
➡️ Add resistance and hold tempo, making it more challenging (and ultimately easier)
Kick tempo is a powerful constraint that lets swimmers experiment with different kick frequencies and challenge their ability to kick fast.
Kick distance
Kick distance is another metric that you can use to challenge your kick.
For example:
➡️ 16x50 freestyle best average – ODDS: 10m breakouts, EVENS: 12m breakouts
Setting a clear distance in the pool gives your kick the space to self-organize in a way that works best.
Unleash the UDK!
Swimmers and coaches frequently talk a big game about the importance of underwater dolphin kicking.
These three variables give you a lot of flexibility and versatility for chasing UDK improvement.
Set your kick counts. Experiment with tempo. Test your underwaters at distance.
And your dolphin kick will shine when it matters most.
Olivier
