Dolphin Kicking Out of Turns

Originally published on the USA Swimming website

This week's Speedo Tip of the Week comes from John Walker, USA Swimming's Assistant Director of Technical Support. Walker offers some advice on whether or not to do a dolphin kick off your turns.

Walker's Tip:

Three things influence the choice of whether or not to dolphin kick. First, are you an efficient underwater dolphin kicker? Second, can you make a smooth transition from the dolphin kick to swimming when you break the surface? Third, how long do you plan to be underwater?

Underwater dolphin kick can be a great tool to add speed to starts and turns, but it takes a lot of practice and not everyone is able to go faster than flutter kicking with the same amount of energy expended. This is something you should evaluate and train with your coach before adding it to your race strategy.

The most difficult part of using the underwater dolphin kick in freestyle is the transition from kicking to swimming. Switching from dolphin kick to freestyle is very awkward and difficult to do smoothly. It is like hopping with both feet straight ahead and then changing instantly to running at full stride. A mistake in this transition can quickly erase any advantage gained by the dolphin kick. Many athletes use three to four dolphin kicks underwater and then shift to flutter kick shortly before breaking the surface, which makes the transition easier.

The longer you are underwater, the more likely you are to benefit from dolphin kicks in a freestyle race, but the risk of breaking your streamline with too large a dolphin kick or a rough transition outweighs the potential gains of the dolphin kick.

There are several swimmers on the international level who use the dolphin kick off the starts and turns in freestyle events, including Ian Thorpe, Anthony Ervin, Natalie Coughlin, Michael Phelps and Michael Klim. Each is very good in the three areas mentioned and have practiced the skill for several years. They are very successful with this strategy, but over 80 percent of the athletes at the highest level still use the flutter kick, including Gary Hall Jr., Brooke Bennett, Grant Hackett and Pieter van den Hoogenband. For many people, dolphin kicking will probably not be the best strategy in freestyle events, but you should definitely give it a try with the help of your coach.