Questions about the dolphin kick

[Caleb]

Hi, I have been working on the dolphin kick undulation and some sources say I need to begin the movement in the chest and some sources say it begins in the hips, I have tried both and they seem to output the same results (or if they don’t the difference is so miniscule it is too difficult to really tell). Does it all just depend on the person as for where the undulation should start? Or is there something I am missing? Thank you so much for your time to help me out.

[Gary]

Hi Caleb,

the dolphin kick requires the right amount of hip flexion (20-35 degrees), knee bend (60-75 degrees), a tight streamline position and kicking hard in both directions. Few achieve all that!

[Richard]

Although it’s not perfect try a set of 4 x 25 all out underwater dolphin for time and each one use a different ‘undulation’. 1 – under undulate 2 – normal – 3 over undulate – 4 over undulate *a tad more. It’s not easy to know what is the fastest for you just based on feeling and sometimes swimmers need to ‘over’ undulate just to get comfortable with the wider range of motion.

• This reply was modified 1 day, 15 hours ago by  Richard.