By Olivier Poirier-Leroy on SwimSwam
Dolphin kicking! Super important, especially for short course swimmers. So basically—everyone.
They help us shoot out of our breakouts faster, demoralize the competition off turns, and when we get really proficient at it, dolphin kicking can be significantly faster than surface swimming speed.
But developing a thundering underwater dolphin kick isn’t that simple.
We got to work undulation, drive with the hips, have the mobility to kick effectively, and of course, we have to rise to the intense metabolic demands of kicking our brains out while submerged.
For most swimmers, they tackle the dolphin kick by redlining kick tempo—how quickly they kick the feet up and down to generate propulsion.
But going super-max on tempo doesn’t always produce the velocity we want.
Here’s what happens when we push kick tempo beyond our natural maximum and some things to focus on for dolphin kick improvement.
What Happens When Swimmers Overclock Dolphin Kick Tempo
A study out of Japan by Yamakawa et al. (2017) took a group of collegiate swimmers and had them do trials of underwater dolphin kicking at 85-115% of their natural max kick tempo.
Researchers then compared speed, kick amplitude, and propelling efficiency.
The big finding?
Cranking kick tempo up to 115% did not increase kicking speed.
Metric 100% 115% Kick frequency 1.99 Hz 2.29 Hz UDK Speed 1.35 m/s 1.35 m/s Kick amplitude 0.48 m 0.42 m Propelling efficiency 72% 70%Swimmers increased kick tempo by around 15%, but there was zero additional speed for that added effort. Efficiency and kick amplitude also decreased.
Sooo… why didn’t more tempo=more speed?
More Effort, Less Efficiency
One of the cool parts of the study was that they used EMG to measure muscle activity in the trunk, thighs, and lower legs.
Usually when dolphin kicking, opposing muscle groups alternate their activation to create that smooth and powerful body wave that creates propulsion.
But when swimmers went beyond their natural max, those opposing muscles spent more time contracting at the same time. This muscular co-contraction happened in all three areas measured—trunk, thighs, and lower legs.
Essentially, the muscles were working against each other. Like pressing both the gas pedal and the brake.
And there was another wrinkle.
Even though swimmers were kicking more often, the feet weren’t moving any faster through the water. Vertical toe speed in the upkick and downkick didn’t change when they went beyond 100%.
Instead, swimmers were firing out more kicks by making each kick smaller. Kick amplitude went down by around 12% when tempo went into overdrive.
Kick Tempo for Dolphin Kicking
Kick tempo is an indicator of elite dolphin kicking (Arellano et al., 2002), but it doesn’t tell us the whole story.
Tempo strategies vary from swimmer to swimmer. Two swimmers can reach the same velocity using different kick tempos (Shimojo et al., 2014).
Maggie Mac Neill and Gretchen Walsh are a great example of this—both first-ballot-hall-of-fame dolphin kickers, but they used different kick tempo/amplitudes.
Being able to increase tempo without crashing kick length is the goal in practice.
To do this:
Test out your max and max-plus tempos. Set the baseline for your natural max. Plug it into a tempo trainer and play around with tempo that is a touch higher. Some swimmers will find that they can sustain kick distance at a slightly higher tempo—but you’ll never know until you test it out. Use resisted kicking. Resisted dolphin kicking—using a drag chute, power tower, resistance tubing—builds the force and muscle coordination to handle higher tempos. Sengoku et al. (2020) saw that several months of all-out tethered dolphin kicking led to significant increases in kick speed. Tempo went up while amplitude remained the same. Be a master of undulation. Building big, oak legs in the gym is great, but if you can’t coordinate the trunk and lower body to create undulation you can end up kicking up a lot of energy and not a lot of speed. Dolphin kick drills like vertical dolphin kicking and fish kicking are awesome for learning the timing that leads to smoother undulation.Wrapping Things Up
Faster dolphin kicking is more than slicing the water rapidly with your legs as fast as you possibly can.
The goal is to increase tempo without sacrificing the things that make the kick fast in the first place. Effective undulation, firing the right muscles at the right time, kick distance, and propelling efficiency.
So:
Experiment with your tempo. Work on edging it upwards without wrecking distance per kick. Add some resisted kicking to increase how much force you produce with each kick. And cover more pool in less time.
Happy kicking!
Level Up Your Underwater Dolphin Kick
Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national-level swimmer, 2x Olympic Trials qualifier, and author of several books for swimmers, including The Dolphin Kick Manual: The Swimmer’s Ultimate Guide to a Fast Underwater Dolphin Kick.
The book is a beastly 240+ pages of actionable insights and research into elite dolphin kicking technique and performance. It details everything from mastering undulation to vortex recapturing to structuring a dryland program for dolphin kicking success.
The Dolphin Kick Manual combines evidence-based insights with a collection of 20 ready-to-go sets and a 6-week Action Plan to help swimmers set a course for dolphin kicking success.
Train smarter and kick faster.
Learn more about The Dolphin Kick Manual
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