By Olivier Poirier-Leroy on SwimSwam
Swimmers are always counting something in the water. Out comes the calculator and let’s count some:
But for swimmers who are chasing dolphin kick glory, counting kicks isn’t just another form of boring accounting during swim practice.
Setting a kick count, chasing it off every wall, and sticking to it has some significant benefits.
Here’s why you should head to the pool with a kick count under your arm today.
Removes the motivation yo-yo
One of the barriers to more better dolphin kicking is the simple (and nonstop) internal debate about whether to do your underwaters: Don’t really feel like it. Easier not to. I’ll do it next time, super pinky promise.
A kick count ends all that. It turns your underwaters from a motivational battle into a habit.
At first it will be frustrating. Perhaps sucky. You’ll miss a few and be tempted to let that fancy new kick count roll off into the gutter of the pool along with that mystery clump of hair. Your legs, lungs and brain will negotiate.
But stick with it and your underwaters will slowly become automatic.
Eventually, you get to a point where you push-off, lock in the streamline, undulate like a pro until you’ve satisfied your kick count, and whoosh—off you go down the pool.
Pressure-tests your underwaters
Holding a kick count during low intensity sets is fairly easy. Warm-up, warm-down, drill work—nailing our kick count here is awesome but let’s be honest, kinda easy.
The real reward comes from the main sets over the course of the week. Counting your kicks on every wall means that you are doing awesome underwaters:
During warm-up when fresh and rested Fighting for your dignity (main set) At max speed (race pace) With resistance, with fins, with paddles, with a snorkel, with a smile Fast, slow, and every in betweenA kick count gives your body maximum opportunities to adjust and adapt to fatigue and stress.
Ultimately, we should be able to rely on our kick count when we step onto the blocks, freshly shaved, our legs quasi-going numb from tech suit compression. Doing it from warm-up through the main set and to warm-down builds this confidence.
Increase your kick inventory
Swimmers often talk about improving their underwater dolphin kick as though it’s something separate from their regular swimming. And while there is always a time and a place for dedicated dolphin kick sets, kick counts turn every lap into dolphin kick training.
This wildly increases the number of overall kicks you do in practice (calf and toe cramps incoming?).
For example. Let’s say you decide this week is the week—you are going to implement a 3-kick count on every wall. Over a 4,000m/y swim practice, this works out to ~480 dolphin kicks. That’s a lot of kicking!
As you improve, and your underwaters extend with distance/repetitions, your dolphin kick inventory will grow by kicks and bounds.
Elite dolphin kicks rely on their kick counts
Elite swimmers (dolphin kickers) are methodical about kick counts in training, knowing that the discipline in training shows up on race day.
They do the work in training so that in competition they can focus on execution instead of worrying about whether they’ll run out of air, lose their bodyline, or mangle their breakout.
Kick counts give them predictability and nuclear-fueled confidence.
Some examples:
Gretchen Walsh, Olympic, NCAA, and World champion and absolute underwater dolphin kicking menace: “I train to do 12 kicks per wall. I am constantly counting in practice. Strokes, kicks, everything.” Bob Bowman on Leon Marchand, who dolphin kick a staggering 14.11m on the final lap of the 400m IM in Paris: “He never doesn’t do seven dolphin kicks… on every set.” Olympic gold medalist and dolphin kicking ace Ryan Murphy: “If you don’t apply it [the kick count] every time, it won’t pay off in a race.” And Maggie Mac Neill, another Olympic champion who had one of the fastest dolphin kicks on the planet had this advice for swimmers: “Set a goal for yourself in practice… ‘I’m going to do six kicks off every wall in practice’ and stick to that.”Kick counts are something the greats use, and it’s something the rest of us can apply to our own training, even if that means starting slow and easy with one dolphin kick per wall for an entire practice.
The Bottom Line
The beauty of a kick count is that it’s a disciplined, gritty way to go about your underwaters. You can set it, hone it, and eventually it becomes automatic.
Swimmers who go by feel have their good days and bad days. If they feel smooth and fast, they’ll hit longer underwaters. On days where they feel a little more clunky and more manatee than dolphin, they ditch the kick count.
But swimmers who stick to their kick counts, progress it gradually over time, and treating it like a skill and not a suggestion, will see crispy, powerful dolphin kicks when it matters.
Set a kick count for this week. Stick to it. And reap faster underwaters at the end of the season.
Happy kicking!
ABOUT OLIVIER POIRIER-LEROY
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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