By Olivier Poirier-Leroy on SwimSwam
Kick tempo is one of the hallmarks of fast underwater dolphin kicking.
Elite swimmers mostly cycle their kicks faster than non-elite kickers.
Naturally, the enterprising dolphin kick enthusiast reads this and tells themselves:
You go down to the pool today and kick those little legs until the wheels fall off.
But moving the legs faster doesn’t automatically create more speed in the pool. Often, you’re just sloshing around more water and not creating more propulsion.
Instead, there’s a smarter (and faster) way to get that extra tempo.
The Problem with “Kicking Faster” for More Tempo
As we saw in another article that looked at what happens when swimmers overlock tempo in the dolphin kick, there are some less-than-ideal outcomes when swimmers go beyond their natural max tempo:
Increased muscle co-contraction No added velocity Reduced kick amplitudeBasically, a wash.
The main challenge isn’t that high tempo is bad—it’s that when swimmers are told to “kick faster” the whole kick turns into shorter, tighter kicks.
They instinctively shorten the downkick to match tempo, which is where the propulsive toast is buttered.
Fortunately, there is another place you can find more tempo and even more importantly—more speed.
Speed Up the Upkick to Increase Tempo
The dolphin kick has two phases.
The first, the downkick, is where a majority of the dolphin kick kaboom is created (Higgs et al., 2015).
This phase is propulsive, it’s nasty, and it’s where most of the action happens.
And then there’s the upkick. It’s modestly propulsive, but for many swimmers, it’s where foot speed crashes and they spend a majority of their time in each kick cycle.
Elite kickers spend less of their time in this kick phase.
Higgs et al. (2015) had a group of elite Australian swimmers do 20m sprints of dolphin kicking. The faster kickers spent less time in the upkick, nearing a 50/50 split between the two phases.
This lines up with other research by Atkinson et al. (2014) who saw that toe velocity during the upkick was one of the best indicators of dolphin kick speed in a group of elite Canadian swimmers.
Which brings us to tempo…
What happens when we move the feet move more quickly during the upkick?
Overall kick cycle duration goes down. Shorter kick cycle means that tempo also goes up.
Basically, the downkick stays intact, the upkick shortens, and the next propulsive downkick arrives sooner.
Here’s a (very) simplified example of how this might look with a kick frequency of 1s/kick:
Before With a Faster Upkick Downkick 0.40s 0.40s Upkick 0.60s 0.40s Total cycle 1.00s 0.80s Kick frequency 1.00 kicks/s 1.25 kicks/s Increase in tempo — +25%The key is that the downkick isn’t being sacrificed to create that extra tempo.
We’ve shortened the weaker part of the cycle and gotten back to the kaboom quicker.
Training the Upkick
Okay, so just upkick better, right?
For sure—and the upkick is a doozy to master for several reasons, not the least of which is that it’s surprisingly demanding on the legs considering how little direct propulsion it generates.
Here are some ways to sharpen the upkick so that you are squeezing some of that modest propulsion while also spending less time slow-walking through that part of the kick:
“Bounce” out of the bottom of the downkick
At the bottom of the downkick, swimmers are in a very unfavorable position for creating heaps of frontal drag, with their legs and feet dangling well below the body line.
At this point you are basically trawling the pool bottom with your toes.
Perfect conditions for a festering upkick.
Use the cue “bounce out of the downkick” to reverse direction quickly and prevent stalling. In and out.
Smoothen out the kick with fish kicks
Fish kicking, literally turning on your side, is an excellent way to highlight the upkick as it gives you feedback on whether you are applying pressure with the bottom of your feet.
If you are still having a hard time “feeling” it, throw on some fins and kick slowly up and down the pool, aiming to do so smoothly and rhythmically.
No stalling, no uneven speed.
Strengthen the posterior chain.
The trunk and posterior chain are busy during the upkick, from the hips driving into extension to the hamstrings firing to position the knees to the calves working hard to point the feet (Matsuura et al., 2020).
Work these muscle groups in the gym to build the capacity to handle a faster upkick.
And especially the lower legs.
Most of the dolphin kick is a dance between opposing muscle groups. The quads work the downkick, the hamstrings work the upkick. The anterior and posterior trunk muscles also work reciprocally.
The shins and the calves, on the other hand, co-contract hard during the upkick to stabilize the ankle against the pressure of the water (Kobayashi et al., 2016).
These are really underrated muscles to work for a faster kick and can pay dividends in the upkick in particular.
Wrapping Things Up
Tempo is one of those things—whether it’s dolphin kicking or full-stroke swimming—that seems simple but has a surprising amount of nuance.
It’s never as simple as “flail your legs faster and your personal best times will quiver in their socks-and-Berkenstocks.”
Instead, it’s about finding ways to increase how quickly you turnover without sacrificing the most propulsive parts of the kick.
That’s the secret sauce, and that’s where swimmers looking to play with tempo for more speed should focus their time and energy.
So instead of rushing the whole kick, shorten the return, get back to the fast part of the kick, and the tempo and times will take care of themselves.
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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