Courtesy of Gary Hall Sr., 10-time World Record Holder, 3-time Olympian, 1976 Olympic Games US Flagbearer and The Race Club co-founder.
The Streamline – The Phelps Method
What happens between the time the feet leave the wall and the breakout is the most controversial and variable part of the freestyle flip turn. It is also when the most time is either gained or lost. The first controversy is over the best way to streamline. While not all coaches agree, I believe the technique that Michael Phelps uses is the fastest way possible. His elbows are squeezed together behind his head (not against his ears), such that two arms become nearly joined as one. His arms are pushed forward in the shoulder joint as far as possible, which tightens and lengthens the entire body. The chin is held very near the chest.
Since the body is leaving the wall (with a strong push) at a speed of around 8 miles an hour, the push had better be straight and the arms streamlined. Otherwise, with the frontal drag forces being proportional to the velocity squared, any non-streamlined shape will amplify the problem. The streamline must be maintained diligently all the way through the underwater pathway, including the breakout.
Number Of Dolphin Kicks
The second controversy has to do with the number of underwater dolphin kicks to be taken. In my opinion, that depends on the speed of the underwater dolphin kick versus the speed of the swimmer on the surface doing freestyle. The faster the kick relative to the swim, the more kicks underwater should be taken up to the number needed to reach the maximum allowable 15 meters (For Phelps that is seven kicks). Since most swimmers have kick speeds considerably slower than their swim speeds, they should be taking the minimum number of dolphin kicks to reach the breakout. Typically, on a turn, that is two dolphin kicks and on a start, three kicks. In an effort to be like Michael, too many coaches are advocating that their swimmers stay underwater too long. Build the kick first.
Dolphin Kick Technique
The technique of the dolphin kick is also frequently wrong. The kick needs to start from the hip rather than the knees to avoid increasing frontal drag from too much knee bend. The kick cycle time needs to be fast and the forces need to be applied in both directions with the feet, not just with the down kick. No whale kicks….just snapper kicks. Too often, swimmers apply way more effort to the down kick than to the up kick. A strong up kick will make the subsequent down kick more forceful. I often tell my swimmers not to let go of the water with their feet, so that they apply force in both directions.
When the swimmer leaves the wall, the feet should be planted with the toes pointing upward. The rate of rotational speed back to the stomach is important. The swimmer does not want to stay on his back long, nor does he want to flip over too quickly on to the stomach. The best rotational speed seems to be a steady, continuous rotation from back to side to stomach. So long as the body is straight, a slower speed of rotation will not slow the body speed down, nor will a faster rotational speed increase the body’s velocity. When it comes to rotation off the wall, a steady medium speed wins the race.
Pushing Off On Your Side
Some coaches advocate that the swimmer stay on his side for as much of the underwater segment as possible, with the final quarter turn to the stomach occurring just at the moment before breakout. The rationale for doing this is that the swimmer is faster on his side (less frontal drag) than on his stomach. While I have no objection to using this technique, I do not agree that the frontal drag of the human body is less on its side than it is on its stomach. I believe it is about the same, as the kicking speed is about the same in both positions.
Finally, the question of when to start the first dolphin kick is important. Since the body’s speed is so high when the toes leave the wall, bending the legs for the first kick too early will decelerate the body’s speed too much. Gliding too long, even with a great streamline, also creates a problem as the speed will have slowed so much by the time the first kick occurs that the propulsion must be greater, overcoming the loss of inertia, to get back up to speed. As a general rule, the larger the mass of the swimmer and the stronger the leg push off the wall, the longer the glide can be before initiating the first kick. For the most part, swimmers will error in gliding too long, rather than not long enough.
There are vast differences among swimmers’ dolphin kick speed, so more time is gained or lost from the freestyle flip turn on the underwater portion than during any other segment. If one wants to develop a great freestyle turn, it is essential to have a strong dolphin kick and apply it aggressively.
Use a great streamline, hold it throughout the underwater, initiate a strong dolphin kick at the right time and in both directions, use the right number of kicks and rotate evenly and steadily to your stomach. No, it is not easy to swim fast nor to turn fast.
Watch the Video on Freestyle Flip Turn: Pushoff and Breakout http://www.theraceclub.com/videos/fast-swimming-techniques-freestyle-flip-turn-push-breakout/
Read more about Freestyle Flip Turn: The Push Off http://www.theraceclub.com/aqua-notes/freestyle-flip-turn/
Yours in swimming,
Gary Hall, Sr., Technical Director and Head Coach of The Race Club (courtesy of TRC)
Gary Sr.
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This may be a bit out there and speculative, or even a foolish question, but might it be possible that after the required head breakout at 15m, a swimmer could return to fish/dolphin kick, using one hand as a “fin” (yes, less streamlined) breaking the surface and meeting the requirement of having some body part above the surface? We’ve already seen that at least for short race distances, swimmers can complete at least the 50m distance at competitive speeds without surfacing to breathe (As Hill Taylor did, earning a DQ…)
This is a very interesting post to read Mr. Hall. I myself am in the Swiss Life Saving Association (SLRG) and every year we have a national competition. I train once a week with the team and once to twice a week for myself. My physical appearance can be described with rather short legs relatively to a longer upper body and a height of about 183 cm (6 feet). I’ve been told that I have a very strong kick. We have several events in the competition where an efficient dolphin kick underwater can work wonders – and save time. The events for the pool can be seen under following link: http://www.ilsf.org/lifesaving-sport/disciplines. My question is:… Read more »
Gary great insight. My daughter’s flip turn is tight and her feet get to the wall fast and shes completely on her back. That being said, she always seems to lose time to others during this part of the race. Her swim coach advocates doing a dolphin kick immediately after the flip while she’s on her back and then one on her side and 2 more while on the front. While watching world class swimmers on YouTube during races I noticed how swimmers after the flip turn take their first dolphin kick when they’re body is on their side instead of their back. Where would u advocate making g that first dolphin kick after the flipturn ?
I am wondering when you are training sprinters, what is the ideal differential between when the start off the block and push from the wall. For example do you tell them that it should be a +2 seconds, +5 seconds. I am just trying to figure out a way in which they know and I know they are pushing threshold when they should be…. Hope that makes sense…
Do any international-level swimmers dispense with dolphin kicks altogether and flutter kick underwater to the breakout?
None that I can recall… but one from the past that still blows my mind is Gross from Germany… he was so huge (over 6’6″ iirc), and popped up before the flags… how fast could he have been with a solid 3 kicks? Ugh.
Oddly enough, I just watched the heats of the London 4×200 free on YouTube, and Charlie Houchin went straight to flutter kicks underwater off his third turn.
Sun Yang, on the 1500, takes no dolphin kicks off each wall. He also takes three successive breaths in to and out of each turn.
The high you get from drinking may be outweighed by the hangover/DUI penalties…the whole picture.
Yes, the amount of time gained may be outweighed by the time lost due to fatigue…the whole picture.
Take 300 swimmers by year of birth, calculate years of age with tenths, Have them all do the streamline techniques (both techniques) fresh and after a hard workout so see the role of fatigue.
Great stuff here good for JSR.