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Turns - Learning the Underwater Dolphin - Step 3

Posted by Glenn Mills on Feb 09, 2010 09:18AM (7,167 views)

In Step 3 to learning the underwater dolphin, it's finally time to take it under water.

- Pick up the Margaret Hoelzer DVD and watch dolphin for backstroke!

Why Do It:
In Steps 1 and 2, you learned the dolphin movement while on the surface of the water. In Step 3, you'll go through the same learning sequence, but you want to stay away from the surface.

How to Do It:
1.  Review and rehearse all 4 steps leading up to this point. Head-lead dolphin on your front. Head-lead dolphin on your back. Hand-lead dolphin on your front. Hand-lead dolphin on your back.
2.  Now, simply go through the same sequence while completely under water. Start with head lead on your stomach, and make sure you focus on sending the top of your head on a direct path through the water. Don't push the face down, but use the body to drive the head forward.
3.  Flip over on your back, and try again. This is much tougher with the hands behind, and try your best to NOT tuck the chin, but lay your head back. This gives the water a MUCH better chance to get up your nose, so practice this for short distances, with air constantly coming out of the nose.
4.  NOW it's time for the perfect streamline. Push off on your stomach with your hands in streamline and lock your head between your arms. Drive the hands forward, not up and down, by using the body from the abs, to the hips, and allowing the legs to follow the movement but adding the snap.
5.  Flip over on your back and stay in streamline. With your head locked between your arms, remember to allow air to come out through your nose. Continue to focus on your body movement, rather than powering too much from the legs.

How to Do It Really Well (the Fine Points):
When you get to streamline, locking tightly with the hands encourages the body to do the work. If you allow the hands to do the work...letting them go up and down too much... you'll weaken the snap through the legs. Start to experiment with angles, as we'll be addressing that, and WHERE to use the underwater dolphin, in the next segment.

dolphin, underwater dolpin, Turns

Responses

camy	Responded Feb 09, 2010 08:07PM What pool is it ? It looks like a ruler... is it graduated in yards or meters ? The pool seems very long and the swimmer really fast, or i'm mistaken.
awab	Responded Feb 10, 2010 08:12AM Thank you Glenn
Juho Ratava	Responded Feb 10, 2010 08:22AM I'm not an expert on imperial units, but considering that the swimmer arms extended and with fins is ten units long (and possibly some allowance for perspective), it might be feet. Ten feet = 304.8 cm = ~3 meters. It's hard to see how far exactly the pool extends, but at 1:53 the last clearly legible marker seems to be 40. The other end seems to be some other 40 feet away. (I can count three marker blobs beyond the 40 mark, and then there's space for some.) 80 feet = 26.7 yards = 24.4 meters. So it's either a 25 yard or a 25 meter pool. Also on the swimmer: Very nice retrieval / "off-direction" kick. That's the part many younger kids have problems with.
sprinter	Responded Feb 11, 2010 07:20PM Great job! Very well explained drill and broken into segments. PS: I love her swim suit :)
dcoughman	Responded Feb 12, 2010 04:45PM Let me preface by saying that I am not a coach nor have I mastered the underwater dolphin but I love working on it and these drills are great! However, I remember reading (when doing underwater dolphin on your back) that instead of exhaling slowly while kicking that you should hold your breath and exhale right before you surface. That has been working for me. I also noticed that on the Margaret Hoelzer DVD doesn't she also holds her breath?
Juho Ratava	Responded Feb 17, 2010 08:32AM There's a few things needed to take into account for breathing. Buoyancy is one - when your lungs are full, you'll just float better. This is very personal, there are some people who just float even when they tell their lungs are empty. Then there are people with more brick-like flotation properties, who sink immediately when they stop swimming. And everything in between. Next, waste disposal. When you exercise, you will produce carbon dioxide. The "out of air" feeling isn't actually caused by the need for oxygen, it is caused by CO2 compounding into your body (by minute amounts, but still). If you exhale slowly, you will dispose of some of the CO2, and depending on your own preference, may be able to keep the next air intake a few strokes further. Then there's relaxation. Turns are "once in a while", so this is not a big thing. If you'd breathe very forcefully while swimming crawl it might have an effect on your breathing. So while swimming, constantly breathing out will likely help you relax a bit and remove "gasping" air. And finally, when diving on your back, breathing out naturally helps you avoid getting water up your nose. Even in this case, it is possible to learn hold your breath (by applying just enough pressure on the nose that the water keeps out but keeping exhalation in the minimum). My own take on this would be that breathing is quite personal - if it feels good and doesn't cause problems with your technique or keeping relaxed, it fits your swimming. (Counter example: If a swimmer would try to hold breath for a long dive and then gasp for air immediately on surfacing breaking his or her posture, the swimmer would need to pay some attention on breathing technique.)
dcoughman	Responded Feb 17, 2010 07:28PM When I first started practicing underwater kicking I tried slowly breathing out. I can remember gasping for air when I did that. I have found that I can get much further if I hold my breath and exhale just before I hit the surface.