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Dolphin Kick: Fifth Stroke in Swimming
정성헌 강남포스트 학생기자 | 승인 2023.10.17 20:30

Dolphin kicks are a technique used by world-renowned swimmers to speed up their competition. Both Caeleb Dressel and Michael Phelps are well known for having the longest underwater intervals between turns. Hwang Sun Woo just took home the gold medal at the 19th Asian Games, and it is plausible that it was the dolphin kicks he perfected in Australia.

The swimming world frequently concentrates on a swimmer's underwater kicks in backstroke, freestyle, and butterfly races when discussing the significance of dolphin kicks. To outperform the competition, coaches are continually admonishing their swimmers to stay below each wall and improve their underwater kicking. What people might not know is that dolphin kicks can be utilized to enhance more than just your underwater performance. 

There are a couple of drills to learn the dolphin kick. The dolphin kick action is used in the breaststroke in a distinct practice called the Karla practice. The Karla Drill emphasizes using core strength and undulation motion in the breaststroke, even during the breaststroke kick.  In contrast, the Cobra Drill's emphasis is on arm speed and motion. To assist swimmers in improving the power of their stroke, this practice employs components of the butterfly and breaststroke. Swimmers do a one-arm butterfly stroke on their right side, then on their left side, and then two standard breaststroke strokes to complete the exercise. Swimmers should focus on applying the undulation technique they utilized during the butterfly stroke when doing the breaststroke. 

The dolphin kick is also useful when swimmers constantly work to maintain a quick turnover rate when taking part in sprint freestyle races. To maintain this speed, though, it might be difficult as a race draws to a close. Swimmers sometimes unwittingly slow down their turnover, even in a short-course game like the 50-yard. Swimmers have started adopting dolphin-kick freestyle near the finish of their races as a way to shorten their racing time.

 Swimmers can swing their arms more swiftly than they can with a standard freestyle kick by combining freestyle arms with a dolphin kick. Swimmers don't always use this technique since it might be challenging to maintain. One difficulty is that swimmers cannot breathe during this method since it would reduce the rhythm. Michael Phelps used this technique in his monumental competition. So, people were surprised at how fast he was able to turn. He took a huge lead compared with the others. That was the starting point for all swimmers to learn how the dolphin kick is important to change the game.

In today's swimming age, developing the dolphin kick is essential. Experts are now using the term "fifth stroke" to describe it because it has gained so much significance. Dolphin kicks should be used in other parts of swimming, such as drill practice and race strategy because they are crucial for pushing off the time limit and have such a strong undulating action.

 

 

 

 

정성헌 강남포스트 학생기자  webmaster@ignnews.kr

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