Hey guys, welcome to this week's video from Propulsion Swimming. I'm Scott and this week I'm
going to be taking you through the fifth stroke in swimming and how you can really improve it.
Now, a lot of you may be saying at home well there's only four strokes in swimming,
what are you talking about? But in the world of competitive swimming,
swimmers and coaches believe that the underwater streamlined dolphin kick
counts as a fifth stroke and really makes the difference when it comes to winning and
losing. Now, this streamlined dolphin leg kick is used off every turn and every wall so it really
is a vital part of your swimming technique and something you really need to focus on.
Now, the reason that this fifth stroke, streamlined dolphin leg kick, is the fastest
method through the water is because you're in a position which produces the least amount of drag
a human body can through the water. And seeing as this skill is used after every dive and every turn
in the pool, as well as being the quickest method through the water, it really is vital that you
practice and improve upon it during your time training. Now, what we're gonna do in this video
is we're gonna give you three drills that you can use that are really going to improve your
fifth stroke and increase that efficiency and speed that you are going through the water.
So, the first drill that we're looking at is dolphin kick and it's a very simple one. The aim
of this drill is to get you doing the correct body undulations, which of course is very important for
the fifth stroke. All you need to do is to perform dolphin leg kicks with your arms by your side,
keeping your eyes fixed to the bottom of the pool. Your primary focus is to make sure that your body
stays as high in the water as possible so that every time that you do a dolphin kick, your hips
break the surface of the water. The undulation of dolphin leg kick begins by pressing your
chest down first, along with then your hips and your legs. So it really is a full body movement.
By initiating the kick from your torso, it uses your core muscles which is where all of your power
and strength comes from. The idea is to be as relaxed and as fluid as possible kicking with
loose ankles for maximum propulsion. When doing this drill, try to avoid kicking from your knees.
By kicking from your knees you will only be using muscles in the lower part of your body
which makes it a much less efficient kick, plus it increases your drag through the water
and slows you down. By doing this simple dolphin kick drill, you should really start to train the
correct movement and undulation of your body, which is so key to the fifth stroke. So after
perfecting this initial undulation movement you can move on to the next progressive
drill in the cycle, which is the actual fifth stroke itself, streamline dolphin kick.
As I said before, streamlined dolphin kick is the fastest way through the water and is used
off every dive and every turn, so it makes sense to practice this skill over and over
again. By mastering the art of underwater dolphin kicking you'll really give yourself an advantage
when you are racing as it is used in pretty much every swimming race, bar breaststroke. When it
comes to practicing streamlined dolphin leg kick in training, there's a few areas that you need to
focus on for maximum efficiency. One area is being in a tight compact streamlined position. Make sure
your legs are together and point your toes. Once you're in that streamlined position, the next area
you need to work on is that previously practiced undulation. The undulation is exactly the same
as the first drill and should begin by pressing your chest down first, followed by your hips, then
your legs and then your feet. As you're now in a streamlined position for this drill having good
flexibility, especially in your thoracic spine which is the top of your spine in your back, will
help greatly with remaining in a tight streamlined position. Having more flexibility in your thoracic
spine also gives you better range of movement and therefore gives your body the ability to perform
bigger and stronger movements. Once you've got the streamlined position and undulation mastered,
you're going to want to make sure you stay as fluid through the water by maintaining a very high
kick rate. There shouldn't be any pausing between the downbeat movement of the kick and the upbeat
movement. So as soon as your feet begin the downward movement, begin the upwards movement
immediately to keep your momentum and maintain speed through the water. So, from the first two
drills that I have given you, you should have a great understanding of how to perform an effective
and efficient fifth stroke. Now what I'm going to give you is an exercise that can help improve
your strength, your power and your speed through the water, and that is vertical dolphin leg kick.
Now, vertical dolphin leg kick is as hard as it looks and it sounds. You have to kick with
considerable strength and power to make sure that you're performing this drill for more than just
a couple of seconds. The aim of this drill is a very simple one, to make sure you get
yourself as high out of the water as possible for as long as possible. With that being said,
there are three variations of this drill that you can perform as you train yourself up. So going
easiest to hardest, the first variation is keeping your hands and arms by your side under the water.
The second is raising both your hands and your arms out of the water. And the last variation
is to put your arms into that streamlined position that we were talking about before.
With all these variations, you must still remember that your body undulation is key and the technique
of your dolphin is still the most important thing you are training. When done correctly, training
vertical dolphin kick is a great way at making sure that you're using your core instead of your
knees. It uses much more muscle activation which therefore makes it a more powerful tool than doing
regular dolphin kick on your front. It is also a great way to advance both the upbeat and downbeat
of your dolphin kick and a brilliant way to make sure you are equally balanced too. If your kick is
unbalanced, you'll find that you will quickly sink into the water and you won't actually be
able to correctly perform this drill. It does take a lot of effort to perform vertical dolphin kick
correctly but that only shows that it is really benefiting your swimming and it's
something that we recommend all advanced swimmers doing in every training session.
When doing all of the drills in this video, an important thing to remember
is whether you want your movement to be big or small. Now every swimmer will be different
and different things will work for different people but generally speaking, if you perform
a very big dolphin leg kick through the water you are likely to feel very strong but you are going
to be producing the most amount of drag. And it works vice versa, if you perform a very small
shallow dolphin leg kick you aren't going to quite feel as strong through the water but you
are going to create little resistance. So you need to find that happy medium for you.
When you do get it right, you will make a real mark on improving your best times and the best
swimmers in the world really do practice dolphin leg kick in every single session and practically
every length that they do. All you have to do is look at the likes of Michael Phelps and Ryan
Lochte when they were in their peak years and what Caeleb Dressel is now doing to the world of sprint
swimming to see just how important underwater streamlined dolphin leg kick or the fifth stroke
is to improving your times. Thanks for watching this week's video from Propulsion Swimming,
I hope you've enjoyed it. If you have please give it a like, share it with your friends,
and please SUBSCRIBE to the Propulsion Swimming YouTube channel for more interesting swimming
analysis and advice. I've been Scott and I will catch you on the next one!