When should I start my stroke after a dolphin kick underwater?

General Forum
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When should I start my stroke when I push off the wall and dolphin kick? It feels ideal when I first begin like I’m climbing to the surface. Waiting until I break the surface makes me feel like a cork that is bobbing. Probably just responding to my own query. However, one’s intuition may not always be correct. :man_shrugging:t4:

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When you push off the wall, it’s best to wait for a full second before starting your dolphin kick and initiating your stroke. This patient push-off allows you to maintain a streamlined position and optimize your underwater propulsion.

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Everyone is different. If you’re faster underwater than when swimming free/back/fly, then train to take the full 15 meters off every wall. For many, this isn’t the case. Everyone pushes off the wall faster than they can swim. If that’s not true for you, focus on improving your streamlined posture. If you’re faster on the surface, it takes more effort to determine where you should break out. The quick and dirty version is: Don’t stay underwater kicking if you’re faster on top. At some point, your speed off the wall will match your surface speed. That point is where you should break out. If you’re a terrible dolphin kicker but a great freestyler, you might take just one kick before breaking out.

Regarding strokes per lap, you’re thinking about it too literally. What you care about is distance per stroke, but strokes per lap is an easier way to quantify that and assess your efficiency on the spot. If you’re not consistent with your distance off the walls, strokes per lap become a mix of your stroke and underwater efficiency. I suggest counting both your kicks and strokes and ensuring they’re consistent. That way, you’ll know when you’re becoming less efficient due to fatigue or poor technique versus changes in your distance off the walls.

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For everyone else, in order to try to sustain the higher speed of coming off the wall, it is better to initiate the first up kick as early as possible . By doing so, you will conform better to the law of inertia and have a faster swim.

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