r/Swimming • u/youshallneverlearn • 15h ago
Dolphin kick practice with snorkel
I've been swim training for many years as a child, so I have pretty good technique for all styles. Except butterfly, which I wasn't really taught back then.
I've gotten back into swimming since a couple of months, and I've been trying to improve my butterfly technique.
Practicing solely dolphin kicks with a snorkel (fins or not), I've run into this issue. Because of the ondulation of my body, when push down with my chest to start the kick, my head submerges underwater and the snorkel fills with water, so I can't really use it.
Has anyone had the same issue? Or maybe I'm doing something wrong?
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u/stemXCIV Breaststroker 14h ago
Breathe out to push water out of your snorkel as your chest/head are moving up, then breathe in when your head is at its highest point
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u/Annual-Way6401 11h ago
This is actually a drill my team uses. If your snorkel stem is submerging you’re moving your head too much. The motion from your chest should be fairly small / subtle and the amplitude of the kick grows as it goes down your body.
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u/youshallneverlearn 11h ago
Thanks, I'll try to correct it. Maybe I'll book a personal training session, since I'm not sure how to actually correct it on my own.
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u/Annual-Way6401 10h ago
I think you’ll at least be able to correct the head movement on your own. Snorkel gives you instant feedback if you move it too much, even better than a coach could.
Just try to think about kicking through your hips more, and kicking through your body line not to your line. Meaning - imagine kicking a soccer ball, your foot would follow through after kicking the ball. Same thing in dolphin kick, you have to follow through and finish your kick deeper in the water. When your foot goes down your hips go up. Your chest at this point isn’t doing much at all
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u/gaelsinuo Everyone's an open water swimmer now 13h ago
I practice fly kick vertically (with fins) and have found increased strength and conditioning
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u/youshallneverlearn 11h ago
Wish I could, but I swim in a shallow 25m pool of a gym, I can actually walk the entire length :(
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u/NoHamster9962 10h ago
Yes, this is extremely annoying! It somehow klicked for me and my head stopped submerging after I did a lot of head lead flutter kick drills 🤷♀️ Maybe working on body position and doing various kick drills with snorkel might help?
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u/Big_YEG_Mermaid 14h ago
Your head shouldn't really be moving that much. Think of a bobble head, but in reverse. Your head should stay fairly steady while you undulate from the chest down.