Learn From Phelps - Underwater Dolphin Kicks Win Races
Watching the amazing performance of Michael Phelps, I feel that all freestyle swimmers in the world need to come to terms with one fact — in order to swim with Michael Phelps, you have to get better underwater.
When swimming freestyle, Phelps has always stayed underwater longer than any of his competitors, but his advantage was never as obvious and devastating as in his world record performance last night. Looking at the race, Phelps gained 0.4 - 0.5 seconds off the start and after each of the first two turns — possibly more on the last turn. That equates to about two seconds in a 200 free, and ironically (or not) his margin of victory was a little more than those said two seconds.
Since I am a swim junkie and used to swim the 200 free myself, I have looked at the race analysis data that USA swimming provides from the 2004 Olympic trials. They measure all kinds of splits and focus specifically on the breakout times and distance covered for each swimmer.
Back in 2004 at the Trials, Phelps went a 1:46.2 in the final and beat Klete Keller by .60 seconds. While the time is quite a bit slower than today, what was amazing was that he gained the margin of victory, and more, on the underwater portion of the race.
His pure swimming speed (above water) was not only slower than that of Klete Keller, but also slower than even Scott Goldblatt who finished sixth - more than 2 seconds behind Phelps.
As swimmers, we all know that it is not easy to stay underwater, kicking like a dolphin for ten meters off of each wall. In fact, anybody who swims can attest to the fact that your lungs and legs can start hurting even after two or three kicks – especially on that last turn. But I am sure Phelps practices this on every turn, in every set he swims and in every practice. Most swimmers try to focus on not taking a breath in and out of every wall, and even that can be a challenge. But Phelps has taken this to a new level by staying under for at least ten meters off every wall.
When I looked at the race analysis data, I also wanted to know if Phelps was simply better at kicking underwater than all of the other swimmers? Much to my surprise, I learned that even though Phelps is good in his dolphin kicks, he is by no means faster than any of the butterfly or backstroke swimmers.
He is unable to gain on Peirsol or Lochte off the wall on a backstroke turn. He definitely does not gain on Crocker in the 100 Fly (he actually loses by quite a bit), and he is also even, in terms of speed, with many of the 200 fly swimmers on the underwater portion of the race - Phelps actually stays under water for less time in his 200 butterfly than in the 200 freestyle. But the fact that he stays under for as long as he does, and is as strong as he is, is the differentiating factor.
What can we all learn from that? It’s actually surprisingly simple and should be intuitive: the fastest part of a swimming race is after the start and pushing off each wall. The longer you can maintain that higher speed that you get from each push off the wall, the faster you will swim.
I believe Phelps’ swim will change the way people look at and train for freestyle - above and below the water.
Comment by Matt
Posted on March 27th, 2007 at 15:57
I definatly agree with the fact that underwater kicking gives a tremendous advantage in any race. However, I feel that too many younger swimmers with less lower body strength try to do this. This could hold a swimmer with lesss strength back because they stay underwater and do not get as far as they would on top of the water and they are getting more tired. I definatly feel that in the longer fly races with a less experienced flyer, the underwater kicking could make all the difference by making the race into a 150 fly or less.
Comment by Eric
Posted on March 27th, 2007 at 18:34
I think what you have to say is pretty interesting, especially when you point out that on top of the water, Phelps was slower than many of the people that he beat, and that even in underwater dolphin kicking, he isn’t actually any faster than the best flyers and backstrokers. This is something I’ve observed from watching him race, but I hadn’t seen anything quantitative proving it.
However, I’m not sure how much Phelps will change how people swim freestyle ; other people have been doing underwater dolphin kicks in freestyle for a while. I think the first time I saw freestylers doing dolphin kick was the Australians - mainly Klim and Thorpe in the late 90’s. They didn’t go as far underwater as Phelps does, of course. (Klim would actually do it at the end of his 100 free. but I digress)
Other recent examples - any of Ian Crocker’s SC 100 free races. He stays underwater for 15 yards/meters at every wall.
For everyone it is a balance - is the advantage you gain from underwater kicking greater than what you’ll lose due to oxygen debt? In Sydney, Misty (sp?) Hyman won the 200 fly, and claimed afterwards that she had been able to win because her coach advised her to actually kick less off of each wall, rather than more. The result was that she didn’t die in the last 50. Susie O’Neil (sp?) commented afterwards that she had expected her to die, as she always had before.
Anyway, everyone has a different tradeoff point. What is amazing about Phelps is that his conditioning is so good that he can stay under for 10+ meters at every turn in a 200. His tradeoff point is more extreme than most people.
Comment by Michael Schweers
Posted on March 27th, 2007 at 19:14
I tend to agree with the general drift of this analysis, except perhaps in one area. Having watched Phelps’ swims in both the fly and the freestyle, particularly the overhead camera angles, his margin of victory seemed to be a direct function of his underwater dophin kick. This is part of your analysis.
Where I would insert both an observation and a question revolves around the interrelationship of his butterfly swimming to his freestyle. If his unique ability in the freestyle is a function of superb ability and conditioning in the fly, then would it not seem plausible that his revolutionary style of swimming the 200 free would NOT be a model for other swimmers? Simply put: Because they are not fantastically strong butterfly swimmers, most freestylers won’t be able to adapt to this new style without exhausting themselves.
In closing, I agree with the analysis, but I would toss in a caveat about the value of this particular “new style” for most swimmers. They simply can’t do freestyle in this manner.
Comment by Waynestuff
Posted on March 27th, 2007 at 19:56
Great article, and i agree completely.
Watching Phelps’ swim last night, to me it seemed like a revelation in how he went about dismantling Thorpe’s record. A record i used to think was untouchable for a few years at least - the only reason being that i didn’t see any freestyler out there that could better Thorpe.
And i think that obvservation still stands. Phelps isn’t a great freestyler, and that’s not trying to be critical at all - you wouldn’t point to him as an example of ‘how to’ for the the freestyle stroke. But his starts, turns and underwater work are phenomenal, showing truly superlative qualities. And i think Phelps and Bowman knew this was there they were going to make up time.
Using the dolphin kick underwater is not something new, Klim was quite proficient at using it in the 100m free, but Phelps has taken it to a new level. I do think this has shown the way forward for freestylers of the future. Obviously to be able to do it, there does need to be superior conditioning - something Phelps has from doing the 400IM.
Comment by Perro
Posted on March 27th, 2007 at 23:13
Very interesting article indeed. Do you have acceleration/distance graphs to prove this better? A quetion to everyone. Would you benefit from a system that measures your speed/distance for training in real time? Would you use it everyday at trainning? Think about something like Nike+ but for swimmers in real time with a big screen besides the pool.
Comment by Sprinteur
Posted on March 28th, 2007 at 00:29
There has been an interesting debate about that in a spanish blog almost two years ago: underwater kick is in fact a “fifth style” and for some races (50 breast or or fly short course for example), the underwater distance may be up to 60% of the total distance:
http://elquintoestilo.blogspot.com/
Comment by JB
Posted on March 28th, 2007 at 08:12
Great discussion. Let’s remember one thing–Michael Phelps is a physiological freak. Blood lactate testing has shown that he doesn’t accumulate the same high levels of lactic acid in 200 races (which are at least 50% anaerobic) that others do. Therefore, he can afford to stay under water longer without paying the price on the last 50 meters. I’m not sure anyone else out there right now can execute the same strategy effectively in the 200 free.
Comment by Eric
Posted on March 28th, 2007 at 08:16
I think that’s right - very few people would have the endurance and/or lung power to use Phelps’ strategy in a 200. Possibly nobody else could and that’s why nobody else does.
On possibility - my guess would be someone like Grant Hackett, given his aerobic capacity and his 12 liter lung capacity could have been trained to do underwater kicking like Phelps. But, he hasn’t done it which suggests to me that his fly kick isn’t powerful enough to be worth it.
Comment by Erik
Posted on March 28th, 2007 at 10:58
You guys make some great points - the data from the Olympic trials is on USA swimming under the coaches section (is available to all) and under race analysis) Overall, here is how I see it:
- I know that people (Klim and many of the 100 Free swimmers) have done this before, but I have never seen anybody destroy the best swimmers in the world in a 200 Free.
- you have to be good in dolphin kicks in order to do this, for example Crocker, Neil Walker and Nate Dusing did this in the 100 Free at Trials and basically all secured their relay spots using the kicks.
- since other people have used this in the 100 Free, it’s obviously trainable - so swimmers can also train to do this in the 200 Free
- it is VERY difficult - nobody said staying under water for 10 meters after every wall will be easy. I could see Ryan Lochte gaining 1-2 seconds in the 200 Free, but it would probably take 2 years + in order to build the endurance for this technique. But if Lochte wants to beat Phelps in the 200 IM, he has to be able to do this on the last 50 Free.
Comment by JB
Posted on March 28th, 2007 at 12:55
Just a strange thought: People often compare the 800 meter race in track to 200m races in swimming. Can you imagine a track athlete holding his breath for 5-6 seconds at the beginning, 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 marks of the race? Maybe those races aren’t so similar after all.
Comment by Ryan Hood
Posted on March 28th, 2007 at 13:13
I think what we are seeing is the first generation of true dolphin kickers. All of these athletes in their early to mid 20’s grew up doing dolphin kick as a basic part of training. It wasn’t until the late 80’s that we began to see backstrokers spending so much time underwater. In 88 it was still only a relative few who were taking advantage at the world level. Dolphin kick training didn’t appear as a regular part of most team training plans until the early to mid 90’s, about the time this current crop of underwater superstars began swimming. Starting training underwater dolphin kick with your 8 year olds or they will get left behind 10 years from now.
Comment by Perro
Posted on March 28th, 2007 at 22:34
Very good point Ryan. This webpage has become a great source for me to help swimming where I come from. I have tested this theory of Matt today at pool and it makes a lot of sense. Tryed this set: 800m free in LC pool, first 100 doing 4 underwater dolphin kicks and crawl kick conversion in order to get to surface, try to swim at 70% effort, the following 200 with 6 dolphin then conversion and surface swim with a little less effort than the first 100 but take advantage of the faster pull off the wall and swim thinking about less drag, the following 300m with 8 DK the crawl part more enphasis on technique a little less effort and finally the last 200, with 10 to 12 DK. It encourages you to swim long, one or two strokes less than your average. saving a little bit of energy at the swimming phase and attaining a good speed of the wall. I feel coming to the surface focusing in less drag and taking advantage of the inertia gained from the Underwater. Best regards
Comment by Erik
Posted on March 30th, 2007 at 16:28
It took me a little while - but here is the follow-up data using the Tv footage.
Phelps vs. Hoogenband - I measured the times from the wall (start) to the 15m markers (head reaching lane marker) and then from the 15 m markers to the wall again. So you get 4x 15 meters after each wall and 4 times 35 meters of pure swimming (plus getting the feet to the wall). My TIVO moves exactly .04 per frame, so this is fairly accurate.
Transition Times Total:
Phelps 25.56 sec
VDH 27.90 sec
Swim Times Total:
Phelps 78.30 sec
VDH 78.38 sec
Total difference in the race = 2.42 sec
Total difference transitions = 2.34 sec
I was guessing it would be close, but did not figure it to be this close. Hoogenband is a good 100 Fly swimmer - maybe instead of kicking out the 200, he should start kicking off the wall.
One more note on practicing this — 20 years ago, if you would have told all the 200 Backstrokers they would have to stay under water for 12 meters, they would have told you that it was impossible. On his World Record, Martin Zubero stayed under water for over 30 meters on the last 50 and they had to change the rules ….
Comment by The Screaming Viking!
Posted on April 3rd, 2007 at 12:34
When people scoff and say “how hard could swiming really be?” I usually answer by asking if they ever ran track or cross country… when they say yes, I reply “now imagine if your coach told you to train and race this way: only breathing every 6 or 7 steps, and holding your breath for an extra 5 seconds after every quarter.”
you’d think your coach was crazy, right?
Comment by Mike
Posted on April 6th, 2007 at 08:38
There is much talk about the conditioning needed in order to execute a longer, more effective underwater kick. Although this may be part of the equation, another significant part is regulating your energy output in a race. Some people call this pacing, but it is more complicated than simply going out slower.
Holding back on the energy exerted while swimming in early stages of the race may be equally important to conditioning the body for the underwater kick. I realize that it is hard for people to realize that going out in a 51.00 may be holding back. But remember he came back in a textbook perfect 52.8.
I think we often look at a swim like Phelps and think, “wow! he must have strong legs or some super human ability”. He may very well have these things, but he is probably also controlling his super human ability enough so that he can utilize his effective underwater kick for 10 meters off each wall.