Is there undulation in freestyle?

[Zenturtle]

Probably covered before.
Did 20 minutes of slowmo swimming because stroke went gradually downhill for some reason.
Experimenting with deeper speering. And focus on kick connection.
It felt that with the most effective kicking (kick the butt up with top of feet) there was some undulation going on.
Normal experience for more people?

[Janos]

It depends on how you interpret what is happening. Water molecules are round, and adopting a barge like shape to force your way through them only creates drag. TI is about becoming fishlike. Fish swim with undulation.

Rotation is a form of undulation.

The correct 'whip' of a two beat kick could be considered to be like the tail fin of a fish.

[Zenturtle]

we can only reference from our current limited idea of what we are doing in the water.
And the senses are easily fooled, like rotation yourself around in a chair and then stepping out. You are shure the world is turning around you now, when its not.
So the whole perception of undulation could have been caused by spearing ( and diving) a bit deeper and kicking a bit more from the hip.

[WFEGb]

Hello Zenturtle,

what you just described in the 2BK-thread...

The mental image of swiveling that long leg throught the resistive water anchoring the water at the top of the feet makes it logical that the work to swivel that leg is done in the core.

...is exactly what I do feel as kind of undulation. Not sure how to deal with the needed logged hip-shoulder connection.

Would be interesting to know how CoachMandy feels her stroke, because I think in this tiny "undulation" lies one of the secrets of her extremely elegant stroke.

Best regards,
Werner

[Zenturtle]

When looking at Ledecky from underwater for example, its looks close to an undulation move on her sinking catch non-breathing side and the following kick on that side.
Pretty straight legs on those kicks to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUtde_vtmIQ
Never looked at this so much, but to get the most power from that kick, the leg has to be sticking up under an angle to the water surface at the start of the downkick.
This way you are not only kicking the hip up, but also kicking the water backwards with the whole leg.
Balance and (some) propulsion from one big legkick.
Her left side is for a big part falling into the catching arm, a bit of arm pulling immediately followed by forward and downward thrusting leg action.
So curious to compare her left and right arm forces in the water during her stroke cycle.

Maybe thats also a difference with a 6BK. The undulation action/feeling is too slow to fit in a 6BK.

[CoachSuzanne]

Originally Posted by Zenturtle

Probably covered before.
Did 20 minutes of slowmo swimming because stroke went gradually downhill for some reason.
Experimenting with deeper speering. And focus on kick connection.
It felt that with the most effective kicking (kick the butt up with top of feet) there was some undulation going on.
Normal experience for more people?

Like a caterpillar...