DragSox are one of the best tools swimmers have to build crisper underwaters. Here are five ways to use them for more powerful and efficient dolphin kicking.
DragSox are one of my absolute favorite tools for getting faster in the water, and especially for improving every aspect of a faster underwater dolphin kick.
For those unfamiliar, DragSox are exactly what they sound like: large mesh socks that dangle off your feet. They create a ton of resistance and drag as you kick (and swim), forcing your body to work harder to move through the water.
And that’s where the magic happens.
By training with extra drag, you’re building swim-specific power, improving kick mechanics, and sharpening your feel for efficient movement underwater. It’s straight-up one of the essential tools for sharpening the fifth stroke.
Here are five high-impact things swimmers can do with DragSox to power up their underwaters:
Cleaner streamline
A fast, tight streamline is essential for, well, fast dolphin kicking! Sure, kicking with your arms in a position that make it look like you are holding a beachball may be more comfortable, but all that extra frontal drag is gonna stop you dead in your tracks.
DragSox can be an excellent corrective tool for a more horizontal and streamlined body position when you push off the wall, adding more overall speed to your dolphin kicks.
Here’s how to do it:
- Put on your DragSox
- Push off the wall
- Use the tightest, cleanest bodyline you have
- See how much distance you can get
Adding resistance is an excellent way to highlight things like streamline or body positioning as it provides clearer feedback of poor alignment.
Timing the first kick on the start
During the course of writing The Dolphin Kick Manual, there were a lot of really interesting insights and “ah ha” moments along the way. One that surprised me was how often swimmers were dolphin kicking way too early when diving into the water.
In one study (Elipot et al., 2010) with elite swimmers, nearly all of them started kick too early on the dive, causing significant deceleration. And not be a little—optimal kick distance was 5.78m but swimmers started kicking at around 4m, a staggering 1.6m too soon.
Not kicking right away should make sense: when you enter the water after the dive, you are moving at the fastest speeds you’ll ever experience in the water. Kicking too early interrupts this “free” speed.
DragSox are a way to highlight the deceleration effects of kicking too soon.
Here’s how:
- Get up on the block with your DragSox on
- Make sure the Sox are set in a way that they won’t catch on anything on the block
- Dive into the water and kick right away. Note the deceleration.
- Dive into the water and kick after a solid beat. Note the increased distance traveled.
Similar to how we used increased drag to highlight inefficient body position during the streamline, DragSox can also be used to remind swimmers to soak up all that speed from the start before initiating the dolphin kick.
Building explosive kick power
Alright, let’s get into some high-grade kicking speed. DragSox are a tool for developing explosive kicking power and better neuromuscular coordination in the dolphin kick.
The added resistance makes it harder to accelerate the feet through the water, engaging more muscle, building kick-specific power. And power leads to speed.
The good news is that with this type of training, you don’t need to overthink it. Stick with short work durations (6-10s) and lots of rest (90s).
e.g.
8x15m underwater dolphin kick all out with DragSox on 2:00
Vertical kick (upkick)
The underwater dolphin kick has two distinct phases: the downkick, where the bulk of the propulsion happens, and the upkick, which is crucial for overall propulsion.
During the upkick, swimmers often lapse into recovery mode, decelerating the feet and causing drops in forward speed. And because most swimmers coast during this phase, it presents a golden opportunity for the enterprising dolphin kicker to see significant improvement.
Enter DragSox and vertical kicking.
Vertical kicking forces you to kick both down and up with precision, strength, and proper timing (otherwise you flail and bob around in the water).
Adding DragSox:
- Strengthens the upkick
- Improves vertical toe speed and directional control
- Develops a more symmetrical kick tempo
How to use DragSox + vertical kicking:
- 8 rounds [20s vertical dolphin kick with DragSox, fast + 40s rest
- 16 rounds [10s vertical dolphin kick with DragSox, all-out + 20s rest]
Vertical kicking isolates the kicking motion, so that swimmers can really dial in on using both phases of the kick for maximum propulsion.
Tap into post activation potentiation (PAP)
Post-activation potentiation (PAP) is a fancy, smarty-pants term for a super powerful training concept where we use resistance (e.g. DragSox) to prime the nervous system and fire lots of muscle fibers, and then perform unresisted sprints to unlock higher speeds.
Here’s an example of what this looks like:
4-5 rounds:
- 4x15m dolphin kick all-out with DragSox on 60s
- Extra minute rest
- 20m all-out underwater dolphin kick (no DragSox)
- 100 easy
Also loosely referred to as contrast training, PAP is a highly versatile training tool that gives swimmers a short-term performance boost that can create significant performance gains over time.
You’ll especially notice the “lightness” or “I feel absolutely amazing in the water!” after removing the resistance and shifting to unresisted sprinting. Kind of like a mid-workout taper and shave down.
The Bottom Line
DragSox are one of the best tools around for resisted swimming, and in the case of this article, resisted dolphin kicking.
They are superior to drag chutes as the strap won’t tangle in your legs, and you don’t need lots of deck and lane space (like with resistance tubing or power towers).
Yes, you lose some of the peak power production benefits of the more heavy-duty tools, but the portability and versatility make them an essential part of your dolphin kick training kit.
If you’re serious about taking your dolphin kick to the next level (and who isn’t?), and want more proven strategies, tool, and sets to build elite underwaters, check out The Dolphin Kick Manual: The Swimmer’s Ultimate Guide to a Faster Dolphin Kick.
The Dolphin Kick Manual is a beastly 240+ pages of actionable insights and research into elite dolphin kicking technique and performance. It details everything from mastering undulation to vortex recapturing to structuring a dryland program for dolphin kicking success.
It combines evidence-based insights with a collection of 20 ready-to-go sets and a 6-week Action Plan to help swimmers set a course for dolphin kicking success.
Train smarter and kick faster.
