JasoninHalifax wrote:
Pretty sure you already know this, but a really good kick comes from the knees. I'll occasionally swim with a pullbouy, with kick, just to remind myself what it feels like. (easy to do it wrong though). On most pull sets I just let my legs do whatever they want, I'm mostly focused on keeping my torso straight. A good breaststroke drill is to swim with a pullbuoy (with full breast kick). I can't do it, because I'm a terrible breaststroker.
Hmmm. Well I'm certainly happy to admit when I don't know and I may not know.....might be doing it wrong! When my coach tore it all down and taught me from scratch he taught me to to think of my entire leg as a whip more or less. Loose and floppy ankles are the tip of the whip. My hips are where I was taught the power resides and the kick builds little by little as it travels donw the chain to the tip of the whip...smooth and flowing kicking up and down. He had me do a lot of rotational vertical kick drills in the diving well to learn that. Certainly I have knee bend, but it's nowhere near where my kick starts.
So you are saying my kick should start at the knees? This is a big deal b/c I would probably have to unlearn everything that has brought me a ton of success. Maybe we are just losing info in translation....tha't entirely possible b/c I suck at describing things in text.