Yeah you know it. That kickboard is killing you so stay away from any kind of that business. I've been dunked so many times on a kickboard I lost count.
Yet our club is something like 40% on the board during practice and it's the most obviously deficient part of my swimming. So what's up with that? I sought to unravel the mystery.
That's right I get a kickboard & start kicking until I cry uncle. But as usual with swimming, and just like the pull buoy, the kids got it right and we got it all backwards.
What I find out is kickboarding is about your chest, shoulders and front posture. It's not about kicking. Kicking is part of it course, but the main meal is what's going on up front. Here is the money part of kickboarding, those hydrodynamic gains that have been eluding you as car commuting, desk jockey turned triathlete.
The kickboard is a frontal indicator. If you pinch(crank it) and raise your shoulders, drop your chest and keep your head above water, while breaking the surface kicking, then you are in the zone. This all puts your chest lower, shoulders higher in the water, all great things. And it will make you faster. It takes work out of pool to loosen up the chest.
This body position is so profound and important that one of our best TSUN swimmers does a staggered fly stroke. She can't get both arms around at the same time, while protecting her chest and torso position in the water. So she delays one arm in kind of a stutter step. I was amazed at how fast she actually flys - like it's very fast. But she is doing this to protect her floating shoulder and chest position (without any instruction). Swimmers like me will raise their entire chest to execute fly, killing speed and sapping energy.
<https://twitter.com/...s/839610243357167616
Training Tweets: https://twitter.com/Jagersport_com
FM Sports: http://fluidmotionsports.com
Yet our club is something like 40% on the board during practice and it's the most obviously deficient part of my swimming. So what's up with that? I sought to unravel the mystery.
That's right I get a kickboard & start kicking until I cry uncle. But as usual with swimming, and just like the pull buoy, the kids got it right and we got it all backwards.
What I find out is kickboarding is about your chest, shoulders and front posture. It's not about kicking. Kicking is part of it course, but the main meal is what's going on up front. Here is the money part of kickboarding, those hydrodynamic gains that have been eluding you as car commuting, desk jockey turned triathlete.
The kickboard is a frontal indicator. If you pinch(crank it) and raise your shoulders, drop your chest and keep your head above water, while breaking the surface kicking, then you are in the zone. This all puts your chest lower, shoulders higher in the water, all great things. And it will make you faster. It takes work out of pool to loosen up the chest.
This body position is so profound and important that one of our best TSUN swimmers does a staggered fly stroke. She can't get both arms around at the same time, while protecting her chest and torso position in the water. So she delays one arm in kind of a stutter step. I was amazed at how fast she actually flys - like it's very fast. But she is doing this to protect her floating shoulder and chest position (without any instruction). Swimmers like me will raise their entire chest to execute fly, killing speed and sapping energy.
<https://twitter.com/...s/839610243357167616
Training Tweets: https://twitter.com/Jagersport_com
FM Sports: http://fluidmotionsports.com