This is one way to go about it. I ask that if you want to critique the method, perhaps start a thread such as "various methods to learn proper kick timing". I promise I'll engage there. Let's try to leave this one for the folks who actually want to give this a shot. As this is an introduction, today's post is longer than the next 3. Weeks 2,3 and 4 will get to the point more quickly
I will take four weeks to (attempt to) teach the fundamentals of kick timing that are inherent in nearly every optimized freestyle swimming form, regardless of general rhythm, beat of kick, or rate of turnover. This is essentially the "Kick Timing Module" presented in my 12 week basic course. I could just tell you the answer, but a cerebral understanding of proper kick timing does not equate to the awareness and physical vocabulary necessary to perform it. This timing is so ubiquitous in elite swimming, that it is regarded by Maglischo's Swimming Fastest as "seldom a problem" (Maglischo, revised edition 2003). However, it is important to note that Maglischo's work was based overwhelmingly with national caliber collegiate swimmers and above -- in non-elite swimmers, the inability to produce this timing is as omnipresent as the ability is in their elite counterparts.
Awareness and control are what we are after, and those things only grow so fast. With all awareness building activities, you need to be patient - awareness does not come overnight, it is the result of a long, committed process. If you can focus on what you ARE perceiving, instead of worrying about what you are NOT perceiving, you will gradually build your awareness from your starting point. You can think about awareness as a point that grows into a sphere - the "point" is located at the places in your body that you ARE aware of - by focusing on that particular point, you can then try to expand that point into a sphere - the outer edges of that sphere then form the basis of new points for you to create new spheres until finally, your awareness becomes quite broad.
(This is a distinction between active corrections and passive technique by the way. Passive technique helps you cultivate your own awareness, while active corrections, i.e. - Hey coach, tell me what I am doing wrong, attempts to piggyback on the awareness of others. But I digress.)
So on to the actual workout and the activities of the week. These skills are presented in Week 2 of my Basic Course. It may be helpful if those attempting this have completed Week 1, which is available for free on my website. Week 1 presents two drills that are not directly related to kick timing, but a process is a process. Check it out if you have time.
The focus of the second week is smack dab in the middle of those two Week 1 drills – the kick. The kick is the single most important element of effective swimming rhythm, as well as being a prime factor in the style of pulling that a swimmer employs. My approach to learning kick rhythm starts with the very basics:
1. Not kicking at all
2. Kicking with only one leg
3. Kicking intermittently
The pulling and Float & Paddle drills from the first week delivered the first concept, now we move on to the second and third, which are in essence varying degrees of kicking. The 1-legged kick drill involves swimming with a regular arm pull, while kicking with only one of your legs. Another way of thinking about the 1-legged kick is that you are turning off one of your legs. For now, we do NOT want you to focus on any specific number of kicks (nor any specific kick timing, as these will come in later weeks), simply focusing on turning off the other leg is the sole objective.
Turning off one leg can be exceedingly difficult, especially if you tend to be a vigorous kicker. Similarly, the leg that is kicking will be challenged because it does not have its mate to provide counter-balance, and the timing of this single legs kick with respect to the arm pull becomes highlighted. Swimming with a single leg kick may feel entirely awkward, or fluid at certain points of the stroke, and awkward at other points of the stroke. Any and all of these situations are important to take note of, and the athlete may benefit from asking themselves the question: when does it feel awkward?, and when does it feel fluid?or perhaps more accurately, do I experience varying degrees of awkward?.
When first learning these types of activities, a lighter shade of awkward may be as good as it gets! This is to be expected, and is no reason for concern. In fact, feeling awkward is a sign that you have a sense that something is not right, which is a cornerstone for being able to identify when something is right. Athletes who struggle with simply making one leg stop are encouraged to go along and practice this, having patience over the course of a few weeks, your ability to move your legs independent of one another will increase. At these early stages, it is sufficient to simply become aware of each leg independently. This awareness building exercise will pay dividends down the road as we introduce more complex relationships between the pull and the kick.
Beat Kicking on a Kick Board
The second kick activity for this week is the 3-beat kick. This involves kicking with a kick-board, pausing every 3rd kick. The athlete will perform a burstof 3 kicks, followed by a pause that lasts for 1 second or less, and the athlete should attempt to freeze the leg in motion (kind of like the old game freeze tag). The initial goal of this activity is to make sure that there is a perceptible pause in your kick. An onlooker should be able to readily observe that your leg motion is stopping briefly.
The second point of focus is to actually be able to count 3 kicks. Perhaps surprisingly, many athletes will naturally fall into a rhythm of 4 kicks and a pause when doing this drill. It feels so comfortable to them, that they may not realize that they are not doing 3 kicks.
A point of reference is as follows: if you are truly pausing every 3rd kick, you will begin each new burst of kicking with alternating legs. In other words, the first burst will be initiated by the right foot, then the next burst will be initiated by the left foot, and this will continue on in alternating fashion. If you are doing a 4-beat kick (or any even numbered amount of kicks) you will initiate each successive burst with the same foot.
The athlete should expect this to be a very slow form of kicking, considerably less speedy than simply kicking in an uninterrupted fashion. It is possible to do this without a kickboard, either in streamline position (arms above your head) or in luge position with your arms at your side. The only difficulty with performing this activity without a kick board is that breathing tends to confound the pauses every 3rd kick.
Skills:
Develops general rhythmic ability.
By mastering the 3-beat rhythm the essential rhythm for swimming with a 6-beat kick is developed.
Key Points:
Legs should "freeze" in place when pausing, with one leg up above the surface and one leg below the surface.
If you are doing an odd number of kicks, then the leading leg (that which initiates the next burst of kicks) will alternate. If you are doing an even number of kicks in each burst, you will lead with the same leg each time.
Advanced Points:
Once athletes have begun to master this skill, they should attempt to make their bursts of kicking more rapid.
Variations:
2-beat - pause every 2nd kick
4-beat - pause every 4th kick
5-beat - pause every 5th kick
3-beat - pause every 3rd kick
VIDEOS:
WARMUP
1 X 300 done as 50 CHOICE / 25 PULL (no buoy)
:30 REST
3 X 50 done as 25 Float & Paddle (or PULL) / 25 SWIM on :10 REST
2 X 75 PULL / KICK / SWIM BY 25s on :10 REST
1 X 150 done as 25 1-6 Statue of Liberty (or kick on side) / 25 SWIM
REST 1:00
TECHNICAL FOCUS
6 X 25 F&P (or PULL) on :15 REST
6 X 25 1-LEG KICK (SWIM, ONLY USING ONE LEG) on :15 REST
4 X 25 3 BEAT KICK WITH BOARD on :15 REST
4 X 150 on :20 REST
#1,2 PULL
#3 ALTernate 25 SWIM w 1 leg kick / 25 SWIM NORMAL
#4 done as 50 KICK / 50 SWIM / 50 KICK
(FINS OPTIONAL)
REST 3:00 - PREPARE FOR A LITTLE SPEED WORK
SPEED SET (Optional)
Goal of this set is to push your skills related to pulling, and to minimize the use of your legs
while trying to move the arms quickly. Additionally, by trying to go fast with just your arms, you will be stimulated to use your body as a more effective component.
8 X 25 on :10 or :15 REST
ODD - PULL FAST
EVEN - CHOICE DRILL EZ
8 X 25 on :10 or :15 REST
ODD - SWIM FAST
EVEN - PULL WITH LONG STROKES
REST 1:00 � PUT ON FINS
WARMDOWN, AMRAN (As Much Rest As Needed)
1 X 100 EASY KICK ON BACK WITH FINS
1 X 100 EASY CHOICE WITH FINS
NOTES:
PULLING FAST �when pulling fast, you want to find that sweet spot where your turnover
(rate of arm rotation) is quick, but where you are still able to synch your body rotation with
your pull, and where your hands are not slipping through the water (often called “spinning
your wheels).
I will take four weeks to (attempt to) teach the fundamentals of kick timing that are inherent in nearly every optimized freestyle swimming form, regardless of general rhythm, beat of kick, or rate of turnover. This is essentially the "Kick Timing Module" presented in my 12 week basic course. I could just tell you the answer, but a cerebral understanding of proper kick timing does not equate to the awareness and physical vocabulary necessary to perform it. This timing is so ubiquitous in elite swimming, that it is regarded by Maglischo's Swimming Fastest as "seldom a problem" (Maglischo, revised edition 2003). However, it is important to note that Maglischo's work was based overwhelmingly with national caliber collegiate swimmers and above -- in non-elite swimmers, the inability to produce this timing is as omnipresent as the ability is in their elite counterparts.
Awareness and control are what we are after, and those things only grow so fast. With all awareness building activities, you need to be patient - awareness does not come overnight, it is the result of a long, committed process. If you can focus on what you ARE perceiving, instead of worrying about what you are NOT perceiving, you will gradually build your awareness from your starting point. You can think about awareness as a point that grows into a sphere - the "point" is located at the places in your body that you ARE aware of - by focusing on that particular point, you can then try to expand that point into a sphere - the outer edges of that sphere then form the basis of new points for you to create new spheres until finally, your awareness becomes quite broad.
(This is a distinction between active corrections and passive technique by the way. Passive technique helps you cultivate your own awareness, while active corrections, i.e. - Hey coach, tell me what I am doing wrong, attempts to piggyback on the awareness of others. But I digress.)
So on to the actual workout and the activities of the week. These skills are presented in Week 2 of my Basic Course. It may be helpful if those attempting this have completed Week 1, which is available for free on my website. Week 1 presents two drills that are not directly related to kick timing, but a process is a process. Check it out if you have time.
The focus of the second week is smack dab in the middle of those two Week 1 drills – the kick. The kick is the single most important element of effective swimming rhythm, as well as being a prime factor in the style of pulling that a swimmer employs. My approach to learning kick rhythm starts with the very basics:
1. Not kicking at all
2. Kicking with only one leg
3. Kicking intermittently
The pulling and Float & Paddle drills from the first week delivered the first concept, now we move on to the second and third, which are in essence varying degrees of kicking. The 1-legged kick drill involves swimming with a regular arm pull, while kicking with only one of your legs. Another way of thinking about the 1-legged kick is that you are turning off one of your legs. For now, we do NOT want you to focus on any specific number of kicks (nor any specific kick timing, as these will come in later weeks), simply focusing on turning off the other leg is the sole objective.
Turning off one leg can be exceedingly difficult, especially if you tend to be a vigorous kicker. Similarly, the leg that is kicking will be challenged because it does not have its mate to provide counter-balance, and the timing of this single legs kick with respect to the arm pull becomes highlighted. Swimming with a single leg kick may feel entirely awkward, or fluid at certain points of the stroke, and awkward at other points of the stroke. Any and all of these situations are important to take note of, and the athlete may benefit from asking themselves the question: when does it feel awkward?, and when does it feel fluid?or perhaps more accurately, do I experience varying degrees of awkward?.
When first learning these types of activities, a lighter shade of awkward may be as good as it gets! This is to be expected, and is no reason for concern. In fact, feeling awkward is a sign that you have a sense that something is not right, which is a cornerstone for being able to identify when something is right. Athletes who struggle with simply making one leg stop are encouraged to go along and practice this, having patience over the course of a few weeks, your ability to move your legs independent of one another will increase. At these early stages, it is sufficient to simply become aware of each leg independently. This awareness building exercise will pay dividends down the road as we introduce more complex relationships between the pull and the kick.
Beat Kicking on a Kick Board
The second kick activity for this week is the 3-beat kick. This involves kicking with a kick-board, pausing every 3rd kick. The athlete will perform a burstof 3 kicks, followed by a pause that lasts for 1 second or less, and the athlete should attempt to freeze the leg in motion (kind of like the old game freeze tag). The initial goal of this activity is to make sure that there is a perceptible pause in your kick. An onlooker should be able to readily observe that your leg motion is stopping briefly.
The second point of focus is to actually be able to count 3 kicks. Perhaps surprisingly, many athletes will naturally fall into a rhythm of 4 kicks and a pause when doing this drill. It feels so comfortable to them, that they may not realize that they are not doing 3 kicks.
A point of reference is as follows: if you are truly pausing every 3rd kick, you will begin each new burst of kicking with alternating legs. In other words, the first burst will be initiated by the right foot, then the next burst will be initiated by the left foot, and this will continue on in alternating fashion. If you are doing a 4-beat kick (or any even numbered amount of kicks) you will initiate each successive burst with the same foot.
The athlete should expect this to be a very slow form of kicking, considerably less speedy than simply kicking in an uninterrupted fashion. It is possible to do this without a kickboard, either in streamline position (arms above your head) or in luge position with your arms at your side. The only difficulty with performing this activity without a kick board is that breathing tends to confound the pauses every 3rd kick.
Skills:
Develops general rhythmic ability.
By mastering the 3-beat rhythm the essential rhythm for swimming with a 6-beat kick is developed.
Key Points:
Legs should "freeze" in place when pausing, with one leg up above the surface and one leg below the surface.
If you are doing an odd number of kicks, then the leading leg (that which initiates the next burst of kicks) will alternate. If you are doing an even number of kicks in each burst, you will lead with the same leg each time.
Advanced Points:
Once athletes have begun to master this skill, they should attempt to make their bursts of kicking more rapid.
Variations:
2-beat - pause every 2nd kick
4-beat - pause every 4th kick
5-beat - pause every 5th kick
3-beat - pause every 3rd kick
VIDEOS:
WARMUP
1 X 300 done as 50 CHOICE / 25 PULL (no buoy)
:30 REST
3 X 50 done as 25 Float & Paddle (or PULL) / 25 SWIM on :10 REST
2 X 75 PULL / KICK / SWIM BY 25s on :10 REST
1 X 150 done as 25 1-6 Statue of Liberty (or kick on side) / 25 SWIM
REST 1:00
TECHNICAL FOCUS
6 X 25 F&P (or PULL) on :15 REST
6 X 25 1-LEG KICK (SWIM, ONLY USING ONE LEG) on :15 REST
4 X 25 3 BEAT KICK WITH BOARD on :15 REST
4 X 150 on :20 REST
#1,2 PULL
#3 ALTernate 25 SWIM w 1 leg kick / 25 SWIM NORMAL
#4 done as 50 KICK / 50 SWIM / 50 KICK
(FINS OPTIONAL)
REST 3:00 - PREPARE FOR A LITTLE SPEED WORK
SPEED SET (Optional)
Goal of this set is to push your skills related to pulling, and to minimize the use of your legs
while trying to move the arms quickly. Additionally, by trying to go fast with just your arms, you will be stimulated to use your body as a more effective component.
8 X 25 on :10 or :15 REST
ODD - PULL FAST
EVEN - CHOICE DRILL EZ
8 X 25 on :10 or :15 REST
ODD - SWIM FAST
EVEN - PULL WITH LONG STROKES
REST 1:00 � PUT ON FINS
WARMDOWN, AMRAN (As Much Rest As Needed)
1 X 100 EASY KICK ON BACK WITH FINS
1 X 100 EASY CHOICE WITH FINS
NOTES:
PULLING FAST �when pulling fast, you want to find that sweet spot where your turnover
(rate of arm rotation) is quick, but where you are still able to synch your body rotation with
your pull, and where your hands are not slipping through the water (often called “spinning
your wheels).
Last edited by:
FindinFreestyle: Dec 4, 17 6:16