Okay the title is just a troll to get reads... I don't think you should use a kickboard a lot (unless you have the time to swim 20K per week)
This post is really about how to use/implement kicking effectively into a swim workout for a triathlete.
A couple of points:
1) It is not really true that a hard kick will "wear out" your legs for the rest of your race. The muscles you use to kick are not the same. Do you know what muscle is strained the most when you kick? Everything on the front side of the leg from knee down. Do a hard kickset and you will learn this pretty quickly.
2) The number one benefit most triathletes are going to see from having a stronger kick is to stabilize the arm pull. Obviously the aim shouldn't be to develop a sustained 6 beat kick for 45 minutes. But a good 2 beat kick will help you pull faster (increased turnover) and pull harder.
3) So the real aim of kick specific work should be to increase plantar flexion. If you have already have good plantar flexion then - and this is where I would agree with the notion that kicking can be a waste of time - it will take a ton of kicking to get marginally better at it. Of course most people do not have good plantar flexion.
A couple of time effect ways to improve plantar flexion:
1) never do slow kicking - especially with a kick board. The mechanics of a slow "recovery" kick are all wrong - especially if you are using a board. Most people will start kicking from their quads and relax their ankles. Plus slow kicking is, well, slow.
2) Something as short as 4 all out 25s with or without a board but with fins will really loosen up the ankles. You don't need to pound away for 1000 yards.
3) Dolphin kick if you can. A dolphin kick will hit your stabilizing muscles like nothing else (okay this has nothing to do with flexion).
4) I like doing 100 repeats where I swim the first 75 freestyle and then kick on my back hard with pointed toes on the 4th 25. I add 10 seconds to my interval if I do that so a set of 12 takes an extra 120 seconds. Not a big waste of time.
Finally - how do you know if you have decent plantar flexion? If you can flutter kick on your back and move smoothly down the pool you are doing something right.
This post is really about how to use/implement kicking effectively into a swim workout for a triathlete.
A couple of points:
1) It is not really true that a hard kick will "wear out" your legs for the rest of your race. The muscles you use to kick are not the same. Do you know what muscle is strained the most when you kick? Everything on the front side of the leg from knee down. Do a hard kickset and you will learn this pretty quickly.
2) The number one benefit most triathletes are going to see from having a stronger kick is to stabilize the arm pull. Obviously the aim shouldn't be to develop a sustained 6 beat kick for 45 minutes. But a good 2 beat kick will help you pull faster (increased turnover) and pull harder.
3) So the real aim of kick specific work should be to increase plantar flexion. If you have already have good plantar flexion then - and this is where I would agree with the notion that kicking can be a waste of time - it will take a ton of kicking to get marginally better at it. Of course most people do not have good plantar flexion.
A couple of time effect ways to improve plantar flexion:
1) never do slow kicking - especially with a kick board. The mechanics of a slow "recovery" kick are all wrong - especially if you are using a board. Most people will start kicking from their quads and relax their ankles. Plus slow kicking is, well, slow.
2) Something as short as 4 all out 25s with or without a board but with fins will really loosen up the ankles. You don't need to pound away for 1000 yards.
3) Dolphin kick if you can. A dolphin kick will hit your stabilizing muscles like nothing else (okay this has nothing to do with flexion).
4) I like doing 100 repeats where I swim the first 75 freestyle and then kick on my back hard with pointed toes on the 4th 25. I add 10 seconds to my interval if I do that so a set of 12 takes an extra 120 seconds. Not a big waste of time.
Finally - how do you know if you have decent plantar flexion? If you can flutter kick on your back and move smoothly down the pool you are doing something right.