Triathlete and swim kick advice: Triathlon Forum: Slowtwitch Forums

Triathlete and swim kick advice

Apr 8, 19 7:16

Post #1 of 6 (1304 views)

Im after some advice when it comes to the kick element of the swim if you wouldn’t mind.

Im not a great swimmer (best IM sea swim 1:08) and im aware I have quite a few things I need to work on (body rotation, catch, extension etc) which I am slowly improving on, but my query is around the kick element of the swim.

My kick is fairly strong when compared to my club mates, and when viewed as a time against my 100 swim. 100m swim flat out is about 1:30, 100m kick with float about 1:45, 100m with flippers flat out is about 1:15.

My query is, how do I take advantage of this whilst I continue to improve the other elements of my stroke. Im happy with doing 2/4/6 beat kicks and I have never trained my kick, it is something I was just able to do when I learnt to swim late in life.

I have a few people pass comment that I kick to much for a triathlete etc, but my current thought process is, this is my strength im going to take advantage of it, but am I right to do this? Is there a way to take further advantage out of it?

Cheers

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Re: Triathlete and swim kick advice [Boston] [ In reply to ]

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wintershade

Apr 8, 19 9:42

Post #2 of 6 (1254 views)

I'm a decently fast adult-onset swimmer (generally <25 min 1500 unless I botch my sighting). I use my kick primarily to stabilize my body position in the water. It's a 2 beat kick. I generally only kick harder to catch some feet or get some distance on someone I don't want on my feet taking advantage of my draft. I'm no swimming expert, but I find that kicking utilizes an enormous amount of energy relative to the additional speed it provides me. But I'm also a weak kicker. That said, even if I were a strong kicker, I think I'd save my legs for the bike/run.

One suggestion I have for you, is swimming with a swim snorkel and a pull buoy and really working on the front end of your stoke without relying on your kick. Another drill I found very helpful was 1-arm swimming with a snorkel. There are many variations of this drill, but here is one I like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exnVmadlP28

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Re: Triathlete and swim kick advice [wintershade] [ In reply to ]

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gary p

Apr 8, 19 10:36

Post #3 of 6 (1204 views)

I'm with wintershade, here. Trying to kick your way to a fast IM swim is probably a fool's errand. Having a strong kick to call on when needed is nice, but the energy-input:velocity-output ratio generally isn't favorable for anything longer than middle distance pool events.

"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

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Re: Triathlete and swim kick advice [Boston] [ In reply to ]

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JasoninHalifax

Apr 8, 19 11:03

Post #4 of 6 (1177 views)

The big advantage of having a strong kick for distance swimming is that you can do less of it to maintain body position and alignment.

Based on your post, it doesn’t seem like you are actually taking advantage of your kick when you swim. Likely culprit is that you are overkicking, which just causes increased drag.

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Re: Triathlete and swim kick advice [Boston] [ In reply to ]

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ask77nl

Apr 8, 19 12:10

Post #5 of 6 (1127 views)

I'm in a bit similar situation: strong kick due to running background, little progress in swimming, stopped improving around ~1:30/100m

Last month on Racemania (hello Boston!) I went to a SwimSmooth clinic, where I was shown that strong kick might actually point out to a problem. To my surprise I was diagnosed as 'Kicktastic' https://www.swimtypes.com/kicktastic/ This is an inefficient type in their classification.

What happens: elbow drop and light crossover lift upper body high and I have to compensate it with a strong kick. Strong kick doesn't actually move the body forward, but just compensates and masks the catch issues. And the solution is not just 'kick less', it will not help. I needed to address the catch issues.

I'm not sure if you have the same symptoms, but mine include:
- breathing issues. always out of breath, because strong gluts and quads do some quality work that nobody needs
- body wiggling and overall weirdness while swimming with pull buoy
- relatively small difference between 'flat out 100' and 'steady 1500' pace.

The solutions: fix catch by catch-related drills. After that try to kick less strongly.

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Re: Triathlete and swim kick advice [ask77nl] [ In reply to ]

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Boston

Apr 9, 19 8:13

Post #6 of 6 (921 views)

ask77nl wrote:

Cheers for the responses.

I struggle with some of those 'types' of swimmer as I seem to have so many of the flaws across the users, im probably closer to Arnie than Kicktastic but neither are close enough for me to say that me.

One thing did stand out from the Kicktastic piece was struggles with pull\wetsuit swims. Im fine with a pull buoy & swim well, but really slow down in a wetsuit recently, il dial the kick back when in a wetsuit.

I know I have to work on body roll, and finishing the stroke to improve speed. Il work on using the kick to stabilize rather than propelling me forward.

Thanks all..

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