after reading about a 2 beat crossover kick in “swimming fastest,” i decided to try it out in the pool today and i have to say i really like it. this kick definitely works better than a straight two beat kick for me and uses less oxygen than a 4 or 6 beat kick. i tried using the search function for more info about it, and there are a bunch of people that say a two beat crossover kick is wrong. i wanted to know other people’s experiences with different kick patterns.
after reading about a 2 beat crossover kick in “swimming fastest,” i decided to try it out in the pool today and i have to say i really like it. this kick definitely works better than a straight two beat kick for me and uses less oxygen than a 4 or 6 beat kick. i tried using the search function for more info about it, and there are a bunch of people that say a two beat crossover kick is wrong. i wanted to know other people’s experiences with different kick patterns.
It’s not wrong at all. People say that the cross is the result of a stroke flaw, or other compensation, but I’ve had an occasional cross in my kick for years. And a two beat cross will use less oxygen than a 4 beat, but that’s because it’s two beats, not because of the cross.
John
isnt the 2 beat crossover really made of 4 beats.
“refering to 2 beat crossover kick is really a misnomer because there are actually four leg beats per stroke cycle…” taken directly from swimming fastest
I’ve got a natural two beat crossover as well…it’s worked for me so far!
That being said, I don’t think I’d ever encourage or teach someone to *try *to crossover their feet. If your natural two beat kick has your feet flopping straight, I wouldn’t mess with it.
isnt the 2 beat crossover really made of 4 beats.
“refering to 2 beat crossover kick is really a misnomer because there are actually four leg beats per stroke cycle…” taken directly from swimming fastest
Hrm. I’d have to count it, when I went through the learning process we had 2 beat, 2 beat cross, 4 beat, 4 beat cross, etc. You (or they) might be right.
John
I have a natural two-beat crossover kick (have since high school swim team). I’ve tried the other styles and I use way too much energy and O2. It was taught as far back as the 70’s. I had a swim technique book written by the famous coach (whose famous name is escaping me, but I still have the book somewhere) at Indiana who coached Mark Spitz. In his book the two beat crossover was illustrated with swimmers on the Indiana team, though I don’t know that Spitz himself used it. I find it to be a perfect kick stroke for triathlon as it’s easy on my legs and yet I can get a good rhythm going and reasonably good power with it. It certainly doesn’t seem to be common though.