i had never really done much swimming until about a year ago. started for cross-training because of a back injury and now it’s for triathlon too. from a real swimmer’s perspective i’m probably still slow, but i’ve made some pretty big improvements just by reading stuff online and evaluating my own technique.
i know triathletes don’t need much kicking power, but i’ve been doing some kick sets - mostly just to break things up, really - and i feel like i’m just glacially slow. takes forever to get from one end of the pool to the other…and if i kick on my back (with kickboard extended over my head), i can barely even keep my face out of the water.
i’m sort of baffled by how someone could be kicking better or worse than someone else. how much technique is there to kicking? i’m aware my ankles (and just about everything else) are extremely inflexible…is that a likely culprit?
i’m sort of baffled by how someone could be kicking better or worse than someone else. how much technique is there to kicking? i’m aware my ankles (and just about everything else) are extremely inflexible…is that a likely culprit?
Ankle flexibility is a key component of kicking. All the effort in the world doesn’t help if your displacing the water in the wrong direction.
Only technique aspects of it that i can think of are kicking from the hips not the knees and having it synched with the rest of your stroke.
Ankle flexibility is key, I was a pretty decent kicker and while sitting with my legs extended I can almost get my big toe to point and touch the ground. I’ve seen former runners that can hardly point past 90 degrees. Some light ankle stretching is probably not a bad idea, but as long as your kick isn’t getting in the way of the rest of your swimming it’s decent enough for most tri purposes.
I´ve started doing a bit of kick set training recently as:
a) public humiliation has never bothered me
b) even with a 2-beat ´triathlon´kick, it seems to me it doesn´t hurt to make it as strong and efficient as possible
c) I have the time to incorporate it into the training.
The ´statue of Liberty´kick set seems to be the least humiliating way of training the kick as you get a bit of momentum going and don´t stop mid-pool, start going backward etc etc.
It´s always worth a quick look at Laure Manaudou´s 2-beat kick for inspiration:
Efficient kicking is initiated from the abdominal core, then the hips, and lastly knees and ankles.
A weak kick is often an indication of
not initiating firmly from the core, hip flexors and extensors.
not coordinating kick with arm pull through.
Note the 2 beat kick takes advantage of primitive neural circuits in the spinal cord and brain stem, via PNF patterns (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation).
Essentially, when the left arm extends (pulls through the water), the left leg flexes (kicks down), and the diagonally juxtaposed right leg extends (kick upwards).
The movement of the left arm pulling through the water should roll the upper trunk to the left up to 90 degrees, which will carry through to the pelvis, rolling it up to 60 degrees. This pelvic rotation around the body’s longitudinal axis facilitates right hip extension (kicking upwards) and left leg flexion (kicking downwards).
Usually a swimmer struggling with kicking is either weak through the core and hips, and thereby generating the kick from the quads and hams which more quickly tire; or is too stiff and interfering with the efficient 2 beat kick rhythm.
2+ fins. I’m in the same boat in terms of kicking. I’m painfully slow at it, and continuously lie myself that “I’m a triathlete, and I need to keep my legs fresh”, so I don’t practice it much. I get the ankle flexibility thing, and I’m certain that’s a large culprit to my non-kicking issues. I’ve taken to wearing small Auqa-Lung swim fins on kick sets in order to improve my ankle flexibility. The added benefit is that I’m not slow on the kick sets anymore Nonetheless I can feel the fins stressing the flexibility in my ankles, so there is some benefit there.
On a side note, I quickly get nasty hotspots while wearing fins. I refuse to take the extra time to slide on a pair of socks or something (back to the I’m a triathlete…" thing). I suppose that over time the hotspots will diminish.
thanks everyone. i do have some little zoomer-like TYR fins that i use most of the time for kick sets, but i forgot them yesterday and tried kicking without them, which is what prompted this.
for those of you talking about a 2-beat kick: mine is 6-beat. if i try 2, i either have to swim so fast i can’t sustain it or my legs sink like rocks (unless i’m wearing a wetsuit).
Some tips for you:
-Keep your legs straight and flex your feet so that your toes are pointed at the wall behind you
-Kick from your hips, not your knees
-Try to feel the water pushing against your entire leg (tops of feet, shins, and quads)
-Small strokes, 6-8 inches (insert ‘that’s what she said’ joke here)
-With short strokes comes a high cadence (pretend you’re a motor boat with small propellers, make brrr noise)
-Don’t break the surface of the water with your feet
-Remember that the kick has 2 parts, up and down. Use both for propulsion
Most of the time when people say they suck at kicking (or anything) they simply haven’t done enough. You can split all the hairs you want as to how you should be kicking, with what equipment or lack of equipment, front, side or back, fast or slow, board or no board. Just kick more. Mostly moderate to fast.
You sound like you are in the position of many in the pool, where the reach of your expectations is not equaling the arc of your improvements. Patience.
for those of you talking about a 2-beat kick: mine is 6-beat. if i try 2, i either have to swim so fast i can’t sustain it or my legs sink like rocks (unless i’m wearing a wetsuit).
If you’re having to use your kick in order to keep your hips up, there’s about a 97% chance you’ve got some torso position issues that really need to be fixed.
Note the 2 beat kick takes advantage of primitive neural circuits in the spinal cord and brain stem, via PNF patterns (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation). Any evidence?
LMCB - i was under the impression fins could be useful for developing leg strength and ankle flexibility. not true? i only use them for a few kick sets every few workouts…not all the time.
FLA Jill - that’s the kind of thing i probably wouldn’t have thought of on my own. thanks. actually, my legs - or at least my feet - tend to sink even when i’m using a pull buoy, so you’re probably right. i think part of the problem is that my shoulders aren’t very flexible either, so it’s hard for me to keep my arms out straight if i push my head/torso lower in the water.
Actually, there is quite a bit of technique to kicking correctly. But once your brain and legs master the motor program, you will be able to kick (and move) much faster. Kicking on top of the water (as in with a kickboard) is powered mostly by the hips (the hip extensors), the knees and ankles should be loose and flexible, but they provide very little of the actual *power *behind the kick.
And, unlike what others have said, the right fins (but unfortunately not zoomers) can actually teach you to kick faster, much faster (i.e., they can teach you to kick faster without fins).
Yes, kicking more will allow you to kick fast for a long time. But any fit person, IF they have good kicking technique, but even if they don’t kick much, should be able to kick quite fast for just a single 25yd length.
Occasional use of fins are great. For some reason I was under the impression that you were swimming with them all the time, and that’s not your friend.
My kick’s so strong I can keep up with someone wearing fins, but I only use fins for balance drills, never for kick work.
But that’s me and the coaches I’ve been swimming with for years. There are different philosophies, clearly.
Nonetheless I can feel the fins stressing the flexibility in my ankles, so there is some benefit there.