I realize it is getting close to the end of the season for most triathletes. Keep these thoughts in mind when you start building your new base.
Michael Phelps’ coach said that one of his smartest moves was to force Michael to learn a six-beat kick as an 11 year old. He now has the strongest kick of any swimmer.
A quote from Swimming World Magazine, “coach Eric Hansen at the University of Wisconsin believes that kicking is a critical element in training. When all is said and done, kicking is a simple way to get fast quickly.”
Do not avoid kicking, embrace it. You will get faster with less effort when you swim.
Start by kicking with fins both on your back and on your stomach. Build from a few lengths to longer and longer kick sets. Add some one length fast kick repeats.
When ever you are at your computer take of your shoes and stretch your toes and ankles by putting a mouse pad on the floor and resting the tops of your toes on it.
Doug, I’m a decent swimmer (52min Ironman) but I have a horrible kick. My body twists and my legs criss cross. What ends up happening is a really weak kick and I tow my lower body around. So I am a_MUCH_better swimmer with a wetsuit than without. What drills would you recommend to correct this.
Doug, speaking of fins, I too have a weak/non-existent kick and my question relates to fins/no fins whilst doing drills.
I find myself struggling/kicking like a madman when attempting the one arm drills and kicking on side drills. I am unable to concentrate on the stroke technique I should be thinking about.
Is wearing fins “cheating”?
Also, can you confirm what I believe you stated before about deep water running eventually helping your swimming kick?
Do not avoid kicking, embrace it. You will get faster with less effort when you swim.
(disclaimer: I am a terrible swim kicker)
It seems to me that the kick is a highly inefficient mechanism for increasing swim speed. Those muscles require a lot of energy, and seem to provide a relatively small return. How does your statement about faster and less effort hold up in a 1.8km swim that is followed by another four hours of intense exercise?
Your arm stroke is screwing up your kick. If your hips and legs are going all over the place it is either head issue (looking back to breathe) or your your arms are crossing the midline of your body. Imagine how much faster you would swim if you swam in a straight line.
Practice high elbow recovery drills. Release the back end of your stroke so that you do not flick your fingers back causing a wide recovery arm. The closer you can keep your arms to your body on recovery the less your body will wiggles when you swim and therefore the easier it will be to kick.
If you have an opportunity swim with a center snorkel and notice how much straighter you swim.
Wearing fins is not cheating. Fins put your body in a positon that is condusive to fast swimming. They force your ankles and toes to point. They work your quads and hamstrings. I like small high speed training fins (Zoomers).
Isn’t it better to get some movement than be pissed off at the shallow end for the entire workout without moving an inch?
You learn how to and condition your legs so that they support your swimming. By training your legs they become efficient and never tire. Your kick holds your arm stroke together. Your kick provides the rhythm for your hips and in turn stroke. When you eventually do a third of your workout kicking you will never fatigue in the swim and be able to run to the transition area fresh for a great bike ride.
Totally disagree with ya there bud. I was a horrible swimmer. I learned to do as close to a 6-beat kick as possible over the last year. I took 8 minutes (!!!) off my 2K o/w swim time in 1 year. Why? Sure, better endurance and better technique (catch in particular) helped but I think the biggest contributor was learning to kick effectively. When you kick right, it doesn’t take that much more effort. Besides, those big strong muscles are capable of going for hours and hours, your arms are far far weaker (esp if you are female - and I am a strong upper body swimmer).
When you can get the 6-beat kick down, your arms feel like they are almost going easy (even though they are not). You feel this constant propulsion through the water, your entire stroke becomes so much smoother feeling… no catch, pull, glide, it becomes more like a feeling of constant forward movement. It’s hard to describe the feeling…
Exposing my total ignorance (as one who basically drags her feet behind her), what exactly is a six-beat kick – six kicks for every two strokes (assuming one arm=one stroke)?
You learn how to and condition your legs so that they support your swimming. By training your legs they become efficient and never tire. Your kick holds your arm stroke together. Your kick provides the rhythm for your hips and in turn stroke. When you eventually do a third of your workout kicking you will never fatigue in the swim and be able to run to the transition area fresh for a great bike ride.
DougStern
I did low 29 for the swim at Eagleman this year (30th out of >1000 males), with only enough kick to establish a rhythm and help with the roll (no propulsion from my legs), and felt completely fresh running to the bike. Although I’m 6’ tall, I take ~18-22 strokes/25yds in the pool. I never swim more than 10,000yds per week, and most of the time it’s like 3x2000 or so per week. At age 47, what could I expect in performance gains from doing more kicking, given where I’m at?
Exposing my total ignorance (as one who basically drags her feet behind her), what exactly is a six-beat kick – six kicks for every two strokes (assuming one arm=one stroke)? As usual, Amy, you are exposing knowledge instead of ignorance as you have the correct answer.
I completely agree. As a former college swimmer, we did a lot of kicking. NCAA competition is only short course yards, so walls and kicking is more important that it is in long course. I have only been in the sport of triathlon for 14 months, but I quickly became a FOP biker. I attribute this to 3 things:
Huge aerobic base (I was a distance swimmer)
Genetics (long legs and such)
High volume and high intensity kick sets in college. If you think about it, time trialing on a bike has the same effect on you legs as a good hard kick set. The trouble is that most people do not know how to hold enough water to really fatigue their legs. Last summer, the guy on our team who was the best kicker (he could kick a 500 with a board in about 6:00) tried out cycling. He routinely averaged over 26mph in 40k TTs in his first few months on the bike…not sure what he is up to now. Anyway, I think there are some great benefits to some good, hard kicking.
You would have a whole new perspective on swimming. There would be a glide in your stroke. Your legs would ride higher in the water. It would feel cool and it would be faster. You hae not tapped into your potential.
This is a great thread! I am addicted to the pull buoy, I just started doing complete workouts without the buoy because I was using more as a crutch then anything else.
If someone could post a good kick workout if you will. i would appreciate it.