In swimming, there is no such thing as a fast efficient swimmer with a slow, inefficient kick. I started this Challenge on the Team to encourage triathletes to focus on improving their kick. We have given a gift card out to the fastest male and female on the Team. This year I’m opening it up to anyone who wants to participate. All you have to do is submit a video of you kicking a 50 with a board. This is based off a 50 yard kick, but I have included conversions for short course and long course meters in the contest. You can submit as many videos as you would like. Your fastest one gets counted in the contest. The contest goes from November 15 - December 15.
You can find the rules on how to enter with the link below. First place male and female will each receive a $50 gift card.
Rules and How to Enter
If there are any questions, please let me know. There will be some tough competition.
Tell me more about developing a fast efficient kick. Tons of talk about feel for the water and rotation and stuff, not much about a string kick and how it fits into the stroke as a whole.
An efficient, fast freestyle is a full body, connected and coordinated movement which involves the kick working with the upper body to maximize a swimmer’s ability to generate propulsion.
It would be the equivalent in running of saying we want to make you a more efficient runner, but you need to run with your arms at your sides and your arms shouldn’t move.
The best distance swim programs in the US 20-25% of the total training volume is kicking. There’s a reason for it.
If you have any other questions, please let me know.
So when 20-25% of the volume is kicking do you mean like all type of kicking drills, or mainly kickboard flutter kick? 10k/week seems like a ton of kick distance.
I struggled for awhile to feel the connection between the kick and pull, and I’m sure there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Is helping this connection as simple as strengthening the kick, or is the a more specific link I’m missing?
Thanks a lot for the feedback, it’s great to have such knowledgeable minds willing to share here.
So when 20-25% of the volume is kicking do you mean like all type of kicking drills, or mainly kickboard flutter kick? 10k/week seems like a ton of kick distance.
There really aren’t drills for kicking. It’s just kicking. Usually with a board unless you’re doing backstroke or underwater dolphin kick. But for distance freestylers it’s just kick with a board. We use to do it with old tennis shoes. I’m fond of drag sox. You can do it with a chute or a bucket and fin work is great too. But generally just flutter kick with a board. And it’s probably closer to 15-20k a week, depending on the program. I remember sets of 20x100 kick which wasn’t unusual.
Is helping this connection as simple as strengthening the kick, or is the a more specific link I’m missing?
It’s both. Neuroscientist have a shorthand - neurons that fire together, wire together. You want to make that connection stronger? It’s really the connection to an engaged core that you want to focus on while you are kicking, then make the movement over and over again with a lot of focus.
Fastest was 38 vs slowest at 1:17, which means the fast guy was twice as fast. This agrees with my observations that kicking speeds vary much more than overall swimming and pulling speeds, e.g. the 38 kicker isn’t swimming twice as fast as the 1:17 guy. But certainly the extra speed a great kick can provide can easily be the diff between being a very good swimmer and a really good one. I’ve been working on my kick for years and have made considerable improvement but not enough to challenge your 38 guy.
In this case, the differential is about 35 seconds/100 swimming between 38 and 1:17.
And the 38 guy isn’t on top right now. The fastest so far has been a 35.9. I’ll post those videos over the next week.
I hope you submit a video. Competition is fun and can really jumpstart improvement. I’ll even give you some insight into how to make your kick better, if I can see anything.
I haven’t been swimming for a couple of years, but I’m likely to get back in the pool in the new year. My kids are getting a bit older and I’m a little more able to take an evening off here and there.
Are you going to repeat the challenge in the new year? Last time I did a timed 50 kick was somewhere around a 36 (SCM) with board, no fins. I have no idea how close I can get to that.
I won’t do the challenge again until November/December 2024. But nothing stopping you from jumping in the pool right now with a kick board and cell phone and doing a fast 50. I hope you do. And we’d give you a handicap for the SCM, so somewhere around 33 high for SCY.
And if you do it, I might even get back in the water for a 50 kick.
I need to heal from a recent fight w the pavement … spoiler it won.
But I’ll do a kick test w you anytime you feel ready. I don’t mean that as a competition between you and me I just mean it so you don’t have to do it alone.
*also the kick is prob the most ignored aspect of swimming by triathletes. It baffles me. Kicking is key folks. If you’re good or bad it doesn’t matter. It’s critical to your performance
This is absolutely foreign to me. I’m not a great swimmer in comparison to other disciplines. Maybe doing 5% kick? Like 200-300y total in the warmup of a 4-5k workout.
I can totally see the potential for improvement, my glide is terrible compared to peers in the lane but the pace is the same albeit at a much higher stroke rate. Thinking about it more it could make sense that it’s just fitness making up for technique, and the kick makes sense as a drag (pun intended) on speed.
Last (maybe last) question-is kick technique as simple as keeping it tight and kicking from the hips? The doesn’t seem to be a ton of info about how to kick in comparison to catch/pull/push etc. When you have a kickboard it’s it ok to just flutter, or should there be a focused target on technique as well?
You can vary it. You don’t have to do large kick sets in every workout, but they do have a place every once in a while.
One of the bigger aspects it impacts is your ability to hold a line down the middle of your body. You are removing a lot of the rotation of the stroke, so it’s easier to feel how you need to engage the core. Then it’s a great workout. Kicking is a very efficient way to build fitness.
Good question - there’s technicality to it. But initially the best thing to focus on would be trying to get as long on the water as you can with your core engaged. Kick from the hips with a soft knee and your big toes should almost graze one another. I the arc of the kick keep your feet near to just above the surface of the water. Do that over and over again and we can talk more on some of the finer points.
so the interesting thing about kicking, an effective kick absolutely requires good ankle flexibility. I came back to swimming after a decade or so of running and natural inflexibility, used to be able (age 9-12) to kick and keep up with the slowest in our squad, since restarting swimming cannot complete a length (25yd) of kicking.
A couple of months of kick focus using fins did get me to about 20yds without fins, but I’ve gone backward since then.
As Tim says there aren’t any drills to improve kicking skills, just kick. The many of us who can’t even kick a length are left stranded…
My plan is to do the ankle flexibility exercises and a lot of fin kicking, but will have to retire to find the time for it…
You can vary it. You don’t have to do large kick sets in every workout, but they do have a place every once in a while.
One of the bigger aspects it impacts is your ability to hold a line down the middle of your body. You are removing a lot of the rotation of the stroke, so it’s easier to feel how you need to engage the core. Then it’s a great workout. Kicking is a very efficient way to build fitness.
Good question - there’s technicality to it. But initially the best thing to focus on would be trying to get as long on the water as you can with your core engaged. Kick from the hips with a soft knee and your big toes should almost graze one another. I the arc of the kick keep your feet near to just above the surface of the water. Do that over and over again and we can talk more on some of the finer points.
