Given the relative frequency with which we discuss, over and over and over and over again, the relative utility of pulling vs kicking, and the value or lack thereof of the pull buoy, i thought i would try to “pull” this all together into a “unified field theory of pulling and kicking”. Based on my observations over the past 40 yrs of swimming, it appears to me that many if not most swimmers will ALWAYS have a relatively weak flutter kick simply b/c they can NOT point their toes well enough to kick fast flutter kick. These swimmers generate 99% of their propulsion from their pull. It appears to me that a swimmer must have a fairly strong kick to be significantly faster w/o the buoy than with it, at any and all paces, i.e. the kind of swimmer who really hates using the buoy. Many competent swimmers (say under a minute for 100 scy) can pull somewhat faster (1-3 sec/100) than they can swim, at sub-maximal pace, i.e. doing say 20 x 200 on short rest; this is simply b/c the buoy puts their lower body in the ideal position w/o having to expend any energy kicking, and hence all their energy can be put into the pull. Note that these same swimmers are prob slightly faster in an all-out 50/100/200 when swimming full stroke, but at longer efforts (I’m undecided on exactly where the cut-off would be in “longer efforts”) they are faster just pulling. My observations lead me to conclude that a swimmer needs to be capable of kicking somewhere in the vicinity of around only 25% slower than their swimming speed, e.g. if they swim 1:20/100, then they need to be able to kick at 1:40/100, to really be a buoy-hater. This level of kicking is much faster than the vast majority of “all swimmers” can kick. Note i said ALL SWIMMERS which thus includes the 3:00/100 scy guys who can’t even kick a single 25 w/o stopping for rest. My observations of the general swimming population are that very few people are naturally fast flutter kickers, like maybe 5% at the most. Certainly, at the college level, that %age is more like 95% but remember that college/former college swimmers are only maybe 0.05% of the 200 million or so swimmers in the country. Of course, you can argue that, well, most swimmers have never worked on their kicking and ankle flex but my observation is that kicking ability is mostly innate: a few guys/girls who can’t swim at all can grab a kick-board and just motor up and down the pool on their first try, but most people can not do this. Similarly, some guys/girls can kick breaststroke faster than any other stroke, and always will be able to, simply b/c their ankles/feet/toes can execute the breast kick much better than free, back, or fly. OTOH, other swimmers are just the opposite: they can kick the 3 strokes just fine but struggle w/ breast. It appears to be mainly innate ability in my observation. Note that kicking ability seems, IMO, to stand in stark opposition to pulling ability, as most swimmers can develop a pretty good pull, but not necessarily a strong kick.
To sum it up: swimmers who are 5-10 sec per 100 faster when swimming full stroke than when just pulling with the buoy, must have pretty strong kicks, as in kicking 1:40/100, or even 1:30/100, at same effort level as swimming 1:20/100. The main reason these swimmers can kick this fast is b/c they have much more toe-pointing ability in their ankles/feet/toes than most of the population.
I’ve been mulling this issue for years and wanted to throw it out for comment. Discuss:)
