Swimming question, long legged types

Triathlon Forum
1

Quick question for the swim coaches out there.
I have very very long legs and a little body. Its a curse.

I have always had body position problems with swimming, combining long legs with a crap kick.
I have been doing tonnes of work on my kick recently and things have improved.

But, I have noticed that when I kick against the wall (hands on wall, kicking to bring my legs to horizontal) my buoyancy is much better with a short fast flutter kick. If I slow down at all my legs start to sink as the time between kicks is too great.

I tested this out a bit more whilst swimming with similar results.

So, my question is, do you swim coaches prescribe more of a fast flutter kick to us long legged types to keep us buoyant?

Also, I am due to be using a new HUUB 5:3 for this season with ultra-buoyant legs, therefore is there a huge point in training this as I will be doing half ironman?

Thanks!

2

body position in the water as little to do with your kick… it s how you apply pressure on your chest and many other components. You should be able to have a great position either with just a flotter kick or with a hard 4 beats kick etc…

stop doing that silly thing at the wall… Learn to apply proper pressure, chest down…head down, core engaged…kick starting from the hips… find someone locally as i m pretty sure if you are asking this question, there is some obvious error that someone could correct in person.

but dont use kick as a crutch for proper body position…

3

what jonnyo said, and add to that head position and core stability as well.

4

I’d have been inclined to agree with you prior to testing, but it seems to have pretty profound effect on me! But then my legs are very very long. Approx 37-38inch inseam for 6 foot tall.
Head down doesn’t work for me, I am faster looking forward a bit.

Don’t be so dismissive. I’ve seen in plenty of your posts how dismissive you are of others thoughts and opinions that don’t align with your own.
I’d have thought being a coach you would be more open to different views.

5

I m not sure what desmissive mean but i can see when a new swimmer dosnt understanding swimming and make up weird idea about having long legged and been a effect on his swimming.

yes, the head position will work once you understand how to make it happen. it dosnt matter how long your legs are. You are like the rest of us and need to apply the same lesson as others do. Other coaches will agree on this…

6

he wasn’t being dismissive. he’s being blunt about what works and what doesn’t.

if yu need to kick fast to keep your legs up, jonnyo is right, you are using it as a crutch. You are probably going faster because you are working harder, but if you can get your position right with a minimal kick then that is much better. Then when you do turn on the power from your kick, less of it goes to keeping your legs up and more goes to moving you forward.

7

I was asking more about the use of a small but relatively fast flutter kick, over a big powerful kick.

8

my answer doesn’t change. It’s normal for your legs to sink a little bit if you don’t kick at all, but they should be at the surface with a very minimal kick. a light 2 beat kick should be enough (not much more than a flick of the ankles).

leg length really has nothing to do with it.

9

I have a 37 inch inseam and no kick at all, but no trouble keeping my legs up… jonnyo is right, it is about body position, leg length is just a distraction…

10

This is coming from another long-legged, adult (well, past highschool age) onset swimmer: Long legs shouldn’t hinder you. Body position comes from the core, not the kick.

I’ve done all sorts of drills, such as launching myself from the wall with both arms extended and just floating (one of the TI drills, apparently), and board-less kicking, until I figured the right combination to keep myself floating. These days even with minimal kick I can keep my ankles near the surface…

11

Fair enough.
It was only a question.

I think the 2 beat provides too much of a pause, hence my problem.

12

Thanks for the info.
Its nice to have a decent response as apposed to the patronizing ones from the above.

13

I know where your frustration comes from, but body alignment mostly comes from what happens at the front of the stroke and head position, as well as maintaining a nice tight core.

some band work is probably in order.

14

Cool, thanks.
Got band work in the morning. I have had long term back issues which I think have caused most of the problem.

15

well, i presently editiing a video that actually talk about body position. it s gonna be the exact answer you are looking for(i hope). and funny enough, it recommend the use of band as Jason just mention.

should be posted today or tomorrow morning. hopefully it will be helpfull

good luck

16

does the video have the turtle?

17

It’s an interesting observation. Your legs are long for your height. A lot of really good swimmers tend to have longer trunks with shorter legs. I would guess that for you in the water that center of mass and center of buoyancy get shifted even farther forward than an average male. I could see how you would have a tough time getting your back end up.

Developing an efficient kick is very important to swimming. Most of the best distance swim programs in the US do 20-25% of their total volume as kick sets. You’ll want the kick to be efficient. Continue to work on your kick, sounds like you are having some success. You are going in the right direction. Also, try some speed work with fins on to get even better body position.

If you have any other questions, let me know. I hope this helps.

Tim