I am very new to triathlon…
I have been swim training a couple of months now
recently began adding sets of pure kicks with a kickboard…
during these sets (usually 4 x 25m)
I feel my quads working
my question: if I am kicking properly at the hips, should my quads burn?, or is my form bad and should I feel a different group of muscles being worked during kicking?
Burning quads are perfectly normail during a kick set.
Try not to use a full board but one cut in half. It will allow yor hips to roll more naturally. Better yet kick in a streamlined position either on your sides or back. You can also kick under water teaching yourself to kick both on the down and up kick.
Yes, quads should burn. You may want to rethink adding kick sets although 4x25 doesn’t sound like you are spending a lot of time on it. Most people would get more out of spending the time on stroke drills. If you are going to do kick sets, learn to do them without a board at all.
thanks for all the responses
it seems that kick sets might not be that important after all
is this correct?
or am i reading too much into this last post
my understanding was that i would go a lot faster if I could learn to kick better and more efficiently
If you believe the Total Immersion philosphy, kick sets are not so useful.
I think a lot of triathletes don’t kick much during a race, since a wetsuit (and hopefully good body position) will keep your legs up, and since you want to keep your legs fresh for the bike/run.
Disclaimer: I’m thinking from the persepective of a MOP/BOP swimmer who is more interested in surviving the swim rather than excelling at it.
I’m going to disagree with some of the other posters, an efficient kick is very important since a poor kick will actually slow you down. (I don’t follow the TI stuff, and since the Thorpedo is often brought up as an example of TI, you should note that he has a phenomenal kick). Your kick will also help you set your turnover, much as arm swing helps you with your turnover when running, and will stabilise your lower body.
4 x 25 metres is probably not enough to get a real benefit. Either use a half or a full kickboard when your purpose is to develop your kick, as opposed to working on streamlining. You want to make sure that you keep the kicks small, high frequency, and that only your heels break the surface.
Finally, remember that your quads are a 2-joint muscle group, they cause both extension at the knee and flexion at the hips.
Your kicking needs to be in good form, after that there is, IMO, very little to be gained from doing kick sets. However, if you have poor kicking form then it will be very hard/impossible for you to get the rest of your stroke working well.
The last post had a good explanation for proper kick form. I would only add that it sometimes helps beginners to think about the kick power being generated from the abs and glutes.
I think the extent of and therefore amount of kicking is somewhat dependant on the distance. For example in swimming, sprinters usually always have very strong and vigorous kick. However most distance guys have a minimal kick from my experience. Thus you may kick more in a sprint race vs an IM. I find that when I put on the T1, I don’t kick much beyond using it for balance and maintaining stroke rhythm. I like to save my legs as much as possible for the rest of the race. The swim is too damn short anyway. I sometimes use a kickboard but only to “loosen” my legs after long run/bike days. I wouldn’t put it very high up the list of things to do for beginner swimmers.
I tend to kick hard at the beginning to get clear of the washing machine and towards the end to drive some blood into my leg muscles. The later helps the transition from horizontal to vertical as you struggle to find your legs after getting out of the water. I am a halfway decent swimmer…usually finish in top 10% of my age group and swam division II in college here in California but as they say, your results may vary.
Your kicking needs to be in good form, after that there is, IMO, very little to be gained from doing kick sets.
To clarify my earlier post, the TI philosophy (as I understand it) is that kicking IS important for form/balance, but since kicking with a kickboard does not faithfully replicate kicking while swimming (which is usually done on your side), kickboard drills per se are not so useful.
Or maybe I’m just biased because I hated to do kickboard drills. 
wow… thanks for all the input
I have found that I do kick differently when I swim than with the kickboard…
I do, however, think it is important for me to find better form for my kick- one length kicking is still agonizing…
Thank you again for everyone’s input…
I now have many tips to better correct my stroke
another way to check to see if you have good kick form. kick on your back, if your knees break the surface your trying to bike in the pool. backstrokers also have some of the most powerful kicks. a powerful kick is a great tool to drop someone or a pack, can help you catch up to someone’s toes