Okay the title is just a troll to get reads… I don’t think you should use a kickboard a lot (unless you have the time to swim 20K per week)
This post is really about how to use/implement kicking effectively into a swim workout for a triathlete.
A couple of points:
It is not really true that a hard kick will “wear out” your legs for the rest of your race. The muscles you use to kick are not the same. Do you know what muscle is strained the most when you kick? Everything on the front side of the leg from knee down. Do a hard kickset and you will learn this pretty quickly.
The number one benefit most triathletes are going to see from having a stronger kick is to stabilize the arm pull. Obviously the aim shouldn’t be to develop a sustained 6 beat kick for 45 minutes. But a good 2 beat kick will help you pull faster (increased turnover) and pull harder.
So the real aim of kick specific work should be to increase plantar flexion. If you have already have good plantar flexion then - and this is where I would agree with the notion that kicking can be a waste of time - it will take a ton of kicking to get marginally better at it. Of course most people do not have good plantar flexion.
A couple of time effect ways to improve plantar flexion:
never do slow kicking - especially with a kick board. The mechanics of a slow “recovery” kick are all wrong - especially if you are using a board. Most people will start kicking from their quads and relax their ankles. Plus slow kicking is, well, slow.
Something as short as 4 all out 25s with or without a board but with fins will really loosen up the ankles. You don’t need to pound away for 1000 yards.
Dolphin kick if you can. A dolphin kick will hit your stabilizing muscles like nothing else (okay this has nothing to do with flexion).
I like doing 100 repeats where I swim the first 75 freestyle and then kick on my back hard with pointed toes on the 4th 25. I add 10 seconds to my interval if I do that so a set of 12 takes an extra 120 seconds. Not a big waste of time.
Finally - how do you know if you have decent plantar flexion? If you can flutter kick on your back and move smoothly down the pool you are doing something right.
If it takes you 1 minute and 57 seconds to cover 25 yards with a kick board while kicking, should you continue? True case.
Learning how to kick correctly (or at least stop your legs from slowing you down) will help.
Your kick should improve by 1:20 seconds per 25 if you:
point your toys straight like a balarina (ie plantar flexion)- stop keeping your feet flat like a parachute moving through the water.
stop trying to run or ride a bicycle with your legs
use your legs (a little) to move through the water with
These adjustments should make it possible for you to kick 25 yards in 30 seconds. That is probably good enough.
You do not need to be able to do 25 in 18 seconds like a swimmer. Or kick hard and consistently for 2000.
If it takes you 1 minute and 57 seconds to cover 25 yards with a kick board while kicking, should you continue? True case.
Learning how to kick correctly (or at least stop your legs from slowing you down) will help.
Your kick should improve by 1:20 seconds per 25 if you:
point your toys straight like a balarina (ie plantar flexion)- stop keeping your feet flat like a parachute moving through the water.
stop trying to run or ride a bicycle with your legs
use your legs (a little) to move through the water with
These adjustments should make it possible for you to kick 25 yards in 30 seconds. That is probably good enough.
You do not need to be able to do 25 in 18 seconds like a swimmer. Or kick hard and consistently for 2000.
The lack of plantar flexion is the issue. Spent three months working on it with stretching and whatever. Ended up with a measured 1/2 inch improvement and no kick improvement. Adult on set swimming is difficult. Lot easier to just drag the legs along.
If it takes you 1 minute and 57 seconds to cover 25 yards with a kick board while kicking, should you continue? True case.
Learning how to kick correctly (or at least stop your legs from slowing you down) will help.
Your kick should improve by 1:20 seconds per 25 if you:
**1) point your toys straight like a ballerina (i.e., plantar flexion)- stop keeping your feet flat like a parachute moving through the water. **
2) stop trying to run or ride a bicycle with your legs
3) use your legs (a little) to move through the water with
These adjustments should make it possible for you to kick 25 yards in 37 seconds. That is probably good enough.
You do not need to be able to do 25 in 18 seconds like a swimmer. Or kick hard and consistently for 2000.
This 1:20 per 25 yd improvement is not likely to happen overnight though, as it may take Billy several months or years to get to where he can actually point his toes like a ballerina, and possibly he may never achieve a true ballet point. However, he will never know unless he works on pointing his toes and trying to kick better. No doubt he can improve a lot from 1:57 per 25 yd.
If it takes you 1 minute and 57 seconds to cover 25 yards with a kick board while kicking, should you continue? True case.
Learning how to kick correctly (or at least stop your legs from slowing you down) will help.
Your kick should improve by 1:20 seconds per 25 if you:
point your toys straight like a balarina (ie plantar flexion)- stop keeping your feet flat like a parachute moving through the water.
stop trying to run or ride a bicycle with your legs
use your legs (a little) to move through the water with
These adjustments should make it possible for you to kick 25 yards in 30 seconds. That is probably good enough.
You do not need to be able to do 25 in 18 seconds like a swimmer. Or kick hard and consistently for 2000.
The lack of plantar flexion is the issue. Spent three months working on it with stretching and whatever. Ended up with a measured 1/2 inch improvement and no kick improvement. Adult on set swimming is difficult. Lot easier to just drag the legs along.
Actually, 1/2 inch in 3 months is pretty good as this is a long process and i’ll bet that, if you could really do a controlled test, your kicking has improved but you just haven’t hit the right day yet. Have you tried kicking on your back w/arms overhead in streamline??? Kicking on the back is very good for very gradually stretching out the feet/ankles.
I’ve been using flippers (the other evil swim tool) and doing dolphin-kick sets with them - every ligament & joint feels well-stretched after a few hundred yards of that.
based on some threads here last winter, I started incorporating about 250-400Y of kick drills into every workout. My kick speed has gone from truly pathetic all the way up to geriatric-breaststroke speed. In the meantime though, I’ve noticed it is easier to get the legs to take care of themselves (autopilot), also easier to keep legs higher in the water, and my overall speed has gone way up.
Being that I also have knee problems, I’ve also noticed that the increased time spent kicking seems to have improved knee stability during the run.
I can kick on my back and move ok. I can kick in a streamline with a snorkel and move slowly. Head up holding a kick board I hardly move at all to don’t move at all. Any tips? With a snorkel seems the most specific to free style.
If you want tips on how to do it, I’ll tell you what I did:
Race Club videos on Youtube
Search ST for threads where Gary Hall contributes and read them (can’t remember his ST handle though, but I think that “hall” is part of it)
Grit your teeth, accept the fact that your weekly total yardage will go down, and include kicking in your workouts. Lots of it.
I’ve been kick focusing for about a year, with a low week having 1200Y of kicking and a high week having 2000Y or so, and I’m still slow. It took almost 8 months before I noticed that I was moving faster (but still not fast).
It just makes sense to me. We’ll spend thousands of dollars trying to save a few grams of drag on our bikes, but in the water - where drag effects are amplified - we’ll discount the idea that pointed toes will make a difference at speed? That isn’t logical to me. Even if I have a very simple, slow kick during open water, I’d rather that each leg stroke produce SOME propulsion, rather than just being a log dragged in the water behind me.
Best drill is to get a kickboard wet, then drape your workout on paper on it so it sticks. Then prop it up on the gutter so you can see it and do everything with a pull buoy. Just kidding. But totally.
How about posting photos of your plantar flexion --ie with a vertical ruler/tape measure and your 25yd/m average kick time? It might be stunning the lack of plantar flexion some of possess. I will post later today.
I believe there is nothing better than to spend as much time as possible kicking when you are in the pool.
Forget this silly stroke nonsense, for all of those who can’t kick a 50m under a minute, devote your time to kicking until you can.
I think all Triathletes, especially those with swimming backgrounds should use as much energy as is humanly possible doing kick sets.
I want to thank all of you for this continuing emphasis on kicking, and dolphin kicks? brilliant.
I can think of no greater use than a good dolphin kick to open water free style swimmers.
Just think one day you may be able to jump through a hoop. TV stardom awaits.
Forget the idea that adult learners haven’t got any swimming muscle whatsoever above the waist. That’s an old wives tale that they need muscle.
Don’t waste your time developing those muscles guys, they do nothing for you, and whatever you do don’t learn to swim properly, just learn to kick, because once you can kick you will magically develop a fully formed, powerfull pull. Because the kick is the secret to breathing properly (giggle), anchoring your pull (snigger), going faster in all phases of your race (laugh out loud, wet my knickers).
Really really!
Kick I say, and then kick some more. Because in a three sport event, you have all the time in the world to spend on learning to kick.
I get such a kick out of this.
pssst…Anyone who can actually swim well (ie fishes) can swim with or without a kick, with or without a pull buoy, in seawater or freshwater. Because they have good body position in the water and the kick has nothing to do with it. But ssshhh don’t tell anyone.
And they, Triathletes without a swimming background, should also spend gobs of time learning a flip turn, forget simple streamlined open turns.
So while you’re at it. Go flipping mad.
Thanks for making my job easier. Keep on using your pull buoy all the time. Put your oversized paddles on when you have no “feel” for the water. Oh, don’t forget to swim with the band a lot and ignore the kick. Makes my job monumentally easier. I appreciate it.
Thanks for making my job easier. Keep on using your pull buoy all the time. Put your over-sized paddles on when you have no “feel” for the water. Oh, don’t forget to swim with the band a lot and ignore the kick. Makes my job monumentally easier. I appreciate it.
You forgot to add only swim freestyle and never bother swimming the other 3 strokes, much less kicking the other three. Kicking dolphin kick on your front and back, plus back flutter kick, could never possibly help you kick better on your freestyle, much less swim faster freestyle. And breaststroke, what a sheer waste of time for a tri-person:)