I put together a video not too long ago to show how important stability in the water is for swimming speed and efficiency. You can find that video here. It uses the SwimBetter Swim Sensor data to show what a stable athlete looks like and an unstable swimmer.
I followed it up with this video on the importance of training the kick in practice on a regular basis and why you want to do it. There’s a reason that most of the top swim programs in the country train 20-25% of their total volume as kick.
Welcome. The kick doesn’t necessarily have to be fast. The kick just needs to be efficient and integrated into the stroke. You always want to remember that an efficient swim stroke is a full body, coordinated and connected movement.
I’ll check out the videos. My kick is so bad I just gave up kicking at all. I tried working on my kick a few times, using a kick board thingy. One time I used the board just to hold my upper body up and tried to kick the length of the pool. After almost a minute I looked up and I literally didn’t move an inch. I was still exactly where I was when I started. I figured all I’m doing with that is burning energy that I’ll need for the bike and the run, so why bother?
I’ll check out the videos. My kick is so bad I just gave up kicking at all. I tried working on my kick a few times, using a kick board thingy. One time I used the board just to hold my upper body up and tried to kick the length of the pool. After almost a minute I looked up and I literally didn’t move an inch. I was still exactly where I was when I started. I figured all I’m doing with that is burning energy that I’ll need for the bike and the run, so why bother?
Same here; basically I cannot move at all unless I put on fins
You should wear fins as often as possible if you want a better kick. The kick becomes more efficient with greater ankle and hip flexibility, which can be helped with the fins. OTOH, the reason your ankles and hips may not be flexible is because of running or cycling. Tighter ankles make running more efficient in terms of energy return in the foot straight and lift off.
You can gain some ankle flexibility to help your swim, and that will help efficiency. But if you continue to run and cycle, you’ll keep building tightness into those joints.
This is the reason lifelong swimmers don’t do well in running soon after starting, and why the reverse is true for runners and cyclists. Find can help, but might also reduce some running efficiency.
I work with a lot of triathletes and your description is exactly where they start with their kick. What you want to understand is if your kick is that inefficient it will impact the efficiency of your overall stroke. In other words, since the swim is first, will rob fitness you built up for the bike and run.
Improving in the swim is difficult, but the benefits extend well beyond just the time of the swim leg. Inefficiency in the swim can use up fitness an athlete built for the bike and run.
I hope this helps and if you have any questions, please let me know.
There are some additional videos on the kick and the specific mechanics and technique on the channel too.
Fins are great. They will help with conditioning and ankle flexibility, but you also want to develop a kick without fins. It’ll be frustrating at first, but stay focused on it and you will improve.
If you have one, what is your opinion on not using a board and instead just kicking on your back (which I suppose requires a slightly higher degree of competency…)?
I went through special ops training and we would do flutter kicks (toes pointed) all the time to help with swimming and hip flexor strength.
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Vertical fin flutter kicks with your hands above your head for time. Winner is the one who can get the most of their body above the waterline and hold it.
I have a strange hitch in my stroke where I point the toes on one of my feet straight down every few strokes creating a lot of drag. I’ve been doing it forever and can’t seem to stop. Any tips on how to eliminate this from my stroke and get my toes pointed behind me?
Kicking on your back definitely requires a higher level of competency. The biggest issue I usually see is lack of core engagement with triathletes. I like to use a variety of gear to force core engagement from drag sox, to kick boards to fins, etc. But, generally, I encourage them to use a kick board when they are kicking since if you keep your head out of the water will force core engagement.
Vertical kicking is great if you are struggling with getting the movement for the kick and it’s great for just general conditioning as it relates to swimming.
If you have one, what is your opinion on not using a board and instead just kicking on your back (which I suppose requires a slightly higher degree of competency…)?
All my kicking is with a center mount snorkel, so you are in an actual swimming position while kicking, you can breathe at will and you don’t have that arched back that the board gives you. Far more effective and you can work on your body position in the water while doing the kicking…win, win.
Using a snorkel during the kick like that won’t force your core to engage as much which is usually what’s lacking. And you’re not in an actual swimming position since the addition of the stroke will change the body position and the angle that you’re kicking on the water compare to kicking with a snorkel.