Hi all,
I feel that my swimming progress has plateaued a bit and I am avoiding kicking drills because they hurt! I know I need to do them to better my kick but they bore me, so I thought about using fins.
Will fins help me improve my kick much, or do I just need to get the kick board out more???
Thanks
Luke
I use fins for nearly every swim workout. They are an excellent tool for developing the kick
(as well as an aid to achieve REALLY high heart rates). Just be sure to keep the kick relaxed, less knee more hip it sounds like.
or a simple set(s)
10x50 FAST/ EZ
12x 25 (3x4x25) :15 rest (Don’t worry about speed, this is a kick focus set)
What kind of fins would you recommend?
I got a pair of aqua sphere aplhafins yesterday and I’ve used them twice, they are great compared to the standard fins out there. Very comfortable.
Fins may assist with your ankle flexibility, but to get faster, you should practice what you do in a race, unless you are the guy on past posts who uses them in races…!
An efficient kick is essential for a good swim, if boredom is getting you down, try some with and without a kick board, do some on your back.
http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/4004.htm
I should touch on my original post too.
I would do the reconmended set without fins, and more than likely use fins for longer easier kicking. Perhaps as a part of the warm up. I also do Fins 2x (150 fly/ free Kick 2:15 + 4X25 UW Fast Fly kick :35 -:40) a lot for warm up
Fins are nifty and fun, and can be used to good effect.
Problem: They are hard to put away - meaning that once you use them, you will like them because you’ll feel fast, and you won’t want to do a kick workout without them. But you have to.
Go for it - fins will certainly not compromise your fitness vis a vis no-fin kicking, and probably enhance it by increasing your motivation. Just give yourself some guidelines, like do the first 25% of your kick set without fins each time, then put the fins on, cut the intervals and have a good time. (note: it can be really hard to take the fins off THEN kick, so I almost always recommend fins after non-fin kicking instead of the reverse).
I know at least one very elite age group swimming coach who does probably 80-90% of his groups kicking with fins, simply because it is a time saver, and a good way to reduce disparities in an already diverse group of athletes. The result is that his athletes are strong kickers, their performance seems not to be compromised at all by this focus.
regards,
r.b.
r.b.
it can be really hard to take the fins off THEN kick, so I almost always recommend fins after non-fin kicking instead of the reverse.
Maybe I’m weird, but its the other way around for me. My goggles broke at the pool one day, so I ended up just doing a bunch of kicking. At one point I did 10x50yd no fins, 10x50yd with zoomers, then 10x50yd no fins. The last set of no-fin 50’s was consistantly ~2-3 seconds faster than the first at equivalent effort. My best guess is that the zoomers stretched my ankles out a bit so I was a little looser on the last set of no-fin kicks. I’ve repeated this experiment a couple times since then with the same results.
if you aren’t able to make your foot and shin plane out (i.e. you could sit on your feet and the top of your foot makes total contact with the ground) i’d work on that flexibility first. fins will only mask a poor kick. do you have pretty good ankle flexibility?
My kids’ swim coach was explaining to the parents why he requires fins (and thus why we have to pay for them . . ). He listed off the typically sited advantages listed here but he also said that a huge reason swimmers use fins is because kicking with fins is faster than kicking without them. Thus kick sets can be done alot quicker and this in turn allows more swimming in the given workout time. Seems like this efficiency argument would apply even more to triathletes who are chronically short of pool time.
I did 10x50yd no fins, 10x50yd with zoomers, then 10x50yd no fins. The last set of no-fin 50’s was consistantly ~2-3 seconds faster than the first at equivalent effort.
That’s really interesting. I experience the opposite (although I have not controlled and repeated like yourself). The mitigating factors for me may be that #1) I have fairly small feet, yet #2) I am a pretty strong kicker.
If you have relatively stiff ankles, maybe your hypothesis is true?!? Very cool. So, I take it back, try it both ways and see what you think!
r.b.
Fins are a great way to stengthen your kick and improve flexibility. Don’t underestimate the importance of ankle flexibility. You can work on that 3 to 4 times a week over time you can safely improve flexibility and dramatically improve the efficiency of your kick. Like other said before, don’t over do it. You gotta swim if you are going to swim in a race, you gotta kick to be able to kick.
You said it hurts to kick? Is that physical pain, or just hurts from working it hard. If it’s the later, over time, if push through the pain, it will go away.
You mentioned that “swimming progress has plateaued a bit”. Kicking will help, but technique and strength training if you are not doing it may make more of a difference. Research on line to US Masters Swimming web sites and a wealth of other sources on technique improvment and swim specific strenth training as well as how to improve your flexibility. Good luck with your efforts.
.
The primary reason that I use fins is to get a sense of proper hip placement and bouyancy. Also, I find that this gets my legs warmed up better than without fins. FYI - I don’t kick when I swim, just a little flutter here and there for alignment.
Check out the Burner EBP fins from TYR. They are brand new to TYR’s swim line and help promote higher speed kick and proper body position in the water. The reviews have been awesome.
Wow thanks everyone.
I come from a running background and my mate thinks its a bit ironic that my kick is weak, when I’m a capable runner but I think the muscles are entirely different.
When I said it hurts to kick - it’s the (quad) muscle burn I mean. I pant harder kicking than any other time in my swim sets.
My ankle flexibility is ok I think - I can get into a squatting position and keep my foot flat on the floor.
The other issue with kicking is timing - I see some people kick constantly and it looks fluent, sadly my kicking tends to ‘slot in’ to my stroke. As I am more or less self taught, the arms dictate my stroke, not sure if its a coordination thing with the legs or if it is just practice!?
We have to work on our weaknesses, so I think I will buy the fins and use them as suggested (ie after my non-fin kick set) - can’t wait to be gliding up/down my pool!
Many thanks for all replies…
Luke
ps My wetsuit tends to make up for my lazy kick in open water swims and I have learnt to keep my feet together because the suit floats (which is cheating to some I know) but its good for the open water swims…
My ankle flexibility is ok I think - I can get into a squatting position and keep my foot flat on the floor.
The other issue with kicking is timing - I see some people kick constantly and it looks fluent, sadly my kicking tends to ‘slot in’ to my stroke. As I am more or less self taught, the arms dictate my stroke, not sure if its a coordination thing with the legs or if it is just practice!?
On the ankle, it is flexibility the other way that you want. Basically how pointy can you make your feet - you want to be able to have the front of your shins to the top of your foot be a straight line. Lots of stretches can do this.
On the kick, hard to tell without video, could be coordination or practice, or it could be fine. Others might have more opinions on the kick.
ThankS getSet
I can do pointed toes but foot cramp sometimes strikes during the drills though this is quite common I expect.
Apart from pointing your toes are there any other stretches to help flexibility down the shin etc…??
Thanks
Luke
You can stand or sit with your leg and foot slightly back, pointed, and sort of roll your foot around.
I am not sure how to explain it.
Some will say you can sit on your knees with your feet pointed back, and sit on your ankles and lean back, BUT, you can create massive leverage with the whole weight of your body, it’s too much!
I see what you mean…will give it a go!