Freestyle kick question

Not exactly...when you drag air down into the water and kick, you're not moving against the water, you're moving against the air, which won't give you as much propulsion. The same effect with the arm pulls. This is why you should try to "clean" your hands of air bubbles as quickly as possible. Perhaps but think about the extra momentum to get you started moving through the much higher friction portion (in the water) could have significant benefits. Whereas kicking starting submerged is a lot like trying to start a truck on an uphill; it's easier if the truck was already moving (i.e. starting from the air). Plus watch any 50/100m free at the highest levels... you are telling me that amount of splash in the back is only from the heel being slightly out of the water???

@ Redbird alum : when I try to kick fast without breaking the surface with my heel I don't go very fast. I think breaking the surface with my heel makes my kick a lot faster. @ gaash : Don't understand these momentum or acceleration etc. things. I just find that breaking the surface with the heel makes me go a lot faster compared to the other way that is suggested by some here. @ jaadams1 : How do you clean the air bubbles around your hand during a 50 meter or 25 meter all out freestyle ?????

Here are two clips I found of kicking : Michael Phelps and Me - YouTube ( I DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA IF THAT WAS MICHAEL PHELPS OR NOT AND I DON'T CARE BUT BOTH KICKERS WERE PRETTY GOOD ) 50 Kick - Wu Peng 28.0 and Matt Patton 28.8 - YouTube ( WATCH THE FLUTTER KICKERS ) Both are very fast and we can see that while these people are kicking fast they are clearly breaking the surface of the water with their heel. The fastest flutter kicker that I personally know kicks 29 seconds on a kickboard also does the same thing, he clearly breaks the surface of the water. THANX TO YOU ALL FOR YOUR REPLIES but I didn't get any suggestions on how to coordinate my arms and legs during the sprint. I am eagerly looking forward to some................................. Thanx again.

I see what you mean. While you are sprinting I don't see much of a kick at all. It looked like you had more kick in your easy 25 you posted a while back. It seemed like you were really spinning with no traction. Is that the same swim that gets you a 27? Maybe your arm cycle is not timed correctly with a 6 beat kick? You gotta see your heels break the surface in a sprint. Try establishing a monster six beat kick with heels breaking the surface and then match your arm cycle rate to that kick tempo. If that means you glide a bit more before your catch, so be it.

I used to be able to kick great, but could not implement that same kick in my stroke; but I eventually got it and I can now kick just like I do with a board, within my stroke. I recommend adding the board to your kicking - I believe that this is a much better emulator of your swimming body position then without a board. Sets that have kick (w/board) and then swim work the best, such as 100's that are 50 kick, 50 swim - so you can really get used to the kick and then get right into the swim, keeping the kick there. Another idea, is dropping the board in the middle of the pool, keeping the kick, and just adding the arms.

@ Underwater9 : THanksssssssss for the ideas. I will obviously give em a try. @rtodd : thats exactly what I was talking about. my legs seem to kick below the surface which is not giving much propulsion at all. It is a swim that gets me close to a 26 low or a sub 26. My best is 24.6 in the 50 free LCM. you are maybe right about my mistiming of the 6 beat kick and the armcycle. Don't you think gilding a little before starting my catch in the 50 free will slow down my tempo a bit or are you suggesting it to learn the coordination between the arms and legs first ????????

THANX TO YOU ALL FOR YOUR REPLIES but I didn't get any suggestions on how to coordinate my arms and legs during the sprint. I am eagerly looking forward to some................................. Thanx again.There's a good drill I learned this summer that will help you with this and I'll describe it to you. It works better in a long course pool, but maybe you can adapt it to short course. We did 25m kick strong with a snorkel and no board, similar to your video. At the 25m mark keep the kick strong but add your arms at a strong pace for the 2nd 25m, keeping your kick at the same intensity and merge into a 6 beat kick. Do 8-10 50s on whatever interval you like. This drill is magic, no lie- I don't know of another drill that integrates your kick so effectively. In a short course pool, maybe start with no push off of the wall and start swimming at the 15m mark. I haven't tried that variant but will do so sometime this week. Hope this helps.

Actually your arm cycle is 1 second, so that is not too fast. It just seemed that way. You gotta time your kick. Here is Thorpe with a six beat kick. Notice how much amplitude it has and how it is precisely three downward kicks for each arm cycle. Ian Thorpe side view - YouTube Also, Notice in this video the kicks and how the heels break the surface. United States Wins Men's 4x100-meter Freestyle Relay - YouTube

May I suggest better footage and camera equipment.

So, what we have here is a question on three aspects of freestyle stroke: kick, arms, and the balance of the two. All three of these questions, in your specific example, can be answered in one word: overemphasis. Let me explain. First, with regard to kicking, you have to keep in mind your desire to maximize streamline position and reduce drag, the proportional downward force on your body as you elevate a body part above the surface, and the desire to efficiently utilize energy in a manner that makes it most available for productive actions. With these in mind, it should be clear that your legs should move in limited range to help maintain streamline, and should minimize, to the degree possiblea the amount of time your legs spend above the surface, so as to not waste energy on unproductive air manipulation and tire the body out from counteracting additional and unnecesary downward force. Yes, some breakage of the surface is inevitable, but should not be encouraged. Arm recovery, similarly, is best achieved by keeping arms low to the water. Raising the arms higher than needed will generate excess downward force and be additional unnecessary energy expenditure. Also, if you think of your body as a seesaw, upward lift of the upper torso will serve to sink the lower body and vice versa. So, moderation of kick and arm recovery is key.