Do distance swimmers spend less time w/kicking workouts

"Kicking?" asked a perplexed d-person, "Is that what you do to get an open water drafter off your tail?" "No, no, no," explained the sprinter, "Kicking is actually part of freestyle, a key propulsive force where you move your legs and feet up and down, stirring up the water and pushing your body forward." "You must be joking," sighed the d-person as they pushed off for another set of 15 x 500 on 0:05 rest, laughing yet again at the crazy, half-baked ideas those wacky sprinters come up with.

Just curious if sprinters spend more time kicking as a percentage of their overall workouts compared to distance swimmers? Can and do distance swimmers have to spend less time? The only things sprinters do more of is whining and hot tubing, often simultaneously.

Modern distance swimmers are often pretty good kickers. Old farts like Patrick usually are not. Kicking is always going to be more important to sprinters than distance swimmers.

Modern distance swimmers are often pretty good kickers. Very true. Old farts like Patrick usually are not.Alas, also very true. I do actually try to kick these days, though ... a big step forward for me.

The only things sprinters do more of is whining and hot tubing, often simultaneously. And only D types flaunt their leg tassles like a badge of honor.

If anyone has any doubt that elite distance don't train there kick at a high level watch the last 100 of this: Sun Yang sets World Record in 1500m Free - from Universal Sports - YouTube I still remember watching Thorpe in his heyday with a monster 6 beat transform the 400 free: Ian Thorpe 2000 Sydney 400m FreeStyle Final - YouTube

I think distance swimmers kick pretty hard, even 6 beat for a whole 1500. I've also seen strong 6 beat kicking off every wall for 12.5 in 500's. I guess the idea to carry push off momentum. Doesn't Larsen Jensen kick a LCM 50 in 30? this doesn't asnwer your question, so I am also curious what the kicking breakdown is for distance and sprints.

If anyone has any doubt that elite distance don't train there kick at a high level watch the last 100 of this: Sun Yang sets World Record in 1500m Free - from Universal Sports - YouTube I still remember watching Thorpe in his heyday with a monster 6 beat transform the 400 free: Ian Thorpe 2000 Sydney 400m FreeStyle Final - YouTube I think distance swimmers kick pretty hard, even 6 beat for a whole 1500. I've also seen strong 6 beat kicking off every wall for 12.5 in 500's. Chris, Paul, Rob are ALL correct -- modern distance swimmers kick hard and a strong 6 beat kick is almost required for success these days. One of the few exceptions on the scene now is Ryan Cochrane of Canada, who swims more of an 'old school' stroke. This old fart was trained in the 70s and 80s where we believed things about freestyle and distance swimming that have been since debunked, such as: Look forward and have the water line just above your goggles, and Distance swimmers can only 2 beat kick To my recollection, it was Jeff Kostoff's arrival and strong kick that started to debunk point #2 ... but even in the 80s, I think a lot of people still thought his ability to do that was more of an aberration (rather than the way the sport would move forward) in the same way that many people dismissed Janet's stroke as something only she could do. Today, if I were training to be an elite distance swimmer, I'd focus on a very strong kick. Heck, I'm just training to be a semi-elite 40-something Masters swimmer and I'm focusing on my legs and my kicking in a way I never did in the past ... ... but, even with that, I don't put anywhere near the emphasis I think sprinters do and should do.

Just curious if sprinters spend more time kicking as a percentage of their overall workouts compared to distance swimmers? Can and do distance swimmers have to spend less time? As a percentage, sprinters might do a little more kicking than distance. But I am pretty certain that elite level distance swimmers spend a fair amount of time kicking.

Modern distance swimmers are often pretty good kickers. Old farts like Patrick usually are not. . Ouch. Talk about digging into a guy. Freestyle kicking? What's that? Backstroke kicking I get understand, freestyle not so much.