Tried an interesting set tonight... did 10 50 frees on 45 seconds without kicking, just pulling.
I've always been a poor freestyle kicker, but I didn't expect the following result... I was going just as fast as I would be WITH a kick for that rate of turnover (35/34s), but with much less effort.
I found myself doing a bit more body rotation, I felt greater connectivity from my arms all the way down to my toes. I also found myself doing a deep straightarm catch (as opposed to my usual high elbow with the elbow withing a couple inches of the surface)... wasn't really trying to do something different, it just happened and I went with it.
Has anyone else had a similar experience when they removed their kick from their freestyle? Does anyone have any idea about how to train my kick so it can contribute more effectively?
I have a hunch that my kick may actually be counterproductive when I get tired, in that it doesn't help me go forward or gives a very poor return for the effort I put in... so maybe learning to freestyle kick in a way that syncs with my body rotation would be a way to start. (Not sure how to do that though, so ideas for learning rotation rhythm would be welcomed too.)
Thanks in advance!
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I'd be perfectly happy if everyone thought this way. :) Better for me since my legs are not just leg tassels! And last I checked the quads & glutes were two of the biggest and strongest muscles in the body.
That said, the legs are not as efficient at translating force into forward movement... the arms can be oriented perpendicular to the plane of movement , whereas the feet cannot. The surface area of the arms/hands is also significantly larger than that of one's feet. I would like to engage my shins into my "leg catch area" as well, but they don't seem flat enough to be useful for catching water in freestyle + you'd have to bend your knees a lot to catch increase the surface area that's oriented backwards. (though Michael phelps bends his knees tremendously for his sprint butterfly events, almost 90 degrees!!)
Geochuck, good point. I mentioned TI to indicate that I've been working on body position... high hips won't help you out if the consequence is that your feet are too high to catch any water! Personal buoyancy / shape distribution definitely leads to different optimal body positions.
That said, the big/little engine thing... I guess the ideal "big engine" is the hips/core that coaches love to talk about... tap into the shifting of my bodyweight for an inertial stroke! I'd like to learn to connect the "big engine" to BOTH my legs and my arms.
I guess what I'm sort of realizing is that the "big engine" is the body rotation... and that when I usually arms and legs I'm connected to my rotation in a mediocre way, but when I nix the kick, suddenly I'm able to connect my rotation to my arms much more easily.
I'd be perfectly happy if everyone thought this way. :) Better for me since my legs are not just leg tassels! And last I checked the quads & glutes were two of the biggest and strongest muscles in the body.
That said, the legs are not as efficient at translating force into forward movement... the arms can be oriented perpendicular to the plane of movement , whereas the feet cannot. The surface area of the arms/hands is also significantly larger than that of one's feet. I would like to engage my shins into my "leg catch area" as well, but they don't seem flat enough to be useful for catching water in freestyle + you'd have to bend your knees a lot to catch increase the surface area that's oriented backwards. (though Michael phelps bends his knees tremendously for his sprint butterfly events, almost 90 degrees!!)
Geochuck, good point. I mentioned TI to indicate that I've been working on body position... high hips won't help you out if the consequence is that your feet are too high to catch any water! Personal buoyancy / shape distribution definitely leads to different optimal body positions.
That said, the big/little engine thing... I guess the ideal "big engine" is the hips/core that coaches love to talk about... tap into the shifting of my bodyweight for an inertial stroke! I'd like to learn to connect the "big engine" to BOTH my legs and my arms.
I guess what I'm sort of realizing is that the "big engine" is the body rotation... and that when I usually arms and legs I'm connected to my rotation in a mediocre way, but when I nix the kick, suddenly I'm able to connect my rotation to my arms much more easily.
