Transitioning from distance to sprint: the kick

Former Member
Former Member
I have spent the last 20+ years with a 2 beat rotational kick, hip driven freestyle focusing on middle and ultra distance events(half and full iron). Fast twitch kid and ran the 100/200 and 100 hurdles in high school. Now back in the pool I have come to embrace what fast twitch I have left and apparently have a knack for the sprints! Doing tons of kick work to begin the never ending process of getting a powerful 6 beat kick. It's pretty lame at the moment. Working on keeping my hips a little flatter and using that as my platform for a powerful flutter. My issue is that I seem to lose my balance and downhill feeling that is so ingrained with my 2 beat rotational kick once I focus on the 6 beat flutter. To fully engage my 6 beat it's feels like I need to let my legs sink a little bit which just seems wrong. When I do that I feel all that extra drag build up immediately and it's a momentum killer. I'm used to having my bum slightly breach the water with my hip driven stroke. Not able to do that successfully yet with my 6 beat. Ideas or thoughts on what I might be doing wrong or is this just how the 6 beat feels when amping it up for 50/100? I was given a suggestion today by a really fast sprinter from a local club team to kind of squeeze my bum a little bit and kick even more compact than I am. Didn't really get the hang of it, but open to idea on what I might want to focus on with this new kick journey I'm on. Thanks.
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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 11 years ago
    What types of kicking drills are you using to try to develop the 6-beat kick? There are certain types of drills that can work towards a 6 beat, rotational kick... Julia Galan www.swimspire.com Ahh thanks! I do two: kicking streamlined on back and streamlined face down with a snorkel. I cannot use a kickboard due to neck issues from being rear ended by a drunk driver about 20 years ago. That said I like streamlined kicking b/c it feels much more like my 'swimming' kick. Thanks for some tips with rotational kicking. If you are referring to kicking on side with downside streamlined I do that a ton mixed in strokes: 6 beat switch. Part of my warm up.
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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 11 years ago
    What types of kicking drills are you using to try to develop the 6-beat kick? There are certain types of drills that can work towards a 6 beat, rotational kick... Julia Galan www.swimspire.com Ahh thanks! I do two: kicking streamlined on back and streamlined face down with a snorkel. I cannot use a kickboard due to neck issues from being rear ended by a drunk driver about 20 years ago. That said I like streamlined kicking b/c it feels much more like my 'swimming' kick. Thanks for some tips with rotational kicking. If you are referring to kicking on side with downside streamlined I do that a ton mixed in strokes: 6 beat switch. Part of my warm up.
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