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.
I've just started experimenting with some intentional glute-engagement too, vo2. It feels so right that I have to assume this is what "good swimmers" normally do without anyone telling them to.
In general, I'm making the "amazing" discovery - as in "DUH" - that there is a group of muscles that "anchor" the legs to the torso and another group that anchors the arms. And lo and behold, those muscles actually have to be fully engaged and firing when you try to use your arms and legs to move!! Pretty smart, eh? (For anyone wondering "How else could you move?" trust me, there are lazy, cheater ways of moving that over-rely on more peripheral muscles.)
This is sort of related to earlier discussions of "core muscles" - but a bit different. "Anchor muscles?"
As always, encouraging to hear people making parallel discoveries. Hope you KICK ass on your next sprint race.
I've just started experimenting with some intentional glute-engagement too, vo2. It feels so right that I have to assume this is what "good swimmers" normally do without anyone telling them to.
In general, I'm making the "amazing" discovery - as in "DUH" - that there is a group of muscles that "anchor" the legs to the torso and another group that anchors the arms. And lo and behold, those muscles actually have to be fully engaged and firing when you try to use your arms and legs to move!! Pretty smart, eh? (For anyone wondering "How else could you move?" trust me, there are lazy, cheater ways of moving that over-rely on more peripheral muscles.)
This is sort of related to earlier discussions of "core muscles" - but a bit different. "Anchor muscles?"
As always, encouraging to hear people making parallel discoveries. Hope you KICK ass on your next sprint race.
