Abysmal at kickboard sets

Thank you all for your comments and encouraging words! I was getting so discouraged at masters' practice yesterday! Glenn--social time... LOL! Love it... maybe I'll feel better if I perch a Bass Ale on my board and enjoy some of it while chatting w/ other swimmers during these sets. :chug: .... with the aforementioned refreshment significantly improving my outlook ha ha! Seriously, I do appreciate the suggestion about the swim shop for fins--finding one convenient to where I live is an issue, although I know of one I'll have time to visit maybe next weekend or so. I emailed my coach also to get his suggestions, but two strong recommendations for the TYR burners does figure in here. (I've liked other TYR products--have one of their suits now, very comfy!) Steve, do you know of videos of vertical kick drills--I've heard of them, but I've not actually seen them in action. Thanks again everyone! I may yet learn to love the kickboard sets--and will perhaps shop in some beer distributors as well as swim shops for the wherewithal to get through them. ;)

In my opinion, using fins is at best a waste of time and at worst destructive. Swimming with fins interferes with the normal cadence of your stroke. You can't use fins in a meet why use them in practice. Also, fins can wreck your kness, never attempt a pseudo *** stroke kick with fins. I agree with almost everything you have posted,but not totally this time.Fins can certainly interfere with cadence,but even freestyle they can give you the sense of speed that helps with streamlining and takes stress off the shoulders.Butterfly they can help with leg strength,core strength,getting the feel for undulation and help with body position on the recovery.I swim a lot of BR pull/dolphin kick with fins to work on undulation and timing without burning up my knees with BR kick.I agree,don't do BR kick with regular fins. I have never tried the BR fins,but I have had a couple of people say they finally got a sense of what BR kick was supposed to feel like with them.

Hey there Fish.... Love a beer man, espescailly one who likes GOOD beer. :) Alas, it tends to spill unless you're swimming to a swim up bar. One other idea is to ditch the board and kick on your back. Do you as streamline with your arms and really push the water. I actually like those better than the board. The board tends to make you arch your back more and since it keeps your head above the water and your arms are extended, it doesn't really mimic real life much. As for the vertical kick drills, it's basically treading water, but doing different things with it in short bursts. Try doing 30 seconds fast, then recover and repeat. Other times you can do 30 seconds with your arms up all the way or with half way with your elbows parallel to the water. Try different things to really get the heart rate up there. And for the rest of you, thanks for the tips about the TYR burners. May have to check those out. I currently use the AquaSphere Alpha fins and like how soft and comfortable they are. Never got any blisters like some of the other folks get with fins. www.swimoutlet.com/.../

In my opinion, using fins is at best a waste of time and at worst destructive. Fin use has been quite beneficial for me. They have tought me what it's like to move through and at the surface of water efficiently at race pace speeds I could never experience in a training enviornment without. They also allow my shoulders to recover and heal. Swimming with fins interferes with the normal cadence of your stroke. I do not experience this issue with the short hydos I use, though I have during the few times that I've tried the longer standard fins. You can't use fins in a meet why use them in practice. True, but you also can't swim naked at a meet Also, fins can wreck your kness, never attempt a pseudo *** stroke kick with fins. Yes, but breaststroke kick wrecks my kees whether I use fins or not.

Thanks, all, for the comments! So I see there are some mixed opinions on the value of fins. I sometimes think maybe just do a streamline and take a breath as needed (or a pull, as one coach recommended--problem with that is that one pull ends up being too soon followed by another). I do sometimes just do back kick, but this practice was a little crowded with minimal lane lines so I didn't want to risk clonking someone. By myself, I do sometimes switch to back kick, though. That does feel better, as if I'm, in fact, moving. ;) I've upped the yards a lot lately b/c of preparing for a long open water swim, so my shoulders/upper arms might welcome the break that fins could give me--and I'm old enough not to have illusions about my real speed (or lack thereof). ;) Using a pull buoy for some sets (only those for which the coach prescribes them--I don't want to get addicted) gives me a bit of that illusion, and I enjoy the fantasy. Flystorms... thanks for your thoughts and I do like that you share my appreciation for good beer, and I'm going to suggest the swim-up bar idea to the coach... you know... for carbs and hydration lol!--tho actually I'm a beer woman. :) Secondheart, lol re naked practices, although I'm sure they'd be for me. The birthday suit makes me look fat. ;)

A fellow beer woman! Even better. :) Sorry about that. It's hard to tell here sometimes. By the way I just did a quick Google search using "vertical kicking swim drills" and found a few YouTube videos as well as some other good info. Try it and dig in. You'll see.

I agree with almost everything you have posted,but not totally this time.Fins can certainly interfere with cadence,but even freestyle they can give you the sense of speed that helps with streamlining and takes stress off the shoulders.Butterfly they can help with leg strength,core strength,getting the feel for undulation and help with body position on the recovery.I swim a lot of BR pull/dolphin kick with fins to work on undulation and timing without burning up my knees with BR kick.I agree,don't do BR kick with regular fins. I have never tried the BR fins,but I have had a couple of people say they finally got a sense of what BR kick was supposed to feel like with them. Thankyou for your comments. I swam with a Masters team in th 90s that used finsabout 1/4 of the time, and my opinion on using fins is a reflection of myexperience (the only time I had knee problems I believe was because of usingfins - probably why I am bias against using them). Finscan certainly interfere with cadence - Agree, also practicing turns isobviously not in the mix. -but even freestyle they can give you the sense of speed that helps withstreamlining and takes stress off the shoulders - The sense of speed isenticing but can lead some swimmers to do their main sets or even their entireworkouts with fins (I believe this can lead to disappointment when the finscome off). I concede that if you have shoulder issues and fins can releve thisthen for this purpose fins are providing a useful fuction. -Butterfly they can help with leg strength,core strength,getting the feel forundulation and help with body position on the recovery. - I can't do butterflyso I'll concede to your experience here. I swim a lot of BR pull/dolphin kick with finsto work on undulation and timing without burning up my knees with BR kick. - Iffins can releve you of knee concerns and still give you a arm workout then Iagree that fins are useful here (as I mentioned previously my experience hasbeen just the opposite but that is because I have a lousy half *** stokehalf dolphin butterfly kick) Iagree, don't do BR kick with regular fins. I have never tried the BR fins,but Ihave had a couple of people say they finally got a sense of what BR kick wassupposed to feel like with them. - I never heard of BR fins until I read yourresponse, BR fins sounds like an oxymoron to me :).Watching a video on BR finsmade my knees hurt :). These fins can't give you the correct ankle movements andtoe movements necessary for the proper *** stoke kick.

Fin use has been quite beneficial for me. They have tought me what it's like to move through and at the surface of water efficiently at race pace speeds I could never experience in a training enviornment without. They also allow my shoulders to recover and heal. I do not experience this issue with the short hydos I use, though I have during the few times that I've tried the longer standard fins. True, but you also can't swim naked at a meet Yes, but breaststroke kick wrecks my kees whether I use fins or not. Finuse has been quite beneficial for me. They have tought me what it's like tomove through and at the surface of water efficiently at race pace speeds Icould never experience in a training enviornment without. They also allow myshoulders to recover and heal. -The speed element is enticing but what happens when you take the fins off. Ifit relieves stress on your shoulders then I agree the fins serve a usefulfunction. Swimmingwith fins interferes with the normal cadence of your stroke. I do notexperience this issue with the short hydos I use, though I have during the fewtimes that I've tried the longer standard fins. -I believe cadence has to be impacted by using fins (maybe with shorter fins thecadence is impacted less but still impacted?) Youcan't use fins in a meet why use them in practice. True, but you also can'tswim naked at a meet. Wheredoes your swim club practice and will they accept a drop-in at a resonable fee.:bliss:

This is what I love about this forum.A thread starts out about kicking and ends up about beer.

"beer, beer" OH WAIT that's supposed to be "hear, hear"