I've never asked this since becoming more active in these forums. Maybe someone can explain it. Why don't I have a kick? I'm 54, been swimming for about 30 years. Never on a team, nor even coached. I got into it for two reasons...so that I could compete in triathlons and other long-distance open water swims, and to improve my times for my fitness tests when I was on active duty in the Navy. And I'm pretty much just a crawl-stroker. Not much of a need for swimming the other strokes. I like to think that for never being coached that I've done OK for myself. I can still swim 500 free in around 6:30 or less, and if conditions are just right I can do a (statute mile/1600meters) in 25:00 and change (in my 20s and 30s I was a little faster). I said "never coached" but throughout my Navy career at various duty stations I occasionally encountered other military swimmers who were significantly accomplished swimmers...including a few NCAA Div I All Americans...whose brain I'd pick and they'd give me pointers. Without fail, they would always say that for never being coached I had a pretty good (crawl) stroke. But the one thing that no one could ever figure out is why my kick doesn't work. I've tried to improve it over the years to no avail. But I mean it takes me 50-55 seconds to go 25 meters and it's pretty tiring. It's so weak that at one pool I swan in until a few years ago...the filtration system return nozzles were strong enough to push me sideways into the lane line when using a kickboard (embarrassing!). So I only kick enough to keep good body position in the water. For what it's worth...same thing happens on backstroke, and those occasions I swim butterfly. I have size 13 feet -- natural fins/flippers. Still, the little kids in the swim lesson lane have a better kick than I do. So...does this phenomenon happen to anyone else? Can anyone say why?
Dan
I know this is just a little bit older thread but I was definitely "born without a kick" and was curious how yours was coming along. I have size 11 womens feet and decently flexible ankles (I have to go past straight alignment with my leg to feel any stretch). I was competitive 7-22 and still, no coach cared enough to help me fix me kick (and I asked but was only ever met with "just work harder" or "just kick more") but harder wasn't helping and neither did more.
I am finally feeling like as an adult my kick is starting to come together. Here are some things I have done different that I think are improving my kick:
1) get someone to tape you - even if it is a 20- 25 FOOT above ground pool. I've always loved my two beat kick and felt very powerful but in fact, watching it it just looked like that "power" was in fact me unknowingly struggling to keep my rear from sinking. The 6 beat kick feels slow right now but the body position for me is effortlessly so much better. I'll just have to work with the slower feeling overall speed and slowly work to speed up the kick to match my preferred arm tempo.
2) make sure you are recovering your legs back up straight, not bent. Sheila Taormina discussed this in one of her books as a main cause of adults that kick but go backwards. I did not have an aggregiously flawed bend enough to go backwards, but I was recovering with a too relaxed and slightly bent knee...enough to put the brakes on a little. I started dropping 10 seconds per 50 when I started adding a straight up kick.
3) when doing kick sets, kick in a six beat kick cycle, actively thinking "KICK, kick, kick, KICK, kick, kick". It helps me to get my legs coordinated so they aren't doing awkward things all over the place.
4) Ditch the board. Get a snorkel if you want a breathing break. I ditched the board two weeks ago because of shoulder/neck/jaw strain and I'm really happy with the results. At first this felt icky but now I feel like my kick is starting to really feel good. (And combined with my next point, my dolphin is starting to feel fantastic.)
5) Make sure your "flippers" are pushing the water in the direction you want it to. Watch it by doing some vertical kicking in the deep end. My knees naturally don't bend in the proper direction (great for *** stroke bad for EVERYTHING else and I discovered I have to pigeon toe A LOT. So much, I have to rotate my hips too so my knees don't whack and there's a giant hole between my lower legs but it doesn't hurt and its pushing the water in the right direction. I've gained an easy body length off walls despite my giant leg hole, so it's working.
6) Get leg strength. I do this with short burst fin sets (this also doubles as a good check on making sure I'm kicking the water the right direction) and dry lands like lunges, squats, planks, plyometrics and reverse crunches.
Anyways, I'm mostly starting to see improvements now that I have a kick technique instead of just "work harder, do more". And I'm sure I still have more to learn. Hope you are seeing some kick improvements.
I know this is just a little bit older thread but I was definitely "born without a kick" and was curious how yours was coming along. I have size 11 womens feet and decently flexible ankles (I have to go past straight alignment with my leg to feel any stretch). I was competitive 7-22 and still, no coach cared enough to help me fix me kick (and I asked but was only ever met with "just work harder" or "just kick more") but harder wasn't helping and neither did more.
I am finally feeling like as an adult my kick is starting to come together. Here are some things I have done different that I think are improving my kick:
1) get someone to tape you - even if it is a 20- 25 FOOT above ground pool. I've always loved my two beat kick and felt very powerful but in fact, watching it it just looked like that "power" was in fact me unknowingly struggling to keep my rear from sinking. The 6 beat kick feels slow right now but the body position for me is effortlessly so much better. I'll just have to work with the slower feeling overall speed and slowly work to speed up the kick to match my preferred arm tempo.
2) make sure you are recovering your legs back up straight, not bent. Sheila Taormina discussed this in one of her books as a main cause of adults that kick but go backwards. I did not have an aggregiously flawed bend enough to go backwards, but I was recovering with a too relaxed and slightly bent knee...enough to put the brakes on a little. I started dropping 10 seconds per 50 when I started adding a straight up kick.
3) when doing kick sets, kick in a six beat kick cycle, actively thinking "KICK, kick, kick, KICK, kick, kick". It helps me to get my legs coordinated so they aren't doing awkward things all over the place.
4) Ditch the board. Get a snorkel if you want a breathing break. I ditched the board two weeks ago because of shoulder/neck/jaw strain and I'm really happy with the results. At first this felt icky but now I feel like my kick is starting to really feel good. (And combined with my next point, my dolphin is starting to feel fantastic.)
5) Make sure your "flippers" are pushing the water in the direction you want it to. Watch it by doing some vertical kicking in the deep end. My knees naturally don't bend in the proper direction (great for *** stroke bad for EVERYTHING else and I discovered I have to pigeon toe A LOT. So much, I have to rotate my hips too so my knees don't whack and there's a giant hole between my lower legs but it doesn't hurt and its pushing the water in the right direction. I've gained an easy body length off walls despite my giant leg hole, so it's working.
6) Get leg strength. I do this with short burst fin sets (this also doubles as a good check on making sure I'm kicking the water the right direction) and dry lands like lunges, squats, planks, plyometrics and reverse crunches.
Anyways, I'm mostly starting to see improvements now that I have a kick technique instead of just "work harder, do more". And I'm sure I still have more to learn. Hope you are seeing some kick improvements.
