Other than stop using a kick board does anyone have any ideas on how to reduce shoulder soreness associated with using a kick board. We have been really working on kick as part of our LCM training this season and my quads are sore but by far and a way my shoulders hurt the most. During the kick set I am fine but a few hours later my shoulders are stiff and sore.
For quite some time I've also been interested in finding ways to do a lot of kicking without stressing the shoulders. I can confirm success with some of the ideas posted above, and have a few other observations as well:
1) Ditch the board for backstroke kick. For backstroke kick, using the kick-board causes more frustration than it is worth. Going with no board (hereafter NB) puts me into a much more realistic body position, allows me to practice my streamline, makes flip turns possible, allows me to practice my SDKs off every wall and is just far superior.
2) Ditch the board for fly kick and do fly kick on your back. I only learned this recently. My daughter showed me how to do it and it is absolutely worth the effort to learn how. It is 100% better. My shoulders are so stiff that when I use a board for fly kick, every undulation pushes the board down into the water and stresses my shoulders. Moreover, I tend to flick my shins instead of dolphining. Kicking on my back solves these problems. Moreover, I get to practice my SDKs off every wall, it gives my abs a great workout, and I can breathe all I want, (except when doing SDKs of course).
3) Ok, now that you are not using the board for fly or back kick, you can do IM kick without having to worry about the kick board ending up at the wrong end of the pool, regardless of the distance, 100, 200, 300, ... whatever. How cool is that!
4) Breaststroke kick with a board seems reasonable so I haven't thought much about it, but I do like the 3-kicks-one stroke drill and will do that sometimes. Br kick on the back NB is a disaster for me.
5) Free kick (flutter on the belly) remains the most challenging to deal with. I find that if I turn my head to the side as if I am doing a freestyle breath I can get my head much closer to its proper position for swimming freestyle. This eases the stress on my shoulders and has the added benefit of getting me into a better body position. I switch sides every length, or half length to work on symmetry.
6) Sometimes I will do "shark fin kick". For shark fin kick, flutter kick on the side, top arm down along the side, bottom arm held outstretched in front holding the kickboard vertically so it looks like a shark fin in the water. It's supposed to work both the upbeat and downbeat of the kick. I find it remarkably challenging and have to adjust the intervals accordingly.
For quite some time I've also been interested in finding ways to do a lot of kicking without stressing the shoulders. I can confirm success with some of the ideas posted above, and have a few other observations as well:
1) Ditch the board for backstroke kick. For backstroke kick, using the kick-board causes more frustration than it is worth. Going with no board (hereafter NB) puts me into a much more realistic body position, allows me to practice my streamline, makes flip turns possible, allows me to practice my SDKs off every wall and is just far superior.
2) Ditch the board for fly kick and do fly kick on your back. I only learned this recently. My daughter showed me how to do it and it is absolutely worth the effort to learn how. It is 100% better. My shoulders are so stiff that when I use a board for fly kick, every undulation pushes the board down into the water and stresses my shoulders. Moreover, I tend to flick my shins instead of dolphining. Kicking on my back solves these problems. Moreover, I get to practice my SDKs off every wall, it gives my abs a great workout, and I can breathe all I want, (except when doing SDKs of course).
3) Ok, now that you are not using the board for fly or back kick, you can do IM kick without having to worry about the kick board ending up at the wrong end of the pool, regardless of the distance, 100, 200, 300, ... whatever. How cool is that!
4) Breaststroke kick with a board seems reasonable so I haven't thought much about it, but I do like the 3-kicks-one stroke drill and will do that sometimes. Br kick on the back NB is a disaster for me.
5) Free kick (flutter on the belly) remains the most challenging to deal with. I find that if I turn my head to the side as if I am doing a freestyle breath I can get my head much closer to its proper position for swimming freestyle. This eases the stress on my shoulders and has the added benefit of getting me into a better body position. I switch sides every length, or half length to work on symmetry.
6) Sometimes I will do "shark fin kick". For shark fin kick, flutter kick on the side, top arm down along the side, bottom arm held outstretched in front holding the kickboard vertically so it looks like a shark fin in the water. It's supposed to work both the upbeat and downbeat of the kick. I find it remarkably challenging and have to adjust the intervals accordingly.
