I’ve been rebuilding my stroke using the snorkel, and now trying to get my 6BK kick to be as good as a top club swimmer, ie:
1. 100% Symmetrical with no hitches (6BK)
2. Hip driven style – lots of rotation
3. Fully connected and seamlessly timed on the pull
4. Scalable from easy to blistering
Being a musician with a drum kit I have keen sense of rhythm so it has bothered me to no end that I can’t get my kick to sync without stutter steps, double whips and right side dominance. So this week I have focused on doing it “right” – or not at all. I have been lapping at a very slow rate of 60-65 SPM, with key movements of taking my lead hip down to the lane line, stretching the arm out and shoulder also to the pool floor, with a deliberate & steady 1,2,3 1,2,3, 1,2,3 (waltz ¾ or is it 6/8??)
Not easy!! but determined and progress has been good. My back really likes this style, you go low to get high - so hydrodynamics are fantastic. The pull has such a solid counter strike coming from the kick it’s amazing the efficiency. Even at super low and easy stroke rates, I have no trouble with pace in the big lane at Kits pool here in Vancouver. That’s the trick too, 1st to not break rhythm, 2 stretch it out and see if I can hang with swimmers chugging at much faster SPM.
So the question I have here is, where do I take this next? I am really reluctant to let go of these sessions until I have it instinctive. And can you take elements of hip-driven and apply that to the sprint speeds, can this be scaled up? I have honestly not amped up for fear of losing the mojo I have finally hit. Anything else I can do?
I think it is a bit of a black art in Freestyle - the hooking up of the pull to the kick or vice versa . It's a real dance that effectively chains or connects your forward palm right through the core to the opposite top of foot. Every world class swimmer does this but it's really hard to "see" because all limbs are in motion. BS and Fly are more obvious because arms and legs act together.
If you are wetsuit swimmer it's a bit like being on a surfboard, so the effect of the kick is slightly diminished. So maybe that is where the kick advice comes from. But you know with proper timing the kick works so much better on it's own it's amazing.
In Freestyle we actually skate on or work "twin keels" if you know that from boats. So we rotate from left keel, up and over to the right keel. It's skating on these keel center lines, that creates efficiency and movement through the water.
Way better than swimming flat! PS: Shot some video of the new stroke this am, having fun with it kicking my heels high. Finally looking like a kick should look. Amped up for a sprint test, felt pretty great in there too.https://youtu.be/tMBIenRJhnI
I think it is a bit of a black art in Freestyle - the hooking up of the pull to the kick or vice versa . It's a real dance that effectively chains or connects your forward palm right through the core to the opposite top of foot. Every world class swimmer does this but it's really hard to "see" because all limbs are in motion. BS and Fly are more obvious because arms and legs act together.
If you are wetsuit swimmer it's a bit like being on a surfboard, so the effect of the kick is slightly diminished. So maybe that is where the kick advice comes from. But you know with proper timing the kick works so much better on it's own it's amazing.
In Freestyle we actually skate on or work "twin keels" if you know that from boats. So we rotate from left keel, up and over to the right keel. It's skating on these keel center lines, that creates efficiency and movement through the water.
Way better than swimming flat! PS: Shot some video of the new stroke this am, having fun with it kicking my heels high. Finally looking like a kick should look. Amped up for a sprint test, felt pretty great in there too.https://youtu.be/tMBIenRJhnI
