I've been swimming most of my life (I'll be 56 this month). The vast majority of my swimming is for longer, open water events and triathlon (I have been swimming other strokes with my USMS group for the past 2-3 years). So, I've never been much of a kicker, even at short distances, when swimming crawl other than to aid in keeping good body position in the water. One reason is that my legs get all twisted. As I turn from side to side to breathe (I'm a bi-lat breather)...my legs will twist together one way, and then the other. I've asked the coaches at Masters about it but no one seems to be able (or willing) to ID the root of the problem. I don't know if I rotate too much, or too little. I would like to correct it so that I can try to develope a more significant kick especially at the shorter distances. Suggestions?
Dan
I had bad habits of both crossing over with my opposite arm and scissor kicking to my breathing side while swimming freestyle. The thing that has helped me a lot is using a snorkel on drill sets so I could keep my body better aligned and not having to turn to breath.
Another drill I like is 6-3-6, where you do six kicks, three full strokes, six kicks, etc. only breathing during your full strokes.
Unlike many of my Masters teammates, I love kicking and will normally do 400 - 1000 yds of kicking every day.
I had bad habits of both crossing over with my opposite arm and scissor kicking to my breathing side while swimming freestyle. The thing that has helped me a lot is using a snorkel on drill sets so I could keep my body better aligned and not having to turn to breath.
Another drill I like is 6-3-6, where you do six kicks, three full strokes, six kicks, etc. only breathing during your full strokes.
Unlike many of my Masters teammates, I love kicking and will normally do 400 - 1000 yds of kicking every day.
