Swimmer Breastsroke Kick article

I've been busy so I just opened my May/June Swimmer and turned to the BR kick article. I'm not a coach, so maybe I am missing something, but looking at the pictures, that is not how Kitajima kicked, that is not how Peaty kicks, that is not how I want to kick. The first picture shows way too much bend at the hip. The statement of 140 degrees of bend seems OK, there is a balance between the better streamline of 180 degrees and the fact that the more bend at the hips the more power is generated, but Kitajima and Peaty, who are very strong kickers who could benefit more from bending farther, in fact bend 140 or less. In the picture it is about 100 degrees, much closer to 90 than 140.In the other pictures of the kicks, the kickers are all too wide(except for the pullbouy drill kick of course.) His startement of shoulder width apart to me is maximal, not optimal.I really don't have much problems with the text, and he has the kick board drill to not bend the hips too much and the pullbouy drill to keep the knees together, both of which are good drills. The problem is really the pictures. People who are primarily visual learners will end up much less streamlined with much shorter DPS than if they bent their hips less and had their knees closer together.
Parents
  • You bring up great points, King Frog. :agree: My favorite drill to check on knee width is one that I think you may have taught me: Breaststroke kick on back and place both fists side-by-side in between the knees. The kick shouldn't be wider than your two fists. (With me, however, that seems to go out the window once I flip on my stomach and swim the full stroke! Still, my kick is narrower when I think about keeping it two fists wide.) Anyway, you are THE King Frog, and I agree with you!
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  • You bring up great points, King Frog. :agree: My favorite drill to check on knee width is one that I think you may have taught me: Breaststroke kick on back and place both fists side-by-side in between the knees. The kick shouldn't be wider than your two fists. (With me, however, that seems to go out the window once I flip on my stomach and swim the full stroke! Still, my kick is narrower when I think about keeping it two fists wide.) Anyway, you are THE King Frog, and I agree with you!
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