Hi all,
It's so funny--sometimes I see people at the pool who really go at it with the kickboard...and then other people wouldn't touch one if their life depended upon it.
I'll admit, I don't use one--mainly becuase I'm impatient, feel like I'm not going anywhere, and am a purist to a fault sometimes.
But, if you think that it's worthwhile, I would incoporate it, all for the sake of improvement.
The great questions are:
Will training with a kickboard make me a better, faster, super awesome swimmer?
And, if you train with one--why? Or, why not?
Thanks everybody (you know you're my outlet!)
JoAnne -aka, Jerrycat ;)
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Former Member
I am re-thinking this:
Originally posted by mattson
...
There was a wonderfully frustrating TI discussion last summer, where Ion mentioned what great workouts he gets, using a kickboard. (Despite the number of times I asked the question, he failed to answer my TI related question: Are there any advantages to using a kickboard, compared to kicking without a board?)
...
Both, kicking with a kickboard and kicking without a kickboard, aim to achieve ankle flexibility and the development of quadriceps.
I observed that:
.) kicking with a kickboard offers a comfortable upper body position when leaning on the board to forget about the stroke, and concentrating on isolating the legs for kicking;
.) kicking without a kickboard doesn't offer the comfortable position for kicking and forgetting about the stroke, because it involves raising the upper body without the board and without any arm stroke, just by clenching the body into a tight horizontal position.
Because of this, fast swimmers I have seen that exercise kicking without the board, they do it for a little bit in a workout, but not for a big distance.
However, at the U.S. Swimming level, many programs adopt as much as 1/3 of the mileage for kicking only -in order to develop ankle and quadriceps-, and I think that this big distance is easier to do by kicking with a board.
Myself, I do kick with a board for 1/3 of the mileage done in a 52 weeks season.
I have a fast kick compared to most Masters across U.S., but I have a slow upper body that I try to quicken.
My swimming is a Thorpe-style of swimming, in another league though.
In one workout two months ago, during a warmup set, for fun, I asked one assistant coach -Adrienne, who used to coach in the early 90s in Missouri Steve Crocker (U.S.) then the #3 sprinter in the world in 50 meter freestyle (behind Tom Jager (U.S.) and Matt Biondi (U.S.))- to time me for a 200 yards kick, and I did 2:52 while laughing.
I am re-thinking this:
Originally posted by mattson
...
There was a wonderfully frustrating TI discussion last summer, where Ion mentioned what great workouts he gets, using a kickboard. (Despite the number of times I asked the question, he failed to answer my TI related question: Are there any advantages to using a kickboard, compared to kicking without a board?)
...
Both, kicking with a kickboard and kicking without a kickboard, aim to achieve ankle flexibility and the development of quadriceps.
I observed that:
.) kicking with a kickboard offers a comfortable upper body position when leaning on the board to forget about the stroke, and concentrating on isolating the legs for kicking;
.) kicking without a kickboard doesn't offer the comfortable position for kicking and forgetting about the stroke, because it involves raising the upper body without the board and without any arm stroke, just by clenching the body into a tight horizontal position.
Because of this, fast swimmers I have seen that exercise kicking without the board, they do it for a little bit in a workout, but not for a big distance.
However, at the U.S. Swimming level, many programs adopt as much as 1/3 of the mileage for kicking only -in order to develop ankle and quadriceps-, and I think that this big distance is easier to do by kicking with a board.
Myself, I do kick with a board for 1/3 of the mileage done in a 52 weeks season.
I have a fast kick compared to most Masters across U.S., but I have a slow upper body that I try to quicken.
My swimming is a Thorpe-style of swimming, in another league though.
In one workout two months ago, during a warmup set, for fun, I asked one assistant coach -Adrienne, who used to coach in the early 90s in Missouri Steve Crocker (U.S.) then the #3 sprinter in the world in 50 meter freestyle (behind Tom Jager (U.S.) and Matt Biondi (U.S.))- to time me for a 200 yards kick, and I did 2:52 while laughing.
