Hello,
I am a fitness swimmer. I need help with my freestyle kicking. When I use a kick board.. I barely propel through the water. I am having trouble flexing at the hip joint... I tend to keep bending my knee joint. I have heard that vertical kicking drills help. Are there any other suggestions or resources on the web that anyone can reccommend??
Thanks
John
john@clickboxpro.com
Former Member
There is an abundance of information and advice about improving the freestyle kick in these forums. Try using the "Search" feature at the top of the page. Good Luck!
Originally posted by clickbox
Hello,
I am a fitness swimmer. I need help with my freestyle kicking. When I use a kick board.. I barely propel through the water. I am having trouble flexing at the hip joint... I tend to keep bending my knee joint.
This may not be so bad. Your kick should definitely originate from the hip, but don't worry that your leg isn't poker straight. Both your knee and ankle should remain fairly loose.
Another drill you may want to try is kicking on a wall. Hold your arms out straight from the gutter, lock elbows, face in water, kick hard for 30 seconds, easy kick for 10, repeat. You can modify intervals to fit your needs.
You also are probably not keeping your kick relaxed. The more you fight against it the worse it is. One coach who used to coach the kids team when they were small used to tell the kids they have to have floppy feet. She got them to relax their feet and therefore get more fluid with the kick instead of bicycling.
Speaking of kicking, I just thought i'd share this...
I just bought Hydrofinz, after using Zoomers for about a year.
What I difference, LOVE the hydrofins. big difference.
Still get the added propulsion, but i can feel what my legs are doing, right down to the toes a lot more then I could with zoomers.
And I used to love the zoomers.
Just thought I'd share that experience with you guys.
Practice practice practice - If you want a good (or better) kick then do it more.
I imagine as a fitness swimmer you get in and concentrate on basic swimming either because you are unmotivated by your poor kick to bother doing it or due to time restraints.
You may have a poor kick because as a fitness swimmer you do not have the flexibilty in your leg joints - esp' ankles - to provide a propulsive kick.
So:
1. Get a pair of fins and do the (abundance of) kick drills available
2. Sit on your ankles to increase your ankle flexibilty
3. Kick correctly when practising - keep it small and loose
Good luck
