Recently I've noticed that my flutter kick is not the usual "one leg up, the other leg down", but instead it is "both leg up and both leg down". So I've been trying to correct this weird flutter kicking. I've done some vertical kicking drills, it went well, then I combined the verticle kick with my front crawl, seems OK. But switching to the proper flutter kick doesn't make me any faster. In fact I seem to get tired a lot more quickly.
I swim a TI style front crawl, I've found the new flutter kicking hampers my body rotation so I start experimenting with a more relaxed 2 beat kick. However I never seem to be able to control my flutter kick rythm. I was trying to kick with the leg opposite to the arm entering the water, but I've never been able to do it, I don't know why, it is always the leg on the same side of the entering arm that kicks.
Could anybody here tell me or point me to resources on how to establish a proper flutter kick timing and rythm? I've been goggling this information for a long time but nothing shows up.
Thanks!
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Former Member
Originally posted by penguin4501
I've tried rotating my body during the verticle kick but I've never applied it in the full stroke. I'll try that next time I practice. What do you think about the idea of doing a 2 or 4 beat verticle kick, hugging a kickboard to assist floatation?
The only reason for using a flotation device when doing vertical kicking is if your kick isn't adequate to keep your head above water. Your ultimate goal should be to kick well enough that you don't need any added flotation.
I can't see how you could use a kickboard with vertical kicking without it unbalancing you. A better approach if you need added flotation would be to take a couple of empty 1-liter plastic soft drink bottles (with screw-on lids) and hold one under each arm.
If you have trouble carrying over your vertical kicking to whole stroke swimming, I would suggest that you start vertical kicking and then sort of "fall back" into a horizontal position while still kicking.
Bob
Originally posted by penguin4501
I've tried rotating my body during the verticle kick but I've never applied it in the full stroke. I'll try that next time I practice. What do you think about the idea of doing a 2 or 4 beat verticle kick, hugging a kickboard to assist floatation?
The only reason for using a flotation device when doing vertical kicking is if your kick isn't adequate to keep your head above water. Your ultimate goal should be to kick well enough that you don't need any added flotation.
I can't see how you could use a kickboard with vertical kicking without it unbalancing you. A better approach if you need added flotation would be to take a couple of empty 1-liter plastic soft drink bottles (with screw-on lids) and hold one under each arm.
If you have trouble carrying over your vertical kicking to whole stroke swimming, I would suggest that you start vertical kicking and then sort of "fall back" into a horizontal position while still kicking.
Bob
