I am slow, and when I mean slow, I mean slow. I can do a 26 sec 50 with fins, but without I come in just under 1:20! I think a big part of it is just taking the fins off and doing a lot of kick sets to learn to feel the water better with my feet. I have a good breaststroke kick so I don't think my problem is an overly weak pair of legs, although they could be in better shape. Also, myankles are fairly flexible as I can point my toes and make my feet bend backwards past an even position with my shins. However, I do think that I need to loosen up my ankles when I kick. I feel like I get more out of my kick for those brief moments when I allow my ankles to snap back and forth with my kick. I think I actually need to relax more to kick faster as weird as that sounds.
I suppose the answer to my question is that I simply need to take of the fins and do kick set after kick set until I learn to feel the water better with my feet and become more efficient.
I still believe the legs are for balance and when you are swimming fast the legs must kick fast while you swim fast or they would not balance your arm stroke. Legs to me are still not the driving propulsion part of the stroke the upper body is. What is the upper body when I say upper body. I mean from the hips up. The lower part of the body to me is the legs.
Kicking should involve much more than just legs -- it includes everything below the chest -- but let's leave that for now. If what you say is true -- that legs provide balance but no propulsion -- then putting tennis shoes on (which float) should have very little effect on swimming speed in the open water (ie, apart from pushoff & SDKs, where legs/kicking are clearly the dominant propulsive forces).
Give it a try and see. Especially butterfly. (And I know that my legs are also working hard when I am swimming backstroke, but others' mileage may differ.)
I still believe the legs are for balance and when you are swimming fast the legs must kick fast while you swim fast or they would not balance your arm stroke. Legs to me are still not the driving propulsion part of the stroke the upper body is. What is the upper body when I say upper body. I mean from the hips up. The lower part of the body to me is the legs.
Kicking should involve much more than just legs -- it includes everything below the chest -- but let's leave that for now. If what you say is true -- that legs provide balance but no propulsion -- then putting tennis shoes on (which float) should have very little effect on swimming speed in the open water (ie, apart from pushoff & SDKs, where legs/kicking are clearly the dominant propulsive forces).
Give it a try and see. Especially butterfly. (And I know that my legs are also working hard when I am swimming backstroke, but others' mileage may differ.)
