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.
Kicking is very important if you want to be competitive in the sprints.
For 3 years my sprints were stuck, couldn't break :30 for anything. My kicking was pathetic. This year, with a new coach and a great deal of focus on both sprinting in practice and kick, Kick, KIck, KICk, KICK, SPRINT KICK! I found that I not only broke :30 but getting down to a 27.83 at Nationals leading off a relay. My 100 was able to go from 1:08.9 to 1:01.52 and my 200 from 2:31.00 to a 2:19.64.
My 25 kicks with a board have gone from :32 to :24. And in the 50 from a 1:05 to a :52.
There is no way I could have done any of this without a good kick. Now the goal is to get to 26 in the 50 and that will be about where I was as a kid. This week alone I had over 4000 meters of just Kicking.
Kicking also does wonders for those who want to loose the fat off the hips and thighs! :cheerleader: Just an added bonus.
Kicking is very important if you want to be competitive in the sprints.
For 3 years my sprints were stuck, couldn't break :30 for anything. My kicking was pathetic. This year, with a new coach and a great deal of focus on both sprinting in practice and kick, Kick, KIck, KICk, KICK, SPRINT KICK! I found that I not only broke :30 but getting down to a 27.83 at Nationals leading off a relay. My 100 was able to go from 1:08.9 to 1:01.52 and my 200 from 2:31.00 to a 2:19.64.
My 25 kicks with a board have gone from :32 to :24. And in the 50 from a 1:05 to a :52.
There is no way I could have done any of this without a good kick. Now the goal is to get to 26 in the 50 and that will be about where I was as a kid. This week alone I had over 4000 meters of just Kicking.
Kicking also does wonders for those who want to loose the fat off the hips and thighs! :cheerleader: Just an added bonus.
