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 definitely understand that kicking a lot is important to improving the kick. But here is a question for someone. What about technique? Is it something that just occurs on its own with plenty of reps and ankle stretching? I've been doing a lot of kicking, but what has been elusive for me is the feeling of my knee being fully extended on the way up. I'm starting from my hips and feeling that knee bend a little on the way down but unless I really concentrate on relaxing my lower leg it doesn't fully extend on the way up. And when I do focus on that my ankle tends to flex.
Should I be striving for that? Should I concentrate on my up beat, look for that resistance? Or should I focus on the down beat and let the up beat occur on its own?
I definitely understand that kicking a lot is important to improving the kick. But here is a question for someone. What about technique? Is it something that just occurs on its own with plenty of reps and ankle stretching? I've been doing a lot of kicking, but what has been elusive for me is the feeling of my knee being fully extended on the way up. I'm starting from my hips and feeling that knee bend a little on the way down but unless I really concentrate on relaxing my lower leg it doesn't fully extend on the way up. And when I do focus on that my ankle tends to flex.
Should I be striving for that? Should I concentrate on my up beat, look for that resistance? Or should I focus on the down beat and let the up beat occur on its own?
