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.
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Former Member
For both levels:).
This would be an interesting study. The effects of adding or replacing 5 min of workout time with intensive flutter kicking.
Masters level-Geek for one. If you have ever seen his freestyle, you would agree.
Elite-Massi Rossolino of Italy. One of the fastest 400 freestylers. He didn't have much of a flutter kick. Janet Evans for another. She had a good 2 beat kick but wasn't a fast kicker. Tripp Schwenk-he was a hell of a dolphin kicker but then practically pulled the rest of his 100/200 backstrokes. Anders Holmertz-200/400 free
The one thing that they ALL had/have in common is that their legs are in a streamlined position with their body, which reduces drag. If someone is kicking from the knees down or they are kicking way wider than their body, I absolutely believe spending 5-10 minutes or more to work on getting their legs streamlined with the body is worth that time.
I am not "hating" on ande beliefs as he and others are claiming. I questioning how much is worth to spend time doing sets like 5/10x100 kick on XXX. I have spent years working on strengthing my kick but no matter how much work I do to improve my kick, my legs still wear out faster than the rest of me, regardless of the kicking effort that I put into races.
My point in challenging the idea of doing kicking sets for speed is to see if it is really worth trying to continue to improve or focus on other aspects that might help me get faster while not wearing me out so.
For both levels:).
This would be an interesting study. The effects of adding or replacing 5 min of workout time with intensive flutter kicking.
Masters level-Geek for one. If you have ever seen his freestyle, you would agree.
Elite-Massi Rossolino of Italy. One of the fastest 400 freestylers. He didn't have much of a flutter kick. Janet Evans for another. She had a good 2 beat kick but wasn't a fast kicker. Tripp Schwenk-he was a hell of a dolphin kicker but then practically pulled the rest of his 100/200 backstrokes. Anders Holmertz-200/400 free
The one thing that they ALL had/have in common is that their legs are in a streamlined position with their body, which reduces drag. If someone is kicking from the knees down or they are kicking way wider than their body, I absolutely believe spending 5-10 minutes or more to work on getting their legs streamlined with the body is worth that time.
I am not "hating" on ande beliefs as he and others are claiming. I questioning how much is worth to spend time doing sets like 5/10x100 kick on XXX. I have spent years working on strengthing my kick but no matter how much work I do to improve my kick, my legs still wear out faster than the rest of me, regardless of the kicking effort that I put into races.
My point in challenging the idea of doing kicking sets for speed is to see if it is really worth trying to continue to improve or focus on other aspects that might help me get faster while not wearing me out so.
