Help My Flutter Kick is Horrible!

For those of you who, like me have a weak flutter kick, and who are working on improving it, here is a hint that might help. I don't like kicking with boards and I don't like kicking without. Boards give me lower back pain and kicking without is almost pointless as I lift my head up every 10 kicks or so gasping for breath. When I lift my head up I lose my streamline position and then everything goes to rot. So now I get into the streamline position (right hand over left) and place my hands on top of the lower third of the board. This doesn't lift me out of the water as it would if I gripped the front of the board but does give me some much needed flotation when I want to lift my head for a breath. When I kick I still kick face down in the water and just lift my head to breath. I don't have that pressure in my lower back anymore. The board is just a little prop now and isn't altering the way my body floats in the water. Yesterday I went 21.46 for 25m flutter kick. That almost a 2 second improvement on my last time but still a long way off what is possible. Compare Ande's 14.xx. I haven't given up yet! Syd

congrats Syd excellent improvements and you have a new mark to beat Syd's 25m flutter kick time chart 11/12 21.46 09/07 22.90 07/03 23.59 06/28 24.10 06/20 25.84

We got video'ed again but as usual, the feet don't fit in the frame (it is on the hand entry and arm pull). OK, question: I am still taking over 1 minute per 25y to kick barefoot and it exhausts me. How much does this depend on back flexibility ? While I can bend over frontwards more than most of my group, bending over backwards I am quite stiff. If I am laying on a mat I can barely lift either hands or feet with my chin on the mat. If I try pushing up with my hands, it hurts my lower back. I am still trying to figure it all out.

nancy I need to watch you kick to see what you're doing and figure out what you need to do. you asked: How much does this depend on back flexibility? not much, you want your body to be straight. like a needle no forward bend, no back bending, you want good shoulder flexibility for proper streamlining and excellent foot and ankle flexibility to be your fins. how flexible are your feet and ankles? What's your age? what are your proportions? what sort of suit were you wearing? describe your leg strength I think technique is your main issue There's an ideal way to streamline and move your legs for maximum kicking speed. Some people talk about feel for the water. you want feel for the water when you kick I really need to see what you're doing to tell you what you need to do. I do suggest you test your self dive in streamline and flutter kick a 25 as fast as you can go, you may take quick half breastroke pulls to breathe though I suggest most people should do these no breather some people have more ideal body proportions and shapes to kick fast everyone can benefit from the focused speed kick training I've described in this thread, it takes weeks, months, and years of consistent training to get closer to your true potential. The cool thing is when you start you'll rapidly improve Ande We got video'ed again but as usual, the feet don't fit in the frame (it is on the hand entry and arm pull). OK, question: I am still taking over 1 minute per 25y to kick barefoot and it exhausts me. How much does this depend on back flexibility ? While I can bend over frontwards more than most of my group, bending over backwards I am quite stiff. If I am laying on a mat I can barely lift either hands or feet with my chin on the mat. If I try pushing up with my hands, it hurts my lower back. I am still trying to figure it all out.

congratulations keep working on it put up a youtube video ande Had a breakthrough with my SDK today. Have been doing a fair amount of dolphin kicking with a board and a lot of butterfly. I think this has strengthened my core which in turn has helped my SDK's. From a dive off the wall, 25m SDK - 19.30. That is the first time I have been under 20 seconds. It is also the first time I really felt the water. It actually felt like I was going forward rather than the usual 'up and down'. I think it also has something to do with the fact that I have been working on ankle flexibility. I can now actually sit on my ankles for a full two minutes. In the past just ten seconds was agony. Syd

Had a breakthrough with my SDK today. Have been doing a fair amount of dolphin kicking with a board and a lot of butterfly. I think this has strengthened my core which in turn has helped my SDK's. From a dive off the wall, 25m SDK - 19.30. That is the first time I have been under 20 seconds. It is also the first time I really felt the water. It actually felt like I was going forward rather than the usual 'up and down'. I think it also has something to do with the fact that I have been working on ankle flexibility. I can now actually sit on my ankles for a full two minutes. In the past just ten seconds was agony. Syd

it surprises me how no one has followed through and continued reporting their results, it takes continuous effort week after week to kick faster updates anyone? yesterday I did a 25 SDK from a roll start went 10.8 an update chart would look like this 25 SDK Feb 06, 2008 10.8 (regular suit, roll start off side) ande

it surprises me how no one has followed through and continued reporting their results, it takes continuous effort week after week to kick faster updates anyone? yesterday I did a 25 SDK from a roll start went 10.8 an update chart would look like this 25 SDK Feb 06, 2008 10.8 (regular suit, roll start off side) ande Not really following through as this is the first time to post on this thread, but here's my progress: Went from barely getting 250yds of kick in per workout to doing 1000yds of kick now. It still takes me about 27 minutes to get it done but the time is dropping. I did a 50 of dolphin kicking on my back (push from wall) in :46, which is a 14 second drop from when I first started. It still takes me about :20 to do a 25yd flutter kick with a board, but I'll keep with it. :bouncing:

Oh what a waste of time kicking. I cannot understand why anyone would do so much kicking. Swim more and you will get lots of practice kicking. Do your kicking while you are swimming. You will get a better feel for your kick if you are swimming. Your SDK practice on the turns leading to your outbreak. Practice your 2, 4, and 6 beat kicks while swimming. Try some regular kicking also on turns. Find out when your body slows to swim speed off a turn.

Learning to kick was very important to my training. I usually drag my legs behind me. But just as important as learning to kick is the fact I needed to learn how to incorporate my kick into my swimming. I am still learning that coordination now. This has made such a difference in my ability to drop my times in all of my 50's where I dropped my times between 1.5 and 2 seconds over a 5 month period. While in the previous 3 years I only managed to take off maybe a second. All of my 100's dropped by 5 seconds over the same time period. Most of my 200's have dropped by between 10-18 seconds over the same times period. I attribute learning to kick and coordinate it with my strokes to most of the recent improvements and training intensity variations as well. Kicking is very worthwhile for FAST swimming!:groovy: