Help My Flutter Kick is Horrible!

Hi George, Ande's Blog started on March 23rd, 2005 but the thread that lead to it started on February 22nd, 2005 www.usms.org/.../showthread.php Ande I have enjoyed your blog over the years and appreciate your dedication as I am sure many others do. I don't always agree but I think everyone will gain through the things you write about.

any one got any results to report

I did the 4x (3x25 on :45) today. Each set of 3 was 2 easy free, 1 FAST flutterkick with board. Went 21, 22, 23, 21 for the kicks (yards, sadly). On each successive one, the point at which I was exhausted moved further back from the wall. My legs were done at about 7 or 8 yards from the wall on the last one (i.e., after 17 or 18 yards of kicking).

good job on the day's when you dfo your test kick do a gentle kicking warmup then shred on the fast one ande I did the 4x (3x25 on :45) today. Each set of 3 was 2 easy free, 1 FAST flutterkick with board. Went 21, 22, 23, 21 for the kicks (yards, sadly). On each successive one, the point at which I was exhausted moved further back from the wall. My legs were done at about 7 or 8 yards from the wall on the last one (i.e., after 17 or 18 yards of kicking).

Ah ha moment: There are TRICKS to holding your breath correctly and exhaling on the SDK stuff! Now to just figure out the dolphin motion. So spill it! What are the tricks????? I need help on this too!

Did a quick 1 hour double today. The second practice was almost all kick. 400 Warm up (Swim) KICK 4x200 @ 3:30 (Flutter and Fly kick with and without a board) - made easily 4x100 @ 1:45 - a bit tight here; getting tired 4x50 @ :50 - a bit tight here 4x25 @ :30 - made easily In the future, will aim to tighten up the intervals to 3:15, 1:40, :45 and :25 Note: Could NOT kick a 100 straight flutter kick as of a year ago! 200 - forget about it. 10x50 SDK w/ FINS @ 1:00 Odds: No breather SDK on side down and EZ free back Evens: Sprint 25 free w/ 10 SDKs off the wall and 1 breath/ EZ free back Goal to do these on :50 and eventually :45 (had plenty of rest on 1:00) 10x25 NO FINS SDK @ :45 (Should have done these on :30 but chickened out) Used a band around ankles Took about 18 SDKs no breath and made it to the 15M mark Ah ha moment: There are TRICKS to holding your breath correctly and exhaling on the SDK stuff! Now to just figure out the dolphin motion. 150 EZ Working on tightening up the intervals for the future. Hope to make SDK no fins for an entire 25 w/ no breath. Was actually sort of fun! :groovy: BTW, saw a video of myself for the 100 FR. Basically, I did not kick except for the first lap. :cane:

Does anyone here do vertical kicking (flutter or dolphin)? Any favorite sets to share? I haven't done very much of this, but I have been impressed when I do it. I swam with the U of Richmond kids once and the coach had us do vertical kicking where you try to do as many as possible in a short interval (eg, 10 seconds). It was absolutely exhausting, the kind of set I really need a coach to force me to do. I had another coach who would have us do 5 fast vertical dolphin kicks (or 10 flutters) before each repeat of a set. So, if you were doing 100's off 1:30, for example, on the interval you'd do the kicks first then push off and swim. You can do lots of variations on this theme, I would imagine.

I'm not a big fan of vertical kicking I think horizontal kicking for speed and speed endurance is much more important ande Does anyone here do vertical kicking (flutter or dolphin)? Any favorite sets to share? I haven't done very much of this, but I have been impressed when I do it. I swam with the U of Richmond kids once and the coach had us do vertical kicking where you try to do as many as possible in a short interval (eg, 10 seconds). It was absolutely exhausting, the kind of set I really need a coach to force me to do. I had another coach who would have us do 5 fast vertical dolphin kicks (or 10 flutters) before each repeat of a set. So, if you were doing 100's off 1:30, for example, on the interval you'd do the kicks first then push off and swim. You can do lots of variations on this theme, I would imagine.

If you want to work vertical kick hard just hold a diving brick over your head. If you can do that for more than 20 seconds you're the man. You'll notice quite an increase in kick tempo in order to keep your head high. I like to use vertical kick during warm up at big meets. You can take up very little space and not worry about people swimming over you. Thanks, Rich. I like the meet warmup idea in particular; it would come in handy under crowded conditions. I'm not familiar with diving bricks. How much do they weigh?

Chris, I do a fair amount of vertical kicking but for the most part I use it as recovery. I got pretty efficient at it rehabing from a shoulder operation and got to the point that doing it for 30 minutes straight was low to moderate effort. These days I like to mix verticle kick with horizontal kicking and swimming. For example, kick 1 minute vertical and immediately do a 50 (25 kick 25 swim) on an interval that gives you about 15-20 seconds rest. Ten reps is good. I work the horizontal kick-swim much harder than the vertical kick where I just try to maintain good form (straight up and down looking straight forward, chin about 2" over the water and hands out to at least the wrist). If you want to work vertical kick hard just hold a diving brick over your head. If you can do that for more than 20 seconds you're the man. You'll notice quite an increase in kick tempo in order to keep your head high. I like to use vertical kick during warm up at big meets. You can take up very little space and not worry about people swimming over you.