Help My Flutter Kick is Horrible!

(S)he, Took about 18 SDKs no breath and made it to the 15M mark it shouldn't take you 18 kicks to go 15 meters I think you need to bend your knees more so you get more power, speed and distance out of each kick work on improving your DPK distance per kick I know. :doh::doh:18 is a bit much (and that's putting it nicely!) Each kick is puny. Will be trying to figure out how to get the technique down. I hope to start chipping away at that number.

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? I don't remember how much they weigh (maybe 10 pounds?) but we used to do diving brick kick drills in the diving well in college. We took turns kicking with the brick held high over our heads. Oh and if you drop the brick, you have to go get it. It's 14 feet down and you're already winded from kicking with it. Good times...

(S)he, Took about 18 SDKs no breath and made it to the 15M mark it shouldn't take you 18 kicks to go 15 meters I think you need to bend your knees more so you get more power, speed and distance out of each kick work on improving your DPK distance per kick 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:

Diving bricks 10 lbs if you want to, buy them here www.kiefer.com/.../productr.asp

Quick Update: I've made some progress, break the 28 sec barrier for 25 meters, now I'm under 30 sec easy, my time on 25m free is also down, more that 1 sec in last month.( a less embarrassing low 19s, push of the wall). My breaststroke kick is as fast as my flutter kick. Overall my flutter kick is improving more that only by time, my legs are more relaxed, more durable, I'm less tired at the end of all-out kicking lap. Next week working to break the 27 sec wall. recap : (Push off the wall, kickboard, Timing Myself ) - Early October 45.0 - Early january 30.5s - 2/9 28.1 secs - 3/1 27.4 secs

congrats you're showing some excellent progress keep it up ande Quick Update: I've made some progress, break the 28 sec barrier for 25 meters, now I'm under 30 sec easy, my time on 25m free is also down, more that 1 sec in last month.( a less embarrassing low 19s, push of the wall). My breaststroke kick is as fast as my flutter kick. Overall my flutter kick is improving more that only by time, my legs are more relaxed, more durable, I'm less tired at the end of all-out kicking lap. Next week working to break the 27 sec wall. recap : (Push off the wall, kickboard, Timing Myself ) - Early October 45.0 - Early january 30.5s - 2/9 28.1 secs - 3/1 27.4 secs

Did about 1100 yds warmup, then an easy 25 flutterkick, then attempted to blast a 25. Went 21, sigh. I'd told myself if I could beat 20, I was done kicking for the day. So... Repeated the 4x (3x25 on :45). Each set of 3 was 2 easy free, 1 FAST flutterkick with board. Went 22, 23, 21, 22 for the kicks (yards). On the bright side, I followed the kicking with an IM set, some pulling and then finished with 4x25 SDK on :45, with the goal being to get further underwater on each one. It took about 15 kicks to get to the middle of the pool on the first one, and then by the last I did my first ever all underwater SDK (26 kicks, hahaha) Worth noting that this (albeit small) amount of hard kicking turned an otherwise recovery workout into a decent practice and got my heart rate up. :) Tuesdays are distance free for our club, so my arms were still a bit too trashed to do any real hard swimming today.

I've written about kicking in Swim Faster Faster Kicking fast is the key to swimming fast. forums.usms.org/showthread.php You need to STOP USING FINS STOP saying and believing you can't kick fast The big problem is the coach assigns a kick set, the "bad kickers" move to the back of the lane, then proceed to plod through the kick set. (I used to be a bad kicker then I became one of the best kickers on the team.) Begin by improving your 25 kicking speed Time yourself for an all out 25 kick from a dive in streamline position with no board find out where you are Then time yourself once a week or every other week Train and Improve Start doing sprint kick sets with lots of rest between each fast kick do sets like: 4 x (3 x 25 swim easy on :45 or 1:00, followed by one 25 FAST kick for time) YOU'VE really GOT TO GO FOR IT on the fast kick. Pretend it's a LIFE or DEATH MATTER, put forth THAT kind of effort. Pay attention to your times and work on improving them from one week to the next. (Also do half length sprints, learn how to: 1) move your feet fast and 2) catch and feel water with your feet ) I swear this WILL WORK You'll see remarkable improvements in your kick. Also you might not have that great of a toe point it helps to stretch your ankles / feet and improve your feet flexibility. generally the more flexible your foot is the faster you can kick once you have speed then start working on speed endurance start doing 50's, 75's and 100's ALSO Start learning how to use your new and improved kick when you swim, especially swimming. Okay Ande, I've been reading this kick thread for a couple of months now and doing nothing about it. Today, we were given a 200 free kick on 5:00 and I could not complete it. It was annoying to say the least and our coach typically assigns more kick sets in the summer. I'm annoyed with moving to the back of my lane whenever we do a kick set, so I will start tomorrow. One question though, how should I breathe on my 25 kick from a dive? Take a stroke, use a snorkel, what gives? Stay tuned for a baseline...

I do them without a board no breath but it takes me 11 - 12 sec from a dive you can kick with a board you can kick streamlined then take a quick half *** pull to get a breath kick on your back Okay Ande, I've been reading this kick thread for a couple of months now and doing nothing about it. Today, we were given a 200 free kick on 5:00 and I could not complete it. It was annoying to say the least and our coach typically assigns more kick sets in the summer. I'm annoyed with moving to the back of my lane whenever we do a kick set, so I will start tomorrow. One question though, how should I breathe on my 25 kick from a dive? Take a stroke, use a snorkel, what gives? Stay tuned for a baseline...

Okay, here's my baseline, which isn't quite as slow as I thought it would be, but it was slow nonetheless. 24.33 for a 25 yard kick (roll start from a dive off the side) I also did the first set you recommended. 4 times through 3 x 25 swim (distance per stroke with 6 beat kick) 1 x 25 kick on my back (they each took ~30 seconds and the last one burned) Now, to work on my kick 3 to 4 times per week! T.J.