Does anyone else here NOT kick when they swim freestyle?
When I was 19, a coach told me that a lot of "real" freestylers don't kick, which was a surprise to me because every other coach I'd had would yell at me to kick during my events. I grew up thinking I was the odd one out, but maybe someone on here knows what I'm talking about...
You need to kick. If you don't your legs will sink and so will you. Pull sets are done with just arms, but with a flotation device to keep you level in the water.
I don't sink when I don't kick, though...I maintain enough speed to keep the rest of my body on top of the water. Back when I swam on a team, I did pull sets faster than a lot of people, but I couldn't freestyle kick to keep up during kick drills. It seems logical that if I can't get a lot of speed out of my kick, it's better to just minimize drag and keep my legs streamlined with my body.
I just wondered if anyone else did the same thing, but apparently not!
:(
My kick is definately a weak one. My feet generally drag behind me and are used more or less for balance. But, I am a distance swimmer and if I had a hard kick while doing a 1650, I think I'd lock up early. When I do the sprints, however, I do introduce a kick. I do specific kick sets to keep the legs in shape and to help with the lower body strength.
I go just about as slow when I kick as when I don't (freestyle). My legs are very buoyant and my kick is nonpropulsive. With a 6-beat kick my stroke turnover rate is way too slow. A kind of 4-beat with sometimes a little crossover works well. I feel like I get a little bit of body dolphining even if I am not kicking. Maybe it's just wiggling or fishtailing.
Used to be that I could predict my race times by what I would do on a pull set with a pull buoy and paddles.
I think there is a lot more emphasis on kicking now than when I was a kid in the 1970s. The really good swimmers now are probably going to be good kickers too unless they are distance freestyle specialists and even then I bet most of them are competent. The times are just too fast otherwise.
i sometimes find that i forget to kick and i have to really think about kicking so its a bit hit and miss for me,but i try to kick....when i remember!!!!!!!!:D
that coach didn't know his stuff
kicking is essential in free
ande
Originally posted by Gulf Coast Swimmer
Does anyone else here NOT kick when they swim freestyle?
When I was 19, a coach told me that a lot of "real" freestylers don't kick, which was a surprise to me because every other coach I'd had would yell at me to kick during my events. I grew up thinking I was the odd one out, but maybe someone on here knows what I'm talking about...
When I was a kid, Iwas told that kicking was used for balance. When I got my WSI in the late 70s, I was told that kicking was for balance. The East Germans showed us tht legs also provide forward movement. And at the least help save our shoulders. Look at some of the videos of Grant Hacket. sometimes he has a terrible kick. There is no rythm(sp) nor is his kicking ballanced. He also has had terrible shoulder pain. The body has to be kept in line.
the persojn who said that eh/she can predict time by how fast withpaddles & a bouy dpoesn't realize that with this equipment the body stays aligned and rotation happens. I woudl bet that it doesn't with regular swimming.
Everyone should do some type of kick. If you don't your legs are generally dragging. If you aren't kicking, you are ensuring that you are not rotating your shoulders and hips equally. The real momentum of swimming comes from hip rotation. I like to think of swimming as plantng your hand in front of you. then propelling your body over your hand. It is very much like poll vaulting.
I did pull sets faster than a lot of people, but I couldn't freestyle kick to keep up during kick drills. It seems logical that if I can't get a lot of speed out of my kick, it's better to just minimize drag and keep my legs streamlined with my body.
I think this is may be true to a degree for certain body shapes.
I train with a guy that can't go much faster than about 1:06 for 100m free.However he can pace @ 1:12 for each 100 m in a 2km ocean race.He hardly kicks at all.His kick is basically for balance and enough to keep his legs up.When he does kick sets it's unbeleivably slow.After much analysis I've come to the conclusion that he just isn't designed to kick well and hence he has naturally learnt to conserve kicking energy and put the extra effort into his arms.When you look at his body he has shorter legs in comparison to his torso.He has bandy legs.He is duck footed.
I like to think of swimming as plantng your hand in front of you. then propelling your body over your hand. It is very much like poll vaulting.
I like this analogy......
