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...
Parents
Former Member
So here's a purely personal and highly empirical take on kicking: The pull and kick do not function independently in any stroke. Instead, they’re interwoven in a complex whole-body dynamic. In my freestyle, I can feel very clearly that the primary function of my kick is not to propel me forward, but to help my body rotate. When I kick DOWN with my left leg, it drives my left hip UP and my right hand FORWARD, which contributes to the power of the right hip and shoulder driving DOWN. And it’s this combination which “vaults” me past the spot where my left hand is holding onto the water. And if I was to tie your ankles together, thus preventing you from using your kick, without using any pull buoy, what consequence(s) would it have during let's say a 1500 free style event? Just to clarify the context or this hypotetical experiment, you swim (or try to swim) your best 1500 even with no kick and no buoyancy aid.
So here's a purely personal and highly empirical take on kicking: The pull and kick do not function independently in any stroke. Instead, they’re interwoven in a complex whole-body dynamic. In my freestyle, I can feel very clearly that the primary function of my kick is not to propel me forward, but to help my body rotate. When I kick DOWN with my left leg, it drives my left hip UP and my right hand FORWARD, which contributes to the power of the right hip and shoulder driving DOWN. And it’s this combination which “vaults” me past the spot where my left hand is holding onto the water. And if I was to tie your ankles together, thus preventing you from using your kick, without using any pull buoy, what consequence(s) would it have during let's say a 1500 free style event? Just to clarify the context or this hypotetical experiment, you swim (or try to swim) your best 1500 even with no kick and no buoyancy aid.
