After becoming extremely frustrated with the relatively weak power of my kick (read: sometimes it doesn't move me at all without strokes), I did some reading.
A lot of folks say "drive from the hips, drive from the hips!" But then I watch "good" swimmers -- even olympians -- moving through the water by bending their knees.
Sure, their upper legs move too, but it looks like 75% knees.
How does that qualify as "driving from the hips"?
Now, one article I read said something that made a lot of sense to me: the extent to which you have to use your knees and calves depends on the flexibility of your ankles. If your ankles naturally flex out that way, you can keep your legs straight. If they don't, you might have to bend at the knees to compensate and get the best ankle-angle.
What IS the best ankle angle? Is the ideal kick one with the toes/foot pointed directly back, or is it more like sculling where the foot should be angled relative to its up-down motion? What is the principle here?
I think one factor to keep in mind is increasing the amplitude of your kick or bending your knees more will increase your drag in the water, so there's a trade-off here. Scuba divers can use a very wide kick because the increase in propulsion provided by the extra amplitude more than makes up for the increased drag. For a swimmer it will depend on the size of your feet, ankle flexibility, etc. In other words what's best for Ian Thorpe isn't necessarily best for you.
When you kick it is an sort of whipping action, it involves kicking from the hip, a bending action from the knee and a flexing ankle. If you watch Thorpes action and try to copy it I think you will find his kick as one to copy. Some will say to do a 2 beat kick others will say a 4 beat but I am in favor of a six beat kick for all distances. The tri athletes have a false idea of the 2 beat takes less energy, but don't forget they are using floating devices to help keep their legs up (wet suits). Your leg kick will stay high by the proper use of your arms and the rolling of the body.
Thanks. You know, when I finally understand all of these basic concepts, I'm going to put together a website that explains them all in detail for the beginner.
I realize now that the principle of kick propulsion is essentially sculling action -- water pushes on the surface of your angled foot, causing force vectors in two directions, one of which is 'forward' relative to you.
That means that there should be a knee bend on the leg that's kicking toward my chest, but a straight leg on the one that's kicking toward my back (for any given kick) in order to get the right foot angle. That explains what I've been seeing in the videos.
It's so frustrating learning how to swim and reading things that say "use a two-beat kick!" Well, that's nice, but that doesn't tell me anything about _HOW_ to kick. More like _HOW OFTEN_. And that's not directed at you -- every single page on the internet says that.
And my private instructor just says, "kick harder!" Well gee.
When I teach people to dance, I don't just tell them "step to the music!" It seems that swimming lessons _ARE_ taught that way with the exception of TI.
Total Immersion is the only thing I've read that makes any sense to me at all, so I've ordered one of their DVDs too. But in the mean time I'm stuck with Internet sites.
I am so sorry you are getting so frustrated about kicking! Don't get discouraged, everyone will give you advice, but you really have to find what works for you and keep trying different things until you find it.
Some extra work you could do::
You must focus on pointing your toes when kicking, a flat foot will not drive you through the water.
On dryland, lay on your back and put your hands under your butt. Point your toes and start flutter kicking. This will hurt and make you sore at first! But strengthen up your abs, get your toes, feet, and legs used to the motion. You could start by doing 3 rounds of 1 minute kicking and build to more.
In the water, vertical kicking is a good way to learn to stay afloat. Get in deep water, don't tread, and put your arms up so that you must kick to hold your elbows out of the water, like imagine someone points a gun at you and says "hands up!" That's the position. This is hard, but again, forces you to focus on power. You can do this with breatstroke kick, fly, and flutter. Again, do something like 5 rounds of 1 minute. Where maybe the last 30 seconds is hard kicking. When you get really good you can hold weights and that's a good work out. :D
You could also invest in some fins, that will make you feel faster so you're not feeling like you're going nowhere.
I hope at least some of that can help you. Don't get discouraged, you'll get it!
For a swimmer it will depend on the size of your feet, ankle flexibility, etc. In other words what's best for Ian Thorpe isn't necessarily best for you.
Yep. Some people are born with fins on. :)
Tom
When I see a person having trouble with a kick it is that they try to force point the toes. I tell that person to relax all the lower leg muscles so the ankles become relaxed and flexible as they can. Then the toes start to point in on the down beat and staighten out on the up beat. Of course we can not all kick like Thorpe but I think if you can copy his kick as much as you can even if your feet are small you should still be able to get close to it.
Ideally, your lower legs shouldn't be doing any work. Your thighs move up and down, and the rest of your leg mostly just follows. If your ankles are too tight you may have to think about keeping your feet pointed, but keep your legs as loose as you can.
I'm practicing the motion on dry land and it feels a little bit like riding a bike, but with very small, mostly up-and-down circles... it feels natural, certainly... I'll try it in the water
As swimmerlisa says laying on the back is good kick 200 times, Kilputh also sugested to lay on your stomach lift the legs and kick 200 times. I think the later kicking on the stomach eventially helps keep your legs from sinking.
When you kick it is an sort of whipping action, it involves kicking from the hip, a bending action from the knee and a flexing ankle. If you watch Thorpes action and try to copy it I think you will find his kick as one to copy. Some will say to do a 2 beat kick others will say a 4 beat but I am in favor of a six beat kick for all distances. The tri athletes have a false idea of the 2 beat takes less energy, but don't forget they are using floating devices to help keep their legs up (wet suits). Your leg kick will stay high by the proper use of your arms and the rolling of the body.
