My *** kick currently takes me either nowhere or slightly BACKWARDS. =)
(Boy, that sounds a lot like my once-broken flutter kick I was complaining about here. =))
My instructor insists that I do it in the following way:
1. streamline
2. bend legs keeping knees together
3. begin to separate feet, keeping knees together
4. whip legs out and back together, finally separating knees for an instant
I've tried this a thousand times and while I do move quite nicely when I add in my arm strokes, my kick contributes little or nothing to that movement.
I've watched a bunch of videos and I've found that most competitive swimmers (and even James Bond in Casino Royale =)) do the following:
1. streamline
2. bend legs AND separate needs to form a bent "V" of sorts
3. whip legs back together
Which style do you guys use? Does it make sense that I wouldn't be getting any power from the former style? I haven't even tried the second style, but I have a feeling it would work a lot better for me.
Here is what recommend: bring your feet up as high as you comfortably can bending only at the knees with your knees about 6 inches apart( knees together puts more strain on them and shortens the kick unnecesarily)
turn your ankles out as far as you can
kick straight down(your feet will automatically follow a curve as they start outside your knees)
finish with your feet together,point your toes and glide.
Here is what recommend: bring your feet up as high as you comfortably can bending only at the knees with your knees about 6 inches apart( knees together puts more strain on them and shortens the kick unnecesarily)
turn your ankles out as far as you can
kick straight down(your feet will automatically follow a curve as they start outside your knees)
finish with your feet together,point your toes and glide.
