I am training for a *** stroke event. I am not that good at it even though I have made a lot of progress. Everytime I kick I feel like I can't kick hard enough, if I kick harder than I ususally do, my hips and thigh joints start hurting, maybe I just need to stretch more. I also feel like I'm slowing down alittle everytime I kick, instead of flowing through. Do I have to push my arms forward when I kick?
It's hard to know what the problem is without seeing your stroke,but your last question may be a clue. You want your arm recovery to be very quick so that you are nearly streamlined at the very beginning of the kick and completely streamlined by the power part of your kick.If you do you should be able to "ride the glide" for one second without slowing down. Go to breastroke.info for more tips.
Rich's advice is potentially confusing IMHO. Some people kick out at the beginning of the stroke and then squeeze their legs together. This is not good. The squeeze is at the end to make sure your ankles are together. Once you get your feet in the catch position(knees bent as much as comfortable,feet as externally rotated as possible,no bending at the waist) there should be NO kicking outward. The feet are swept back from this position as powerfully as possible.
Rich's advice is potentially confusing IMHO. Some people kick out at the beginning of the stroke and then squeeze their legs together. This is not good. The squeeze is at the end to make sure your ankles are together. Once you get your feet in the catch position(knees bent as much as comfortable,feet as externally rotated as possible,no bending at the waist) there should be NO kicking outward. The feet are swept back from this position as powerfully as possible.
Allen described what I was trying to say better, so I ditched my first post. The sweeping motion is what I was trying to highlight.
Allen described what I was trying to say better, so I ditched my first post. The sweeping motion is what I was trying to highlight.
I have been helping a friend with her breaststroke, and the hardest thing I remember learning and she is struggling with is the timing. Seems like us newbies want to start the pull and kick at the same time, which makes us do this wierd backward movement in the water. What my instructor taught me, and what I am teaching her is what Allen is talking about, the timing is everything. You can try to be more powerful in your kick, but if you are starting it at the wrong time you are fighting yourself.
What helped me, and is helping my friend is to actually stand at the wall and simulate the action of the pull, and when to start the kick so you are in that streamline at the proper time. You do this exercise to remind yourself, then swim a few, do it again. If there is someone knowledgable around to watch, they will be able to tell you if your timing is off.
I read this somewhere on USMS recently so I apologize for lacking a sufficient bibliography...
Pull the needle, Push the needle
In other words, when the legs are pushing the arms are streamlined and when the arms are pulling the legs are streamlined.
