I have a newbie question. What does "crossover" mean? I currently have a no kick all pull stroke. Gotta do something different this winter.
Thanks
Spudfin
Crossover means your feet/legs literally cross over each others at some point in your kick. It's just something some people do naturally. I don't understand it but it may be something to do with their balance when breathing.
I think I'll keep my 2-beat kick for my 20 mile swim next year. I've always been more of a front quadrant swimmer anyway, at least on freestyle.
I can hardly imagine doing anything but the bare minimum in a 20 mile swim.
A guy who swims next to me does some sort of a 4 1/2 crossover kick. It is really weird. There are videos of Grant Hacket doing a kick where he actually stops kicking altogether at one point inhis stroke.
i think he does a 3-beat on one side, 1-beat on the other at times, if he's breathing every stroke.
That slow motion is a six beat, When I find the eight beat sequence I will post it. I have a little more than 500 videos of Thorpe swimming and I did not label the one with the 8 kicks. It was just one stage of him kicking in a race when he was changing gear to sprint.
Thorpe is (was) a classic 6 beat kicker.
When you are thinking about how to kick, it seems that you should keep in mind why you are kicking. If it is to keep your balance and your legs up, then a lower count. If you are trying to produce "leg speed," then a higher count. When I was a teenager, many coaches used to say that the kick is only for balance. Then along came the East German women who produced real speed with their massive legs. It has always seemed to me that kick shoudl look & feel natural.
