I have a two beat crossover kick. I am not sure why I even do the crossover thing. Perhaps I do it to maintain flotation while using two beats. I have noticed that if I stop kicking altogether my legs sink. Or perhaps it is happening when I am rotating to breathe.
There is another thread on this forum titled: Two beat crossover kick - is it bad? but this thread ended up talking about a two beat kick as opposed to a 4 or 6 beat kick and never discussed the crossover aspect of it at all. In that thread George mentioned that Rowdy Gaines had a crossover kick but I couldn't find any of Rowdy's videos on the web at all. Does anyone have this peculiarity or know of someone else who does?
My other question and my main intention of starting a new thread about this: is this a bad habit I should get rid of?
The thing is that I consider myself a sprinter and I feel this way of kicking is holding me back from improving my times. Because of the crossover thing I can't increase the tempo of my kick. My legs crossover while they should be doing the third of the fourth beat. My kick is weak and ineffectual and when I watch videos of the top sprinters, all of them are kicking like motorboats. Do you have to be a six beat kicker to be a good sprinter?
Finally, when I try to kick with my legs side by side, not only does it mess up my rhythm, but it also exhausts me. I can barely do a fifty with a six beat kick without wanting to collapse. But I feel it is something I could train myself to do. Yesterday I went to the pool for an hour and just practiced six beat, regular flutter kick. It was painful and required tremendous concentration and effort on my part but by the end of the hour, I did manage to go 28.72 for a 50m free. It didn't feel that good (it is hard to explain but it feels like my arms and legs are out of sync).
If this is a bad habit I should get rid of what is the best way of going about it? Should I just be doing tons of kicking sets? My flutter kick with a board (and without but just no arms) has improved quite a bit lately (thanks to the advice of Ande) but I just can't seem to fit it together with the arms. It is like there is no connection between the upper and lower half of the body. I have a weak lower back and this could be part of the problem. Another thing: I have noticed from watching myself on video that I have a higher head position than I thought I had. Could this higher head position be instrumental in forcing my hips down and thus making it more difficult to kick?
Sincerely Syd
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Former Member
When I was swimming in high school and college I had a two beat crossover kick. A few years ago, when I started swimming Masters at age 46, I decided to adopt a 4 beat crossover kick since I thought I need it for balance and flotation (it was easier for me to swim with a pull buoy than without). I think it helped, but the problem may just have been a lack of conditioning. I still cannot do a six beat kick--it doesn't feel natural--but I can switch back and forth from two to four beat. I believe I do get some additional propulsion from the four beat kick, which is helpful at the end of a race.
When I was swimming in high school and college I had a two beat crossover kick. A few years ago, when I started swimming Masters at age 46, I decided to adopt a 4 beat crossover kick since I thought I need it for balance and flotation (it was easier for me to swim with a pull buoy than without). I think it helped, but the problem may just have been a lack of conditioning. I still cannot do a six beat kick--it doesn't feel natural--but I can switch back and forth from two to four beat. I believe I do get some additional propulsion from the four beat kick, which is helpful at the end of a race.
