Originally posted by Paul Smith
Here's the deal folks...forget about weights...if you REALLY want to make a significant break through in your swimming relative to competition stop swimming for 4-8 weeks and go to kick only workouts...as you ease back into swimming you will have the opportunity to "learn" how to integrate a new and powerful element to your stroke...something that 90% of the swimmers I see competing do not do well....
This really caught my attention. I seem to have been hearing this a lot lately: people coming back after a shoulder op, doing kick only workouts and then having their best seasons ever.
I don't doubt the authenticity of it either. I am just interested on what is actually going on. Why should this be the case?
Has anyone ever scientifically measured the amount the kick contributes to forward propulsion? I mean ratio wise, compared to the arms, what would it be? 80% arms : 20% legs?
What about the swimmers who are great kickers in workouts but can't translate it into faster swimming?
How do we actually integrate the kick into our swimming so that it becomes a new and powerful element to our stroke as Paul suggests?
Would it be fair to say that a big part of the improvement these (post op/ focus on kicking )swimmers achieve can be attributed to the strengthened core which is a result of the additional kicking. In other words more credit given to the strengthened core than increased forward propulsion.
I don't know. I just throw out these ideas for discussion.
Syd
We should really keep on track here - Kick like the devil when you sprint. Ease off when you swim long.
Fastjack just to be clear I have never stated this and I don't agree with it, my mind was completely changed after watching Thorpe 6 beat kick his first400m free world record. There were always a few strong distance swimmer/kickers but he created a paradigm shift in the mindset of a lot of swimmers/coaches with what he did. So the point is really more of find what your capable of and go with it...
Fort...I disagree about the current level of fascination with SDK and believe it is a current "fad" mainly among masters swimmers who are not getting good coaching as to wether they are doing it effectively or even should be doing it. At every single meet I've swum the last 2 years I see more and more people using it....and typically they are swimming slower in my opinion because they have not been taught, figured out or simply don't have the physical gifts needed yet (and may never have) to achieve the proper depth and trajectory that is needed to maximize its potential advantage.
When you watch Coughlin, Phelps, Crocker, etc. they are going 5'-8' below the surface in order to get the length and proper surfacing angle...far to many folks literally are on the surface splashing away and slowing themselves down...or their breakouts are terribly splashy as well...there is a LOT of finesse to doing a proper SDK.
We should really keep on track here - Kick like the devil when you sprint. Ease off when you swim long.
Fastjack just to be clear I have never stated this and I don't agree with it, my mind was completely changed after watching Thorpe 6 beat kick his first400m free world record. There were always a few strong distance swimmer/kickers but he created a paradigm shift in the mindset of a lot of swimmers/coaches with what he did. So the point is really more of find what your capable of and go with it...
Fort...I disagree about the current level of fascination with SDK and believe it is a current "fad" mainly among masters swimmers who are not getting good coaching as to wether they are doing it effectively or even should be doing it. At every single meet I've swum the last 2 years I see more and more people using it....and typically they are swimming slower in my opinion because they have not been taught, figured out or simply don't have the physical gifts needed yet (and may never have) to achieve the proper depth and trajectory that is needed to maximize its potential advantage.
When you watch Coughlin, Phelps, Crocker, etc. they are going 5'-8' below the surface in order to get the length and proper surfacing angle...far to many folks literally are on the surface splashing away and slowing themselves down...or their breakouts are terribly splashy as well...there is a LOT of finesse to doing a proper SDK.
