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
Parents
Former Member
on kicking gears
I meant different gears in doing a six beat kick
there's the 100% all out 6 beat kick and shades beneath it
Ande, I agree with you but I've always thought of my kicking with a valve analogy rather than gears. The tempo of the kick is always a quick 6 beat. As you open the valve the amplitude and force increase. There are no specific gears, just adjustments from a trickle to a raging flow.
Can someone explain the rationale behind kicking high in freestyle? I can see that the fastest swimmers use this technique, but I was wondering why it's better.
Fort, I'm not sure anyone has a good explaination for the massive kick working so well in sprinting. I've got a video with Frank Busch, coach of Arizona, saying he used to coach a much narrower kick but all his great sprinters had this massive "thunder kick" as he called it. He decided they did natually what worked so he kept his mouth shut.
Also, a couple of months ago in Swimming World Glenn Mills had a great photo on the opening page showing the huge amplitude of the sprint kick.
I'm not sure why it works, but it is certainly what all the great sprinters are doing these days.
on kicking gears
I meant different gears in doing a six beat kick
there's the 100% all out 6 beat kick and shades beneath it
Ande, I agree with you but I've always thought of my kicking with a valve analogy rather than gears. The tempo of the kick is always a quick 6 beat. As you open the valve the amplitude and force increase. There are no specific gears, just adjustments from a trickle to a raging flow.
Can someone explain the rationale behind kicking high in freestyle? I can see that the fastest swimmers use this technique, but I was wondering why it's better.
Fort, I'm not sure anyone has a good explaination for the massive kick working so well in sprinting. I've got a video with Frank Busch, coach of Arizona, saying he used to coach a much narrower kick but all his great sprinters had this massive "thunder kick" as he called it. He decided they did natually what worked so he kept his mouth shut.
Also, a couple of months ago in Swimming World Glenn Mills had a great photo on the opening page showing the huge amplitude of the sprint kick.
I'm not sure why it works, but it is certainly what all the great sprinters are doing these days.
