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
From the layman's point of view:
Let's assume the speed effect from the kick is not great--for a moment.
Everyone would agree that kicking hard sucks the life out of you; overdo it too early and it's "jello legs" for the rest of the way or until you recover...either way you feel it and or have to reduce your pace.
So back to my point, kicking hard in practice will help your "engine" get used to running more efficiently, or in pain, and allow your upper body to work harder for longer. So even if direct power is not provided by the legs, I feel that there would be at least a "knock on" effect to the system at large because of the conditioning.
Now kicking hard and not being a good technical swimmer may not add much and may even make things worse if it disrupts the flow of water over the body. For a good swimmer though, and all the way up to an elite swimmer, this is not likely to be the case.
Good kicking has to help otherwise nobody would do it in races; if you work on it and it gives you a second /100 yards, over a 500 or 1000 that's very significant.
I think you need both a vessel and an engine. Just kicking all the time or wearing fins all the time will not help but hammering your legs once a week or perhaps more will surely add to your swim.
Back to the experts...
From the layman's point of view:
Let's assume the speed effect from the kick is not great--for a moment.
Everyone would agree that kicking hard sucks the life out of you; overdo it too early and it's "jello legs" for the rest of the way or until you recover...either way you feel it and or have to reduce your pace.
So back to my point, kicking hard in practice will help your "engine" get used to running more efficiently, or in pain, and allow your upper body to work harder for longer. So even if direct power is not provided by the legs, I feel that there would be at least a "knock on" effect to the system at large because of the conditioning.
Now kicking hard and not being a good technical swimmer may not add much and may even make things worse if it disrupts the flow of water over the body. For a good swimmer though, and all the way up to an elite swimmer, this is not likely to be the case.
Good kicking has to help otherwise nobody would do it in races; if you work on it and it gives you a second /100 yards, over a 500 or 1000 that's very significant.
I think you need both a vessel and an engine. Just kicking all the time or wearing fins all the time will not help but hammering your legs once a week or perhaps more will surely add to your swim.
Back to the experts...
