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
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You know...this is way off topic but dang, we have some beautiful women on this forum...
Ok, back to kicking. I have gone back and fourth on this issue. I believe that kicking done right,which as Jonathon says, tied to the body rotation, does add speed. How much...who really knows.
Also, I was watching a video of Roland Schoeman swim the other night. For a while, I believed that a tight,narrow kick was better. I noticed that his kick was big but still within the cylinder of his body. So for kicks, I widen my kick a bit and noticed it added in better rotation, less effort and felt easier. So, a too wide a kick is not good as it results in drag but a too narrow kick is just as bad because it doesn't add in rotation and makes you work a lot harder than one needs.
You know...this is way off topic but dang, we have some beautiful women on this forum...
Ok, back to kicking. I have gone back and fourth on this issue. I believe that kicking done right,which as Jonathon says, tied to the body rotation, does add speed. How much...who really knows.
Also, I was watching a video of Roland Schoeman swim the other night. For a while, I believed that a tight,narrow kick was better. I noticed that his kick was big but still within the cylinder of his body. So for kicks, I widen my kick a bit and noticed it added in better rotation, less effort and felt easier. So, a too wide a kick is not good as it results in drag but a too narrow kick is just as bad because it doesn't add in rotation and makes you work a lot harder than one needs.
