Okay, who does an old-style breaststroke kick and who does the "whip kick"? I still do the old "in-out and around" that I was taught as a six and under. I would love to try to perfect the whip, but will it really make a difference?
Parents
Former Member
Well, my understanding is that the use of the word, "whip," to describe the kick came from likening the kick to the movement of egg beaters. With a true whip kick, then, nearly all of the motion is focused on your leg below the knee. Your heels go inward to your bum, outward past your sides, and then inward away from your bum. As such, your lower leg basically rotates in a circle around your knee during a cycle of the kick, and so your knees, being the pivot point, take some serious wear and tear over time.
The wedge kick, on the other hand, draws your knees and thighs underneath your trunk, extends the legs outward, and then closes straight. While incorporating the thighs in on the kick reduces the burden on your lower leg, and therefore the knee, the drag created by the cannonball-like wind-up slows you way down.
The W kick draws the knees in like the whip, but, instead of bringing the heels to the bum, the heels go to the sides of the bum, thereby creating a bit of a W shape with the lower leg, inner thigh, inner thigh, lower leg structure of the wind-up. From there, the lower legs swing downward to the outside and then together, like the whip, but, because of the separation of the thighs in the initial wind-up, the thighs have to be incorporated into the snap together, thereby reducing the burden of the knees by increasing the burden of the thighs.
--Sean
Well, my understanding is that the use of the word, "whip," to describe the kick came from likening the kick to the movement of egg beaters. With a true whip kick, then, nearly all of the motion is focused on your leg below the knee. Your heels go inward to your bum, outward past your sides, and then inward away from your bum. As such, your lower leg basically rotates in a circle around your knee during a cycle of the kick, and so your knees, being the pivot point, take some serious wear and tear over time.
The wedge kick, on the other hand, draws your knees and thighs underneath your trunk, extends the legs outward, and then closes straight. While incorporating the thighs in on the kick reduces the burden on your lower leg, and therefore the knee, the drag created by the cannonball-like wind-up slows you way down.
The W kick draws the knees in like the whip, but, instead of bringing the heels to the bum, the heels go to the sides of the bum, thereby creating a bit of a W shape with the lower leg, inner thigh, inner thigh, lower leg structure of the wind-up. From there, the lower legs swing downward to the outside and then together, like the whip, but, because of the separation of the thighs in the initial wind-up, the thighs have to be incorporated into the snap together, thereby reducing the burden of the knees by increasing the burden of the thighs.
--Sean
