OK, I was kicking it in the pool with the seniors and I noticed a recurring theme among all of them.
Everyone was having thier foot exit the water by at least 2 inches. By this I mean the part of the foot from just below the ankle all the way to the toes. I also used to (until about 3 months ago) kick this exact same way until I started focusing on having just my heel break the surface of the water. This has helped me immensely on getting a better 'bite' with my foot and to hold more water.
Am I just crazy or do most swimmers not know the correct way to kick? Heck, I didn't, that's for sure (unless I'm completely off my rocker).
Anyone else find it easier to kick this way?
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Former Member
Two questions.
Bend your knees when?
What does tap mean? I thought I knew, and now I am pretty sure I was wrong. I thought tapping was a kick drill where you keep your feet up and come down to tap the water. A lot of splash a lot of leg speed, but very little propulsion.
Here gbrain,
The clip referred to below is probably one of the best swimming lesson I've seen on the Internet so far. A real Free Style specialist that can modulate her stroke according to the event duration.
During her 6beat kick execution, she taps on the water pretty much the way it should be done. She later explains how all this works, putting emphasis on ankle flexibility. She also explains how she bends the knee. She makes sure that some inheritance takes place from bottom of the leg (glutes and tights) down to lower portion of the leg (using the knee as a transmission, the extra wip that bending the knee allows for adds some power to the lower leg, hence the importance to bend 'em) and finally, if ankles are flexible they're also used as a transmission to finish the movement with a powerful wip, on the water.
Now why on the water. Knowing that some bubbles will get created, making the water less solid if you may. Because what makes the kick propulsive is the angle of attack of the feet relative to the surface. That's the first reason. Then also if you look carefully on the clip, she ends the kick very shallow. The leg doesn't at all go deep, since by doing so it would present some frontal drag. So a lot of swimmers and coaches find that taping on the surface of the water is a fair compromise that allows for aggressive angle of attack and a compact kick.
As a bonus, you get a great (one of the bests I've seen) 2beat kick demonstration, with emphasis put on the real deal, that is overall body balance that must be perfect so that the body stays at the surface despite minimal contribution from the kick.
that clip was referred to in an other thread btw. It's a great one.
YouTube - Swim Fast - Freestyle with Lindsay Benko
Two questions.
Bend your knees when?
What does tap mean? I thought I knew, and now I am pretty sure I was wrong. I thought tapping was a kick drill where you keep your feet up and come down to tap the water. A lot of splash a lot of leg speed, but very little propulsion.
Here gbrain,
The clip referred to below is probably one of the best swimming lesson I've seen on the Internet so far. A real Free Style specialist that can modulate her stroke according to the event duration.
During her 6beat kick execution, she taps on the water pretty much the way it should be done. She later explains how all this works, putting emphasis on ankle flexibility. She also explains how she bends the knee. She makes sure that some inheritance takes place from bottom of the leg (glutes and tights) down to lower portion of the leg (using the knee as a transmission, the extra wip that bending the knee allows for adds some power to the lower leg, hence the importance to bend 'em) and finally, if ankles are flexible they're also used as a transmission to finish the movement with a powerful wip, on the water.
Now why on the water. Knowing that some bubbles will get created, making the water less solid if you may. Because what makes the kick propulsive is the angle of attack of the feet relative to the surface. That's the first reason. Then also if you look carefully on the clip, she ends the kick very shallow. The leg doesn't at all go deep, since by doing so it would present some frontal drag. So a lot of swimmers and coaches find that taping on the surface of the water is a fair compromise that allows for aggressive angle of attack and a compact kick.
As a bonus, you get a great (one of the bests I've seen) 2beat kick demonstration, with emphasis put on the real deal, that is overall body balance that must be perfect so that the body stays at the surface despite minimal contribution from the kick.
that clip was referred to in an other thread btw. It's a great one.
YouTube - Swim Fast - Freestyle with Lindsay Benko
