In general, when I swim with a group, I notice that I usually am at the front on kick sets without fins. When, however, we have sets with fins, I usually fall behind. Why is this?
The other day, I was swimming with the high school group and they were begging to do a 10 x 100 kick with fins on 1:10. No way could I make this. When I suggested doing 10 x 100 kick on 1:45 without fins, nobody thought they could make it. In fact, the coach gave a small set of 100s on 1:45 that was without fins and I thought it was pretty easy while the others could barely make it.
In any case, why do I stink on fin work when I am a pretty strong kicker without the fins? Is this a bad thing?
The whole stack? Yikes! You might be onto something with the core & hip explanation.
I have weak ankles too, though in my case it is BECAUSE of the flexibility. I would think fins would actually compensate for inflexible ankles. But you seem to have a strong kick anyway so they can't be that bad.
Would really like to get the kick without fins even stronger. Chris, do you think cycling has given you a strong kick? I used to find that in the fall months following a summer of consistent cycling, my kick felt really strong.
Kind of wierd that I do have inflexible ankles also. I was having some lower back issues a couple of years ago and at the urging of a good friend, went to see a guy in Huntsville that tests for muscular imbalances. He took about 2 hours to run a bunch of tests. On one ankle test, I tested very poor while on ankle inversion and exversion, I tested excellent. Maybe I should get him to test me again.
Yeah, the hip adductor/hip abductor machine thing is kind of wild. It is the one and only thing I can beat the guys on in the weight room. Kind of wish I had taken up competitive cycling in my early twenties (rather than waiting until my mid-thirties to do it for triathlons), so I could have put this good strength to use.
I kind of curious to see what a few months of some calf raises might do for my fins sets. I'm hopeful
The whole stack? Yikes! You might be onto something with the core & hip explanation.
I have weak ankles too, though in my case it is BECAUSE of the flexibility. I would think fins would actually compensate for inflexible ankles. But you seem to have a strong kick anyway so they can't be that bad.
Would really like to get the kick without fins even stronger. Chris, do you think cycling has given you a strong kick? I used to find that in the fall months following a summer of consistent cycling, my kick felt really strong.
Kind of wierd that I do have inflexible ankles also. I was having some lower back issues a couple of years ago and at the urging of a good friend, went to see a guy in Huntsville that tests for muscular imbalances. He took about 2 hours to run a bunch of tests. On one ankle test, I tested very poor while on ankle inversion and exversion, I tested excellent. Maybe I should get him to test me again.
Yeah, the hip adductor/hip abductor machine thing is kind of wild. It is the one and only thing I can beat the guys on in the weight room. Kind of wish I had taken up competitive cycling in my early twenties (rather than waiting until my mid-thirties to do it for triathlons), so I could have put this good strength to use.
I kind of curious to see what a few months of some calf raises might do for my fins sets. I'm hopeful
