Swim Myth #9:When it comes to swimming fast, kicking is overrated.
Kicking is anything but overrated. As some of you have already learned, I believe that it is the power of the kick that separates the great swimmers from the not-so-great ones, more than anything else. But here is the problem.
First, even if you have strong legs but have little or no flexibility in the ankles or have tiny feet, you are likely never going to develop a great kick. So what do you do?
A six beat kick can potentially serve four functions; 1)provide propulsion 2) provide lift 3) act as part of the stabilizing force for your pull and 4) sustain a more constant speed. If you can't kick fast, you aren't going to get much propulsion, but that is ok because most of it comes from the arms anyway. You can, however, even with a weaker kick, still get lift and counter-force for your arm pull...both very worthwhile. So don't give up on the kick. If you wear a wetsuit in open water, you don't have to worry about the lift part, but you still need the counter-force to improve your dps.
A two beat kick can still provide that counter force you need and give you some lift...and with a lot less energy expense; not a bad way to go for a distance swimmer who can’t kick fast.
So here is my advice to you. Unless you absolutely have no kick at all, work your legs hard….like devote every 4th or 5th practice to pure leg workout. And, unless you have no propulsion, always use a 6 beat kick. Getting your legs in really good shape will pay big dividends in your racing. Sorry, no more social kicking.
I am such a big fan of kicking, recently a Race Club group from Buffalo NY came down to the Keys and we sang this song together. Enjoy.
YouTube- The Race Club Buffalo Style
Gary Sr.
The Race Club
Fantastic video clip gary!!!!!!
Okay I'm going to start working on kicking!!
Former Member
Here I have to respectfully disagree, although your point of view isn't a bad one per se.
For me a pull is just a tool, it doesn't own a brain. In itself, it can't be bad or good. There are times and situations where it has its place (most definitely in fact).
The simplest application of using a pull the right way is to overload upper body muscles with a demand that is higher than if a given set was to be performed full stroke. Overloading, in this context means overloading though. Not under-loading like you suggest.
A fair compromise between staying ultra-specific and a visit to the gym. That's the swim specific overloading principle.
More specific applications can become very important as well, although most people on this site aren't concerned by those applications. For triathlon training, a pull can do a lot of good by giving you great flexibility in managing the overall load across the 3 discipline.
Overloading is the key work here ThatGuy. Reducing the overall energy expenditure in using it isn't sound. Moving the overall load from the whole body up to the upper body is what I mean by overloading.
That said, Gary might want to save the topic of pulling with a buoy for another myth so this is probably my only post about the Pull Buoy within this thread, just to keep things inline with OP's topic.
I suppose if I were training many hours per week, there could be a place for pulling drills. But since I swim about 5 hours per week, I do not carve out any time for pulling.
As for triathletes, my advice is to learn a good 2-beat kick. I've completed two ironmans and two half-irons with a 2-beat kick. In each instance I did very well on the swim portion and did not tire out my legs.
This is the #1 reason why you should never use a pull buoy. Disengaging the legs is insanity. If you swim faster with a pull buoy, you need to fix that by kicking harder, not by using a pull buoy all the time.
Former Member
Very well put, and by far one of the best swim clip I have ever seen so far on the Web. Very nice Job Gary, I shall never forget this.
This is the sort of approach that works so well with kids.
Great stuff Gary. Great stuff!
Spending my workout kicking only is a good way to let my shoulders regain health.
Former Member
Ankle flexibility is an important factor and determines how you use your kick. A swimmer without flexible ankles can actually hurt their propulsion by kicking. If you kick poorly you can improve of course but if you're racing and need your best time, some swimmers could actually get a better time by trying to float their feet and kick less. If you have big feet and very poor ankle flexibility you may be better not kicking at all and simply trying to keep them as pointed as possible. So, keep working on improving your kick but you need to know where you stand and timing your kick is a great way to measure that effectiveness. I get a kick out of coaches screaming "Kick, kick,kick" while they move their arms wildly like legs, trying to get their swimmers to kick faster when the swimmer they're motivating has anchors (flat feet). Know your kick before you kick kick kick and that simply means training hard and training smarter go hand in hand. Good luck, Coach T.
Here is a link to help improve ankle flexibility (with cool sock photos).
www.goswim.tv/.../dryland---ankle-flexibility-exercises.html
Phillip is a great inspiration for all who still want to have a strong kick over age 50! But he works at it very hard!
Gary Sr.
