Has anyone heard of this technique or used it in swim practices?
It seems to do nothing for me other than takes 2 min to do a 50 !!
I would rather use small fins or just use my own 2 feet !
Wow! My team did this when I was a kid (in the 50s). It was helpful, and your kick felt so good when you took them off! Interesting how things come around.
... and you still should feel the water on the front and back of your feet with the shoes on.
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Can you please explain how one "feels" the water through the tops and soles of sneakers? Are you saying you should kick so hard you feel the pressure being exerted on the tops and soles?
I suspect what makes this seem to work is the shoe negates the flexibility of the foot altogether, although the ankle is still free to move. Similar to how fist gloves remove the extension and movement of the fingers while allowing the wrist movement during a pull set.
Last night we did kick sets & then went to the deep end to tread water with the shoes on. It was a fun filled set with the coach smiling as we tried not to drown.
Michelle - Thanks for the answer. We had the first shoes workout today and felt I had better body position when swimming after removing the shoes. Good point also on working on weak areas instead of strong points.
I've been wearing shoes since right after Nationals this year just for the warmup and the first set of practice. I've noticed a HUGE improvement in my kick especially dolphin and flutter on my back . The shoes have forced me to work both halves of the dolphin kick and have really toned my butt and thighs as a bonus.
The other day we did a set of 8X50 on :55. I was able to easily hold :50 (shoes off) for the whole set doing dolphin kick. Before the shoes I would have been coming in right at :55 for the first couple of 50's and then tanking and not making the send off.
I also feel like the shoes have gotten me to get longer in fly and narrowed up and sped up my flutter kick in backstroke.
I started out in aqua shoes, now I'm in tennis shoes and some days I feel like I'm ready to graduate to the next shoe level!
Good way to blow out your knees.
Agree absolutely.
And I still don't see the benefit. Kicking with shoes takes away the major source of propulsion in the kick, so exactly how does it work (stress) your core/legs/butt more than regular kicking? Seems gimmicky to me.
And it is the exact opposite of using fins, whom many advocate as a means to build leg/core strength. (Disclaimer: I don't much use fins either. And find that they too can stress knees.)
The only worthwhile thing I found in using shoes is a great appreciation for how important the foot is (as well as ankle flexibility) for a fast kick.
I think it gives a performance boost when you take them off. Like swimming with fists or like taking off the bat weights on deck in a baseball game. You can swing harder, or maybe you just think you can? not sure. I also used to warm up with a football before a softball game and it madet the softball feel like a baseball and you could throw it harder.
I think it just adds variety to a workout and you can raise awareness of your legs and feet and how they propell your stroke.
Kicking with shoes takes away the major source of propulsion in the kick
I was thinking kicking with shoes is similar to swimming with fists, but on second thought it's not really. It would be more like trying to swim with shoes on your hands and I don't see many people trying that!
