I have always been terrible at kick, and I believe it holds me back, so I want to make some improvements. As an age group swimmer, we would train lots of 50m kick on 60 secs, and I would struggle at that pace, and now I am older and heavier than I was then.
Physically I am 6'2" and about 225#, but my feet don't measure up at all at size 8, with a high arch and hammer toes. I don't want to make excuses, but this may be why my feet struggle to catch the water properly. I know this means I'm going to struggle, but I am looking to do the best with what I have.
What should I do in training to:
Improve feel for the water and effectiveness of kick?
Greatly improve kicking endurance?
Keep my kick "switched on" when doing full stroke?
Are there other factors I should consider?
OK, so you have what I referred to as a 2-beat kick - 2 kicks per stroke cycle. When you're kicking like that, as you've realized and noted, it's not really a propulsive kick. That style is more for balance than anything else. What you want to learn to use kick as propulsion is not kicking harder, but kicking more - a 6-beat kick, or 6 kicks per stroke cycle/3 per arm stroke.
My favorite drill to kind of feel that rhythm difference is 6 kicks/3 arm strokes. Start off kicking on your side with one arm out streamlined. 6 flutter kicks this way. Then you take 3 strokes trying to maintain that same kicking rhythm with 3 kicks per arm stroke so you end up on the opposite side. Repeat as needed. Sorry, I don't think that came out very clearly via typing... I'm much more of a show-and-tell when it comes to describing.
OK, so you have what I referred to as a 2-beat kick - 2 kicks per stroke cycle. When you're kicking like that, as you've realized and noted, it's not really a propulsive kick. That style is more for balance than anything else. What you want to learn to use kick as propulsion is not kicking harder, but kicking more - a 6-beat kick, or 6 kicks per stroke cycle/3 per arm stroke.
My favorite drill to kind of feel that rhythm difference is 6 kicks/3 arm strokes. Start off kicking on your side with one arm out streamlined. 6 flutter kicks this way. Then you take 3 strokes trying to maintain that same kicking rhythm with 3 kicks per arm stroke so you end up on the opposite side. Repeat as needed. Sorry, I don't think that came out very clearly via typing... I'm much more of a show-and-tell when it comes to describing.
