I once had a terrific boss who taught me a lot not only about work, but life. One thing he taught me and that I've lived by ever since is to constantly ask yourself "Does what I'm doing make sense?"
Applying that question to kicking drills has made me wonder. I have read more than once that (other than in breaststroke) kicking a) is used to maintain your body's position in the water, b) that you derive little or no propulsion from it (other than perhaps when sprinting), c) kicking hard can actually increase your drag and slow you down, and d) kicking hard more than doubles your energy use.
Given those four things, I'd like to know your thoughts (and not just knee-jerk reactions) from both swimmers and coaches, regardless of your experience level:
Does it make sense for us to use a large part of our practice time and energy doing kicking drills?
Do we derive any real benefit from doing so?
Do we do it because it actually helps us be better swimmers (which would make sense), or do we do it because "that's the way it's always been done" (which makes no sense at all).
Keep on strokin'!
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Former Member
Originally posted by jim thornton
Here's another totally anecdotal piece of data to consider.
There are many people on my team who can swim as fast as normal, if not faster, when using a pull buoy. I am definitely not one of them--pull buoys make it easier and less tiring for me, but I am significantly slower when using one.
There are also many people on my team who can do kick sets like whirling dervishes. Again, I am not one of them. My kicking is mediocre at best.
One would think that the addition of mediocre stroking ability and mediocre kicking would result in mediocre, if not worse than mediocre, actual swimming. But for me, the combo is much better than the sum of its parts. For reasons I don't understand, there seems to be some odd synergy that takes place when I put kicking and arms together. Maybe it has to do with body torque or position in the water or balance or something else that you would need a degree in biomechanics to document. But the bottom line is that my swimming is much less pathetic than its mediocre component parts would indicate. I have to conclude that kicking does add something, and it may not be propulsion directly, but there's something positive going on. Maybe it allows your arms to generate more propulsion thanks to some chain reaction effect through the core muscles?
I believe that the kick helps me to get a better rotation when I am stroking - leading to stronger pull by using the core body muscles. Could be the same for you. The kick alone doesn't add much speed, but does cause the core body muscles to get more involved in the whole package.
Originally posted by jim thornton
Here's another totally anecdotal piece of data to consider.
There are many people on my team who can swim as fast as normal, if not faster, when using a pull buoy. I am definitely not one of them--pull buoys make it easier and less tiring for me, but I am significantly slower when using one.
There are also many people on my team who can do kick sets like whirling dervishes. Again, I am not one of them. My kicking is mediocre at best.
One would think that the addition of mediocre stroking ability and mediocre kicking would result in mediocre, if not worse than mediocre, actual swimming. But for me, the combo is much better than the sum of its parts. For reasons I don't understand, there seems to be some odd synergy that takes place when I put kicking and arms together. Maybe it has to do with body torque or position in the water or balance or something else that you would need a degree in biomechanics to document. But the bottom line is that my swimming is much less pathetic than its mediocre component parts would indicate. I have to conclude that kicking does add something, and it may not be propulsion directly, but there's something positive going on. Maybe it allows your arms to generate more propulsion thanks to some chain reaction effect through the core muscles?
I believe that the kick helps me to get a better rotation when I am stroking - leading to stronger pull by using the core body muscles. Could be the same for you. The kick alone doesn't add much speed, but does cause the core body muscles to get more involved in the whole package.
