Home Training for a Triathlon

Freestyle Kick

Hi All,

Are there any bench mark for what your kick should be using a kick board

compared to your 50 metre or 100 metre freetyle,I grabbed a kick board today as I was thinking my kick needed some improvement. I held it straight out in front head down and kicked, I barley moved forward.Does this mean ive a poor kick or should I be doing it another way.

Plus any drill I can do at the end of a session and are there any dry land exercies I can do to improve my kick.

Thank

Barry

Comments

  • risris Posts: 1,002

    if yours is terrible then you aren't alone - mine is shocking and i'm a reasonable swimmer. there is a school of thought that for tri having a powerful kick isn't worth focussing on as you don't want to overcook your legs before the bike/run sections - personally i think that a good, consistent, strong kick is good for balance in the stroke.

    in terms of what is a 'good' kick - i'm hardly one to comment. swim training sessions have occasionally had 'kick challenge' sets. my recollection is that you aim to do 75m kick in under your 100m pb time. this was next to impossible for me, and might not even be a measure of quality, just a bit of fun. 

  • Thanks Ris, I didnt time it and maybe it was because I did a 200 x 8 css Intervals

    but man it felt so slow, I use a two beat kick or 4 sometimes, I wonder If kicking

    uop and down the pool like a mad thing will do have any benefit if im going to be

    reverting to a two beat kick.

  • risris Posts: 1,002

    i think it is good to mix things up for the body - a good two-beat is a pretty decent place to be for tri, but being able to up it comfortably and it not disturb your stroke/technique has got to be a good thing.

  • A good kick is about being efficient with your body position and your power. I have found that the more I swim, the less I need to kick to keep my body up on top of the water, however, that does not mean that I have stopped kicking. If you can create an efficient body position in the water, the legs will follow. Like I always tell my athletes, everything follows the head. If you put your head in the right position, everything will follow. I like to hold onto the wall and put your head in the water and kick while remaining on the wall. It gives you the opportunity to feel yourself moving into different positions as you are kicking. Another important concept is that big kicks are not always powerful kicks. You could be wasting a lot of energy on lifting your leg out of the water or bending your knees too much and you lose the forward momentum and just look like you are thrashing. Here is a link made by Triathlon Research about efficiency in the pool in general. Since everything is connected, it will help your whole swim. You can also find more parts to the same episode or sign up for some free videos if you want some more info. I hope this helps! http://goo.gl/7kxqnE

Sign In or Register to comment.