swimmers - kicking drills

[katinthehat]

I figure if I feel like kicking drills with my kick board are just tooling around the pool, that means I'm probably doing it wrong, right?

How are you supposed to kick with a kick board?

[joenali]

I usually don't use a board to kick. But you could do a kicking fartlek, you could do some kicking on your back without a board either with your hands at your side or above your head in streamline. I would just work on making sure you are kicking from your hips and do some sets with fast and slow kicking! I also don't do a lot of kicking in a workout. Mostly as part of a warm up or cool down.

[tuggyruns]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyV_kyKzSzU

Helpful link. I like to do longer kick sets with increasing effort when using a kick board. Also, I like to do swim/kick/pull/drill sets in which I do not use the board.

[katinthehat]

Aug 21, 2013 10:15:08 GMT -5 tuggyruns said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyV_kyKzSzU

Helpful link. I like to do longer kick sets with increasing effort when using a kick board. Also, I like to do swim/kick/pull/drill sets in which I do not use the board.

I just watched that video!

I think my mistake is thinking my feet need to break the surface and not pressing down into the kick board.  I have 8 x 25 of kicking at the end of my workout before the cool down today so I'm going to try to focus on keeping my feet in the water and my hips up.

[mrs.jacinthe]

When I kick, there are two things I focus on: 1. Relaxing the feet and ankles. 2. Making sure that I'm putting effort into both the down AND the up part of the kick. Technically, the "up" part of the kick is the recovery, but it's an active recovery and I should still be pushing into it.

[boston340]

Aug 21, 2013 10:17:49 GMT -5 katinthehat said:

Aug 21, 2013 10:15:08 GMT -5 tuggyruns said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyV_kyKzSzU

Helpful link. I like to do longer kick sets with increasing effort when using a kick board. Also, I like to do swim/kick/pull/drill sets in which I do not use the board.

I just watched that video!

I think my mistake is thinking my feet need to break the surface and not pressing down into the kick board.  I have 8 x 25 of kicking at the end of my workout before the cool down today so I'm going to try to focus on keeping my feet in the water and my hips up.

This part has been a huge struggle for me.  I had my first swim lesson on Monday and just can't keep my hips from sinking in the water.  My instructor gave me a bunch of swim drills to do with fins to help get a feel for keep my hips up.  It's hard!

[joenali]

Aug 21, 2013 13:26:05 GMT -5 boston340 said:

Aug 21, 2013 10:17:49 GMT -5 katinthehat said:

I just watched that video!

I think my mistake is thinking my feet need to break the surface and not pressing down into the kick board.  I have 8 x 25 of kicking at the end of my workout before the cool down today so I'm going to try to focus on keeping my feet in the water and my hips up.

This part has been a huge struggle for me.  I had my first swim lesson on Monday and just can't keep my hips from sinking in the water.  My instructor gave me a bunch of swim drills to do with fins to help get a feel for keep my hips up.  It's hard!

Make sure you are also pressing your forehead down.

[So_Fetch]

I have to hold the kickboard out at arms length and keep my face in the water, otherwise, my form is crap.

[katinthehat]

Found out my form is a lot better with no kickboard. But they're also a lot harder. Whomp whomp.

And mrs.jacinthe - I have to concentrated on letting my up break the surface. If I let my mind wander, I notice I'm leaving a massive wake behind me. I have to focus on keeping that part under control.

I did 200 of kicking the right way today and I can feel it in my hip flexors!

[mrs.jacinthe]

Gotcha. Breaking the surface isn't a problem for me, so it's not something I have to focus on. For what it's worth, I went to a coaching clinic years ago by Mark Schubert where he explained it as the difference between a pot boiling over and a pot at a rolling boil. You want to make the surface "move" but you don't want your foot to actively break the surface, if that makes sense. Not surprisingly, he explained it MUCH better than I can (which is, I suppose, why he gets to coach Olympians and I don't. LOL)

[katinthehat]

that makes perfect sense and is exactly what I have to watch out for!

Also, I did Tarzan drills today at the suggestion of taffy 's husband and oh the hurt those put on me!