Kicking for Freestyle
For distance swimming like the swim that comes at the beginning of a triathlon, kicking in freestyle only gives you about 10-15% of your total propulsion in the water. Therefore, you might think that kicking is not an important aspect of your stroke, and you don’t need to worry about it much.
Not true!
It is true that you don’t need a super kick to have a great race or a great swim in a triathlon. Sprint freestyle specialists need a strong kick, but trying to imitate someone swimming a 50 or 100-yard freestyle event during your triathlon swim will put you into oxygen depletion!
Your kick is mainly for stability and body rotation. However, not having a kick or kicking improperly can lead to using twice as much energy to get through your swim! And nobody wants to get on their bike feeling drained and knowing that they still have a lot of work to be done. Let’s address these two challenges and see what can be done to remedy them:
1st Challenge: Having No Kick. While it is important to save both your legs and enough energy for biking and running, not kicking will not help you achieve this. You need to develop a kick that works for you. There is no one size fits all with kicking, but it should be relatively rhythmic. In other words, work on developing a 2-beat, 3-beat, or even a 4-beat kick (2, 3, or 4 kicks for every stroke). A good drill to practice this rhythmic kick is 6 Kicks Per Stroke- exaggerating the number of kicks with each rotation.
2nd Challenge: Kicking Improperly. This is a common problem among many triathletes who have “Runners’ Kick”. What this really means is inflexible ankles, which create drag and force you to do a lot more work than necessary to get through the swim. There are 3 remedies to overcome Runner’s Kick:
1. Vertical Kicking drill. Find water that is deep enough for you to kick in place. Let go of the wall, cross your arms, and kick in place in a vertical position (keep in a straight line), pointing your toes and keeping your chin above the surface of the water. Get your power from your quads and hips on this drill. Try 20 seconds at a time.
Vertical Kicking:
2. Use fins. Not to “keep up” in workouts, but to actually improve your kick. IF you have ankle flexibility issues, use fins for a few weeks, but wean off them as you get closer to your event. The shorter kind are best. I prefer Zoomers, but other brands may work okay as well. Fins can increase your ankle flexibility, allow you to do swimming drills with ease, and strengthen the right leg muscles you need to kick (improving on that 10-15%!)
2. Stretch your ankles. You can try sitting on your feet, or, In a seated position, take one leg and bring it out in front of you. Extend your feet and push your toes toward the ground. Hold for about 15-20 seconds, repeat with other foot. You can do this several times a day.
Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to use a kick board to improve your kick. For distance swimming and triathlons, you are wasting your time with the floatation devices!
Stick with the drills, work on a rhythmic kick, have patience, and you will be pleased with your swimming results!
Learning to swim on your side- start with kicking
When we learned to swim freestyle as children, most of us swam flat in the water, with little or no hip rotation as our arms did the majority of the work. Many triathletes and open water swimmers have found it necessary to change their stroke and swim more on their sides in order to conserve energy, swim faster, and get through potential rough water conditions with greater ease.
Rotating from side to side as you swim is a method that has been around for over 30 years. When Mark Spitz was gaining national recognition in the early 70’s, many critics said, “His only problem is that he does this side-to-side action as he swims!” Little did they realize just how revolutionary that stroke was. Science has now backed up this style of swimming, and great swim coaches like Howard Furby and Ernie Maglischo have popularized swimming on your side with many successful swimmers over the years.
Good swimming is about using the core of your body- hips, stomach, lower back, and chest. Top swimmers rotate the core of the body from one side to the other while keeping the head fixed. When you rotate in this way, you move through the water more like a fish, or a boat, reaching further forward on each stroke, and maximizing your efficiency.
Swimming freestyle on your side may seem like a foreign concept at first. But with consistent practice, you will be able to swim more efficiently, resulting in faster swim times and greater energy conservation.
Here is a drill to begin practicing (you may use Zoomers or fins if you have them):
1. Start with simply kicking on your back, arms at your sides. Lean on your upper back/shoulders and make sure the water is surrounding your face (top of forehead, chin, and sides of your goggles).
2. Next, kick on your side with your left hand extended out and your right hand by your side. Keep your head down and locked to your shoulder.
Note: Head position in freestyle should be eyes looking at the bottom of the pool, back of head slightly above the water surface. Your head should not move from side to side at all when you kick or swim. We’ll cover this more later, but it is important for now when you are bringing your head down to get the proper position.
3. On the second length, switch sides and extend your right hand, with your left hand by your side. When looking down, you should be at about a 90-degree angle in the water.
4. When you need air, roll your hips into more of a 45-degree angle with your eyes looking straight up and water surrounding your face, take a few breaths, and repeat. Continue to practice this kicking drill and notice your balance in the water improving.
If you are new to being on your side in the water, practice these drills with fins on! Zoomers work best. The reason for this is that it allows you to take your mind off your kick and focus strictly on doing the drill properly. Once you start to feel more balanced in the water, do this without your fins. Just make sure you are not spending your energy kicking just to keep from sinking!
Remember:
Belly button pointed towards the side wall
Take as much rest as you need between lengths.
Practice this every time you get in the pool for the next month.
Practicing these two drills (vertical kick & side kick) will help to improve your body position and balance in the water.
Balance Point Drill:
Practices:
Day 1 – Vertical kicking: 10 minutes. Start with sets of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest. Move the kicking time up, try 30 seconds, then 40, etc. Experiment with rotating your hips slightly, then rotating back as you get more comfortable with this drill.
Then move to
6 x 25’s kicking on your back. Keep the water around your face and lean on your upper back.
6 x 25’s kicking in your balanced point. Start with kicking on your back, then rotate your hips slightly so that one arm is out of the water. The other arm extends forward, shoulder to the back of your head and keep the water surrounding your face. Alternate 25 left side, 25 right side.
Rest- :10 between 25’s
12 x 50’s kicking on your side with fins (if you have them)
Odd 25’s: Left side kicking
Even 25’s: Right side kicking
Rest= :10-15 between 50’s
Day 2 – Start with 10 minutes of vertical kicking again. See if you can continue to move up your time little by little.
Then:
4 x 50’s kicking on your back
4 x 50’s kicking in your balanced point
6 x 100’s kicking on your side. Odd 25’s: Left side kicking. Even 25’s: Right side kicking. Rest :15-20 between 100’s
Day 3 – Start with 10 minutes of vertical kicking. Challenge yourself and make sure to focus on using upper leg muscles and minimizing the knee-bending.
Then:
4 x 50’s kicking on your back
4 x 75’s kicking in your balanced point (alternating sides per 25)
4 x 150’s kicking on your side Odd 25’s: Left side kicking. Even 25’s: Right side kicking. Rest :15-20 between 150’s
Question: Practice drills or build endurance? What should your focus in swimming be?
Answer:
It really depends on what level swimmer you are.
If you’re:
-A new swimmer
-Still swimming flat in the water with no hip rotation
or
-Plateauing or having a tough time making gains
then I would recommend 90-100% of your time spent in the water to be practicing drills! It sounds extreme, but if you want to make significant improvements in the water, you have to make some short-term sacrifices to make bigger gains in the long run.
This massive amount of drills isn’t meant to last forever. True beginners will likely have to keep drill work at a high level for several weeks. More advanced swimmers may just need a few days of intensive drill work to get past a hurdle. Think of it more as a “boot camp” for your swim stroke.
As you begin to improve, you can start backing off on the drills and start adding on more yardage and endurance work. Never let go of drills altogether, there are benefits to doing the more advanced swimming drills even if you are Michael Phelps!
I recommend even if you have your swim completely handled to continue doing about 10-15% of your workout as drills.
Question: Are fins beneficial in training?
Answer:
One of the most commonly asked questions in all of competitive swimiming is whether fins are beneficial in training. There is no one answer; whether fins are right for you depends on what you hope to gain, your level of skill, and the type of fins used.
Swimmers often wear fins simply to maintain the same speed as the other swimmers working out alongside. In other cases, a swimmer might want to move to the next fastest lane. If your goal is only to get into better shape, and don’t plan on competing, using fins is a perfectly acceptable way to accomplish your goals. There are specific fins (such as Zoomers) that actually help you to burn more calories than swimming solo.
For those in the world of triathlon racing, however, there is more to be concerned with than simply burning fat. That said, there are some specific situations in which you may want to add fins to your workout. For instance, fins are great for building leg strength. You’ll also be able to use more oxygen throughout your swim. This will enable you to support more muscle mass use (and at greater intensity). At the same time, it’s important to realize that using fins regularly (especially when intended to make the swimmer faster, or to keep from sinking in the water) is a mistake.
In particular, runners can benefit from training with fins. Those unaccustomed to swimming often produce little or no kick, or even move backwards when kicking. Using fins (albeit for a relatively short period of time) can slowly improve stroke and speed. For these purposes, Zoomers are perfect, although any of the shorter variety will do. The reasoning behind this is relatively simple: fins allow you to concentrate on the movement of your upper body, and your endurance as a whole, rather than having to constantly think about leg movement.
Take into account that approximately ninety percent of your propulsion through the water comes from your upper body; obviously, it makes a lot of sense to concentrate on fine-tuning this section before moving on to others. Once you have the upper body down, you can start slowly moving away from fins. You’ll likely notice the difference from your “pre-fin” days, even in your legs, due to imrpoved ankle flexibility.
Zoomers can be a great tool in your training for triathlons. Remember, however, that they can also become quite addictive, preventing you from naturally improving your stroke and times. If you utilize fins correctly, without abuse, they can add great benefits to your workout and overall freestyle stroke.
Question:Do you have Runner’s Kick?
Answer:
Can you point your toes and straighten out your feet? When you kick on your back, do you tend to go very slow, stay in one place, or even go backwards? Do you have a tough time with swimming drills because your kick is not propelling you forward fast enough? Do you wear fins in workouts just to “keep up”? Did you start out as a runner and pick up swimming later to become a Triathlete?
If you answered “yes” to any of the above, you may have Runner’s Kick! Have no fear, there are things you can do. Even the worst of kickers can develop an adequate kick for freestyle, which is all you need for a triathlon swim.
Here are some remedies:
1. Vertical Kicking. This drill has been around for a long time. Find water that is deep enough for you to kick in place. Let go of the wall, cross your arms, and kick in place in a vertical position (keep in a straight line), pointing your toes and keeping your chin above the surface of the water. Get your power from your quads and hips on this drill. Try 20 seconds at a time.
2. Use fins. Yes! I am a coach telling you to use fins. But not to “keep up” in workouts. IF you have ankle flexibility issues (Runner’s Kick), use fins for a few weeks, but wean off them as you get closer to your event. The shorter kind are best. I prefer Hydrofinz (see below) but other brands may work okay as well. Fins can increase your ankle flexibility, allow you to do swimming drills with ease, and strengthen the right leg muscles you need to kick.
3. Sit on your feet. For more severe cases of Runner’s Kick, sitting on your feet can greatly improve your ankle flexibility. In Yoga, just stay in “Child’s Pose” a little longer and gain this extra benefit.
4. Just stretch. In a seated position, take one leg and bring it out in front of you. Extend your feet and push your toes toward the ground. Hold for about 15-20 seconds, repeat with other foot. You can do this several times a day.
Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to use a kick board to improve your kick. For distance swimming and triathlons, you are wasting your time with the floatation devices!
Remember: You don’t need a super kick to have a great race in a triathlon. Your kick is mainly for stability and body rotation. Have patience, stick with these drills, and you will lose your Runners’ Kick before you know it!
Additional Resources:
Related Podcast: Kicking in Freestyle
Kicking in Freestyle