The freestyle kick

"LighthouseView99" <lighthouseview99@> wrote in message
news:20030803004041.18033.00000800@mb-m17....
> Hey I posted something like this on the swimming newsgroup but no one
answered.
> How do you get a stronger kick? I practice doing what the TI people say
with
> leaning on your chest to lift the legs up but also should I be practicing
with
> a kickboard or a tube under me? I heard the kickboard sinks you and so it
> doesn't help. Does anyone know how many times I am supposed to kick per
stroke?
> or what the range is? Is it really worth it to buy fins and should I get
short
> or long? Does this give a good leg workout in general? Thanks for any
help.

You probably don't really need a stronger kick. Almost all of the
propulsion in freestyle swimming comes from your arms. The main goal of
kicking is to help you maintain a proper position in the water. When I'm
wearing a wetsuit, I rarely even bother to kick.

James

You probably don't really need a stronger kick. Almost all of the
propulsion in freestyle swimming comes from your arms. The main goal of
kicking is to help you maintain a proper position in the water. When I'm
wearing a wetsuit, I rarely even bother to kick.

James

I've been doing strength and endurance on the upper body and pretty much
ignoring my legs. I have a good flutter kick but its unconscious pretty much
now and sometimes I see that I am not kicking much though. I read that the kick
is like the arms when running that they are there for balance and not
propulsion. When I start thinking about my kick more it detracts from my
upperbody awareness and its hard to concentrate on all of it. Perhaps when my
form is excellent and unconscious upper body wise I can think more about my leg
work I was thinking before. But you don't even use it much huh with a wet suit?
Why is that? Just in a wet suit its harder?

"LighthouseView99" <lighthouseview99@> wrote in message
news:20030803125953.06855.00001002@mb-m06....
> But you don't even use it much huh with a wet suit?
> Why is that? Just in a wet suit its harder?

Not that it's harder, no. As I mentioned, the main purpose of the kick is
to help you have a proper position in the water. You should be pretty much
horizontal in the water with your hips breaking the surface. Doing this
properly means both upper body balance (pushing down with your chest) and
light kicking. (Your center of gravity is not at mid-height so the natural
tendency is for your feet to sink.)

I find that with the extra buoyancy of a wetsuit, I don't really need to
kick at all to get a proper position in the water. In a race, I usually let
them rest for most of the swim, but start kicking a little at the end to get
some blood going in the right direction for the bike.

James