Do you find your kicking resembles one or more of the following characteristics?
Kicking for front crawl might seem something you should do as an after thought, but it can really make the difference between you progressing and not.
Particularly for novices or beginners learning front crawl your kick is vitally important to helping you improve your overall front crawl stroke
Your legs for front crawl need to kick from your hips and glutes, straight with your big toes almost touching, your heels lapping under the surface of the water, and not kicking more than 30 cm in depth.
You can have a 2, 4 or 6 beat kick, although we generally advocate a 2 beat for triathlon and long distance swimming (anything over 400 metres). This is due to the nature of the sport and the length of time you're likely to want to be swimming, and that your legs should balance your arm strokes. A propulsive leg kick would be utilised with a faster beat for shorter distances and if you are swimming faster than 1:30 pace per 100 metres.
Do you find your kicking resembles one or more of the following characteristics?
• Knees bending and coming forwards
• Knees bending backwards towards 90 degrees
• Scissor kicking out to the side
• A parachute kick whereby both legs go out laterally then back in together
• A runners kick - moving too fast with stiff legs whilst bent
• Kicking too deep - greater than 30 cm
• Kicking too fast
If you do any of the above then your kicking technique is going to be holding you back.
Your legs for front crawl need to kick from your hips and glutes, straight with your big toes almost touching, your heels lapping under the surface of the water, and not kicking more than 30 cm in depth.
We have seen swimmers kicking forwards and not moving, or even going backwards. This is because you're trying to move forwards, yet your legs are bending and pulling water backwards in the opposite direction.
Ideally you want to be as high in the water as possible, to reduce drag and resistance! If you think of the analogy of a barge travelling through water, its very slow as it has to displace a lot of water. A speedboat cuts through the water much better, as it rides much higher and is much more streamlined from the 'V' shape of its hull.
All of the above ways will affect your body position by pulling your body in a downward angle, affecting your streamlining and increasing drag, and your ability to move through the water efficiently.
Kicking swim drills:
Warm-up + drills for your technique limiter.
2x 50m of each of the following drills – 20 rest with fins
1. side kick arms front
2. front with kick board
3. on back with kick board on chest
4. side kick arms by side
5. single fin single paddle
6. kicking vertical plus rotation
7. alternate side breathing
8. vertical kicking
9. Rotational balance 4 quarters
10. torpedo kicking submerged 180 degree rotations
Mix up your front crawl with a length or 1/2 of either backcrawl or breast stroke for fitness training
To find out more, sign up to a series of endless pool video analysis lessons in Chertsey:
Or sign up to pool based technique lessons based in Guildford Lido:
If you need to improve your kick and found this article of interest and useful then please get in touch. We'd love to help you on your swimming journey and to achieve your swimming and triathlon goals!
Email Nick on speedyswimming@gmail.com or call on 07958635142
