Can You Kick It? Yes you can!
When an athlete comes to me for a video analysis session a common thing they always say when I ask 'What do you think is holding you back?' is.............. 'My Kick'. This can mean a number of things to them, in their mind they may feel they may not be kicking hard enough, or they kick too hard and find they tire after a few hundred metres, or the bike is then really hard work. The "kick" problem the athlete thinks they have can stem from a number of issues, be it physical, technical or mental. So what do we think at South West Swim about the elusive kick?.
 It is a common writing in swim texts to read that even in Elite Athletes the propulsion generated by their kick is only between 10-15%, most of the propulsive power comes from a good catch and pull in the stroke. For your average swimmer or triathlete, likely to be swimming further than 400m or even 750m, a hard, fast powerful kick would probably be impossible to maintain, whilst keeping good form. In fact even if you could maintain this level of kick, for a triathlete would you need to? Getting out of the water after using such a big muscle group in the swim may spark bad news for your bike split. Of course we always see images of ITU Elite athletes with super powerful kicking techniques so you could think, well they are doing it it must be right............but we are not all Elite level athletes or have a surname of Brownlee.
You may be reading this and thinking, so I don't actually need to bother with kicking at all? well, this is not true either, we just need to think of our Leg kick in a different way. The way we look at kick for our athletes can be rounded into three parts:
1. Maintaining a good body position in the stroke, with little drag (High body position in the water = Less effort)
2. Maintaining balance and helping to drive rotation in the stroke
3. Propulsion where needed
 If you have come from a club background you may be used to doing a kick set that involves grabbing a kick board and pounding your legs up and down the pool on set times. Whilst this will build leg strength it is only part of the jigsaw puzzle to good kick technique, certainly not the way we do things at South West Swim as we aim to develop a rounded skill base rather than power power power. Don't get me wrong, power is brilliant if you are sprinting or a shorter distance swimmer, but for athletes swimming longer distances its not the be all and end all. Coming back to the club swimmer background, for most young swimmers events would be 400m or under, most pool based swimmers would have a stronger kick as they are not swimming over this distance (general terms) so they would train for this in their sets.
So here are a few tips to get an all rounded, optimal and effortless kick which is especially valuable (in our opinion) for us longer distance open water and triathlete swimmers (over 400m).
1. For a start if your using a kick board (*other than a Finis Alignment Kick, the only one I would recommend if needed) then simply put.............throw that thing away, burn it if need be. Kicking with a board does NOT put your body into the correct position for the front crawl stroke. A board will lift you higher at the front of the stroke, meaning your legs will sink and / or your lower back will bow (potential to cause injury or aching back if at an extreme). Either way this body positions not the one that you use (hopefully) to swim front crawl, train how you are meant to swim not against how you are meant to swim. *I mentioned the Finis Alignment Kick, this is the only board I would recommend if one was needed. This is down to its shape, position of the hands and lightness (the board is very easy to place under the water, straightening your body position a little more and still allowing great streamlining).
 2. After burning your kick board, Perform front kick drills in the streamline (aka Torpedo / Rocket) position, using a centre snorkel or AMEO Power Breather (review to follow on Facebook soon) could be a huge benefit as it takes away the worry of breathing in these drills. Swimming your front kick sets in a nice streamline (aka Rocket / torpedo) position, arms above your head and standing proud. In fact have a play when your'e in the pool doing a few lengths kick board kick, followed by the torpedo kick drill. You should feel a huge difference.
3. Don't just go up and down doing front kick drills. Most of our sets don't involve a dedicated kick session, and we certainly don't time the efforts of our kick. We prefer to integrate our kick based sessions using multi purpose drills such as Torpedo Kick, Torpedo Kick to swim, Kick on side, 6-x-6, all of which are very effective kick drills, working on more than leg power alone and easies the boredom of up and down just using the legs.
4. Kick Mechanics. Kick from the hip and not the knee! Have a plantar flexed foot (pointy toes). A knee generated kick, as well as lack of ankle  flexibility, is seen in many triathletes from a running or cycling background as they are used to this body movement and try and replicate it in the swim. In fact a kick from the knee lowers your body position in the water, can cause balance issues and create drag, not to mention the cost of energy from powering those thigh muscles. You're actually making it harder to swim efficiently.
5.  If you have errors in your kick these may also manifest themselves from somewhere else on your stroke. For example a scissor kick (a wide kick causing drag and a parachute like effect on your swim) can usually be traced back to errors at the front of the stroke, such as a cross over. This front end stroke flaw can cause a balance issue, the scissor kick is simply your body's way of gaining balance back. To this end many athletes say they have an issue with their kick but it actually traces back to another area of the stroke on examination. We can then focus on rectifying the stroke flaw, which suddenly (and as if by magic) helps to resolve their 'Kick' issue.
6. Use Fins! Many athletes I see believe that using fins is 'cheating'. In fact it can be very beneficial as it allows more propulsion to aid any kick on side based drills, keeping your form top notch. Fins can also add a feel for the kick mechanics as you will feel if you are overly generating a kick from the knee, they will also help gently stretch the ankle if you are stiff in this area and unable to point your toes.
Sadly in an age of Health and Safety please check with your local pool before spending money on Fins, as many do not allow their use, or restrict them to certain times or lanes.
7. Engage your core! I have a saying of swim proud, swim tall and engage your stomach muscles upwards. Imagine a loose piece of string between your lower rib cage and pelvis and you need to extend yourself upwards to make it tight. That is swimming tall and swimming proud.
You don't need fancy kit to do this, just a bit of focus whilst you swim. One video analysis swimmer we saw used a weighted kick board in the hope of engaging the core, but in fact they were not engaging correctly and actually had a totally incorrect body position in the water. Simple steps to rectify with no aids and a bit of mental thought won, Swimmer 1 - Gimmick Training Aid 0. Again, burn those boards!
8. Finally, Kick timing. We don't often think about kick timing as it just happens, which is another common statement from athletes when asked about kick ('It just happens"). You may hear the terms 2 beat, 4 beat or 6 beat kick, simply put this is the number of kicks you take per complete arm cycle. Many swimmers do not know their own kick timing but it is worth trying to gauge as it will help with your overall stroke. Personally I use a 2 beat kick, it fits my stroke and the distances (long distance swimmer) I swim, but it may not suit everybody. Get to know your kick timing!
So that's our little take on kick. Don't just endlessly kick away up and down a pool, especially if you are swimming distances of over 400m. Become more rounded, focus on technique, body position and alignment as part of this kick work. You will then not only be working towards a more stable, stronger kick but also working towards a better all round stroke.
If you wish to find out more about your swim take a look at our Swim Smooth Certified Advanced Video Analysis & Stroke Correction Sessions. We will also be looking at kick, core and body position in this weeks Pure Technique Squads.
This Weeks Free Swim Set
We talked about kick this week, so lets focus on this in this weeks Swim set. You can find this at http://wp.me/p5qFTk-6RD. I hope you enjoy the set, adjust it to your on time and swim level and remember to give us feedback if you like it at Swim@Southwestswim.co.uk
2017 Open Water Session Details - Available for Booking Now
Already we are being asked about 2017 Open Water offerings from South West Swim, we even have provisional bookings coming in for our Clinics and 1-2-1's already.
Once again we are very proud to be coaching from the two Premier Open Water Venues in the Cotswolds:
 South Cerney Outdoor (Lake12) - From April this will be home to our Hugely popular introduction to Open Water Swimming Clinic, Novice Open Water Squad, Beginners Open Water Squad (new) and Youth Open Water Squad (new). We will also be delivering 1-2-1 sessions at the lake.
 Waterland Outdoor Pursuits (Lake32) - From April this will be the home of our Lake Video Analysis sessions, Early morning 1-2-1's, Our Distance Open Water Squad (now 75mins in length) and we will also use lake 32 (and Lake 12) for our Bespoke session for Swimming Clubs, Triathlon Clubs, Corporate Bookings and ASA Sessions.
Our exact Start dates will depend on Water temperatures at the time but our first clinic will be on the 22nd April, With squads starting from Monday 24th April and Tuesday 25th April respectively. Interim timetable as follows, please note that we may offer 1-2-1 sessions earlier in April depending on water temperatures (tbc):
Mondays Lake12 - Novice Open Water Squad 6pm & 1-2-1 Availability 7pm
Tuesdays Lake32 - Distance Open Water Squad 5:45pm
Wednesdays Lake12 - Fortnightly Total Beginners Open water Squad / Youth Open Water Squad 6pm (from May) & 1-2-1 Availability 7pm
Thursdays Lake 32 - 1-2-1 availability 5:45pm & 7pm
Saturdays - Either Clinics at Lake12 or 1-2-1 availability at Lake32 (times tbc)
Sundays - 1-2-1 Availability at Lake32 (times tbc)
Daily - 1-2-1 Sessions Available at Lake32 at 9am
Monday & Thursday - 6am sessions available for Lake 32 Members only.
Coaches Open Water Background: Sessions will be taken by Jason Tait, who as well as being Swim Smooth Certified is one of the regions only fully qualified ASA and STA Open Water Specialist Coaches. Jason also sits on various committees and groups to progress open water swimming both at a local / regional level and also at an international level, and is a qualified Open Water Coaching Tutor. We focus and specialise on all types of Open Water Swimmer and Triathlete from nervous first timer to age groupers performing at national and international level (both swim and Tri).
South West Swim are also pleased to introduce Colin Jones, an experienced coach at many age group levels, including masters swimming. Colin is also fully qualified as an ASA Open Water Swimming Coach. Collin will be providing his expert assistance in some of our clinics and workshops.
Our open water offerings will fit in with our existing summer pool squad structure, details of changes to our pool program to be confirmed later in the spring.
Have a great swimming week and until next time, happy swimming
 Jason Tait
South West Swim Head Coach
Thanks to Swim Smooth Perth for some of the swimmer images.
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