Maximum Fit Magazine

I have been swimming for 5 years. Mainly just free_style_. I really dont kick that much at all and would like to improve the kick. What are the actual benefits of having a kick with free_style_? will it help with rotation? how about endurance...  Any basic ideas on how to incorporate a kick?? Nothing too complilcated. Thanks KOS

I have been swimming for 5 years. Mainly just free_style_. I really dont kick that much at all and would like to improve the kick. What are the actual benefits of having a kick with free_style_? will it help with rotation? how about endurance...  Any basic ideas on how to incorporate a kick?? Nothing too complilcated. Thanks KOS The kick is mainly for stability. If you have good stamina and strong legs, it can be used as propultion. Do lenghts of just kick. Possibly use fins Micheal

I have been swimming for 5 years. Mainly just free_style_. I really dont kick that much at all and would like to improve the kick. What are the actual benefits of having a kick with free_style_? will it help with rotation? how about endurance...  Any basic ideas on how to incorporate a kick?? Nothing too complilcated. Thanks KOS People tend to use the kick less as the distances increase. It helps propulsion quite lot on sprints, but is very tiring and most long distance swimmers don't kick any more than  necessary to keep themselves horizontal in the water, as the small benefit forward thrust is offset by the extra energy drain which reduces endurance. Because of the way we are built, women tend to benefit from the kick a little more than men. I have always found work with a kick board boring and of little benefit, though some swear by it.

I have been swimming for 5 years. Mainly just free_style_. I really dont kick that much at all and would like to improve the kick. What are the actual benefits of having a kick with free_style_? will it help with rotation? how about endurance...  Any basic ideas on how to incorporate a kick?? Nothing too complilcated. Thanks KOS A good thing to know would be: how's your kick now?  E.g., if you take a kickboard and do a length, can you actually move yourself forward in the water without undo effort?  If you can't, then I'd work on your kick, but if you can, then the benefits are likely to be small. I ask because when I started swimming, my kick basically didn't move me forward in the water.  It took a lot of work to turn it into something that was not a liability in my stroke, even if it still isn't much of an asset. Ankle flexibility is a big deal - if you don't have much, work on acquiring more but do it slowly and carefully because overstretched ankles are their own source of headaches.  Although people with big feet do, as one might suspect, benefit the most, I have a friend who's short (5'5 or so) and has appropriately small-sized feet (size 6) but he has very flexible ankles and a fantastic kick. Just my opinion. -S-

I have been swimming for 5 years. Mainly just free_style_. I really dont kick that much at all and would like to improve the kick. What are the actual benefits of having a kick with free_style_? will it help with rotation? how about endurance...  Any basic ideas on how to incorporate a kick?? Nothing too complilcated. Thanks KOS A good thing to know would be: how's your kick now?  E.g., if you take a kickboard and do a length, can you actually move yourself forward in the water without undo effort?  If you can't, then I'd work on your kick, but if you can, then the benefits are likely to be small. I ask because when I started swimming, my kick basically didn't move me forward in the water.  It took a lot of work to turn it into something that was not a liability in my stroke, even if it still isn't much of an asset. Ankle flexibility is a big deal - if you don't have much, work on acquiring more but do it slowly and carefully because overstretched ankles are their own source of headaches.  Although people with big feet do, as one might suspect, benefit the most, I have a friend who's short (5'5 or so) and has appropriately small-sized feet (size 6) but he has very flexible ankles and a fantastic kick. Just my opinion. -S- Ok Steve, any suggestions for working on ankle flexibilty?  I'm 6'1 tall with UK size 11 feet, but my ankles are not very flexible. When I use a kickboard my forward progress is quite slow. Regards Tony

KOS < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it wrote in message I have been swimming for 5 years. Mainly just free_style_. I really dont kick that much at all and would like to improve the kick. What are the actual benefits of having a kick with free_style_? will it help with rotation? how about endurance...  Any basic ideas on how to incorporate a kick?? Nothing too complilcated. Thanks KOS A good thing to know would be: how's your kick now?  E.g., if you take a kickboard and do a length, can you actually move yourself forward in the water without undo effort?  If you can't, then I'd work on your kick, but if you can, then the benefits are likely to be small. I ask because when I started swimming, my kick basically didn't move me forward in the water.  It took a lot of work to turn it into something that was not a liability in my stroke, even if it still isn't much of an asset. Ankle flexibility is a big deal - if you don't have much, work on acquiring more but do it slowly and carefully because overstretched ankles are their own source of headaches.  Although people with big feet do, as one might suspect, benefit the most, I have a friend who's short (5'5 or so) and has appropriately small-sized feet (size 6) but he has very flexible ankles and a fantastic kick. Just my opinion. -S- Ok Steve, any suggestions for working on ankle flexibilty?  I'm 6'1 tall with UK size 11 feet, but my ankles are not very flexible. When I use a kickboard my forward progress is quite slow. Regards Tony 2 ways: on your back, lie down, and try touching your toes to the floor. On your front, lie down, try to flatten out your feet. Standing yo, put your toes on a wall, and lean in Micheal