Kick

[red dragon]

My daughter is 10 and is not too bad a competive swimmer - not a star, but alright. Her kick lets her down though. In training she leads her lane, but when it comes to kick sets, everyone sails past her. I assume that if she could improve her free & back kick (her breaststoke kick seems OK) her overall performance would improve.

Any ideas what I can do to improve her kick? I've thought of exercises to build up her leg muscles, taking up athletics or cycling - is this a good idea?

[Kaci]

I also had poor kick and it let me down when racing and also meant I went to the back in training when I could lead my lane no problem. At 10 I think extra strenuous activites my just lead to muscle fatigue, and could do more harm than good.

My legs were quite muscular (well for a girl) so I knew I only had one option and that was just to simply work harder on kick. I put myself at the front of the lane so I really had to push to keep ahead (and it hurt).

Now my kick is much better, not as good as my pull, but better. I also found do sprinty sets of fly kick really helped my turns on back and free. And its amazing the benefits you can get from quick turns (my coach had always told me but I didn't think it would make as much difference as it did).

[swimmer]

i think i'm lucky because i'm wuite good at kick, i think the main reason some people are slow is because they quite simply don't move their legs fast enough! try to get used to kicking as hard as you can - moving your legs as fast as you can, and keep it going.

[weswim]

Kicking has become an issue with my 9 yr old daughter in the past year or so also. It seems that the stronger she got in her upper body, the more her kick suffered. Her swim camp coach recommend vertical kicking to improve her kick. He feels it is easier for the kids to "feel" the kick when in a vertical position. He also highly recommends doing kick sets without a kickboard to improve body position. Good luck!

[swimusa]

Originally posted by weswim
Her swim camp coach recommend vertical kicking to improve her kick. He feels it is easier for the kids to "feel" the kick when in a vertical position. He also highly recommends doing kick sets without a kickboard to improve body position. Good luck!

Excellent point weswim! That is the best advice to improve kicking. Many times swimmers (especially younger ones) suffer in the kicking department due to lack of proper technique. And it is often caused by use of a kickboard. To know what they are doing, swimmers need to be aware of what they are feeling. To improve your kick you need to feel the water against your legs. Vertical kicking really does this. Also, to apply the vertical technique horizontally, you need to scrap the kickboard. Swimming is about balance. There are two heavy points to the body when horizontal in the water, the head and the legs. The head is more buoyant than the legs because of its proximity to the chest, so naturally the legs sink more. To swim in a more balanced position, you need to raise the position of your legs, which logically means to lower the position of the chest. You feel like you swim downhill if you do this (esp. in backstroke). The result is more efficient swimming. If you use a kickboard though, you cannot achieve this balance because the kickboard makes it nearly impossible to reach this balance. Why practice kicking if it is not the same in the race? Scrap the kickboard (try kicking on your back) to improve your kick during sets and do sets of vertical kicks, and the kicking problems should be helped.