I’ve never been able to propel myself by kicking with a kick board. I was taught to “keep the legs straight”, and I assumed that the idea was to flutter each leg like a fish tail.
But I recently realised than I can move if I use a stepping motion, and only flutter the foot.
I’m unable to find anything on the internet that describes or illustrates the action, (doubtless becaue I’m looking the wrong way in the wrong place), so I thought I’d ask here: What is the flutter kick action, used in the common free style swimming style?
Of note is that many swimmers get very little propulsion from their kick so it should come as no surprise that you don’t get much forward movement with a kick board.
That’s a fairly good link. But note that it is geared towards longer distance swimmers.
I think good kicking really does speed up things. I’ve seen people at my pool doing laps just kicking (with or without a board) and a few of them move at surprising speeds. (And if they have fins, wow!)
I think some people are just better at it than most and some are just worst. Myself, I’ve never been at all good at kicking despite doing quite well otherwise. It might, in part, have something to do with the fast/slow twitch muscle variation in people. (Sprinters vs. marathoners.)
You were taught to keep the legs straight because most people when they swim bend their knees way too much. You need some bend at the knees, but only a few degrees. The power from the kick comes from the hip and comes out the foot. The more you can point your foot the better your kick will be.
For most people the kick will be to keep your legs from sinking and help with the roll. You can try getting some fins and see if that helps you understand what’s happening better.
SCUBA divers generally use only the flutter kick (or some variation thereof) when they move. We are taught not to use our hands at all for propulsion. Of course, we have fins. But there are often times when we remove our fins (e.g., when we approach a ladder in certain conditions) where we flutter kick without fins. A good flutter kick from the hip is surprisingly effective.
I was a lifeguard for a few years and pulled out several people, both in practice and real-life, using only a flutter kick. Worked every time.
I fish from a float tube pretty much every weekend, so I regularly kick for 4 or 5 hrs at a time, usually 5 to 6 times a month. So a lot of kicking. The fact that I’m face up instead of face down, makes no difference, I’m still pushing against the water in the same way. Naturally, I wear fins.
When trying to get somewhere in a hurry, my natural instinct was to lean back and use a stiff leg long kick, mostly from the hip, but I’ve discovered that a shorter stroke, mostly from the knees, gives me more power for less effort. Of course, since I’m sitting up, it’s more like pedaling a bicycle backwards than swimming, but the hydrodynamics are the same.
Plus, the muscles you use to bring the thigh towards the body are not nearly as strong as the thigh muscles used to kick the lower leg forward.
Wow, thanks for all the links! I’m going to remodel my kick. My actual swimming kick isn’t so bad, but I was making it worse not better. Also, the Swimsmooth link was really fun (thanx R Pearse) – I had no idea that the rest of my technique was so good :).
I do only roll properly to one side, but I knew that already, and since I’m only a recreational swimmer, that’s not likely to change. Most of my technique I learned as a 7yr old, and I’m amzed to see that I must have been paying some attention.
The other thing that still feels funny is that when I was 7 and competitive, I swam rather lower in the water. Now that I’m old and fat, I feel like I’m floating on top of the water and paddlng , not swimming though it!
I’ve been wondering about the kick thing for years, so I thank you each for your help.
