Kicking for success

Here is an part 1 of and article writen by Mike Peyrebrune and Ian Turner in 2007

Kicking: Foundation for successful Swimming

Introduction

It has long been acknowledged that leg kick in competitive swimming is important mainly to provide balance and ensure a good body position is achieved in order to minimise resistive drag. What has not been particularly clear is the potential of the legs to contribute to propulsion (if at all), and the necessary training that should be conducted in order to condition the legs to cope with the speeds maintained by world class swimmers throughout their races. It is not a coincidence that most of the world‟s best swimmers are also the world‟s best kickers.

Current Best Practice

Recent observations of top swimmers and the type of volume and intensity of kicking conducted in training has revised some of our previous recommendations on the quality and quantity of kick necessary to succeed at the highest levels. In addition, presentations by some of the World‟s best coaches (Eddie Reese [University of Texas], Frank Busch [University of Arizona] and Jack Bauerle [University of Georgia]) at recent international conferences support the need for a greater volume and faster kicking times than have previously been recommended.

Many clubs have a limited number of hours of training time, but despite this, coaches must include kick sets in every session. It is apparent to us that neither the quantity nor the intensity of kicking is being done in many club programmes around the country. In many cases, swimmers in America or Australia are performing 2000-3000m per session, including some very hard endurance or sprint efforts. There are numerous examples of impressive sets performed world-wide including a University squad in the States who regularly kick 20 x 100m on 1:50 averaging under 1:30!

It is clear that the fast kicking times achieved by swimmers such as Ian Thorpe, Michael Phelps, Ian Crocker, Aaron Piersol and our own Simon Burnett and Caitlin McClatchey are in part contributory to their status as some of the fastest swimmers in the world. It is the information gathered from observing these world class swimmers, some of the key messages and practices from the world class coaching fraternity and our own observations in working with the world class 200 FC swimmers at the National Centre in Loughborough that form the basis of this article.

The Contribution of the Legs

Simple analysis of typical 100m and 200m races suggest that up to 30% of the race can be swum underwater (2 x 15m in 100m, 4 x 15m in 200m events). Although many swimmers do not take full advantage of this opportunity, it is clear that many of the top swimmers spend considerable time during the start and turns executing powerful and fast dolphin leg actions. In addition, the majority of top class swimmers will use their legs to achieve a body position „riding high‟ on the water. This in itself will reduce resistance and improve forward speed. The legs also provide the mechanism for balance in the stroke, again aiding improved body position and flow through the water. Unless good kicking is executed in every session, this will not happen.

Good Kicking Technique

The legs were traditionally thought to provide very little forward propulsion. Although difficult to quantify, and variable between individual swimmers, we can say with some degree of certainty that the legs contribute (either directly or indirectly) a significant amount to forward propulsion in

Freestyle, Backstroke and Butterfly. In order to execute a fast and powerful dolphin or flutter kick, there are many factors to develop to a high degree:

• Ankles and hips should be extremely flexible – improving this aspect can be done using specific stretches before and after each training session 
• Hip flexors, gluteal muscles, quadriceps and hamstrings must all be exceptionally strong and well conditioned specifically in the correct technique for swimming 
• Land conditioning (including running) can assist this process 
• Fast, rhythmical kicking action is vital and can only be gained through constant practice in the water 
• Top swimmers performing excellent dolphin action usually „flow‟ with the upbeat beginning almost before the downbeat has finished. Fins can assist in helping this process, but swimmers should not become over-reliant on using them. 
• Kicking volume and intensity should be increased progressively from a young age (e.g. 10-13) to train both the technique and conditioning of the dolphin and flutter actions; don‟t be afraid to progress the volume of kick conducted from an early age 
• Encourage a minimum of 3 dolphin leg kicks off each wall; 5 kicks are preferred in Back & Fly

While there are several points to remember in developing good kicking practice and technique, there also many things to try to avoid. Common errors in kicking technique include:

• Kick too high (wasted effort in creating excess splash; only heels should break the surface) 
• Kicking too deep (causing unnecessary, unwanted frontal resistance and slowing down the leg action; kick should not be much deeper than body width) 
• Excessive knee bend, often observed as an action similar to „bicycling the legs‟ 
• Dropping the hips; this can be due to weak core strength in the back and abdominalsLack of co-ordination in the dolphin action caused by „out of sequence‟ between arms-shoulders-core-upper legs-lower legs and ankles; training this technique can include practicing on land, exaggerating hip movements, emphasising the hands (in the extended position) leading the movement and again using fins 

Part 2 coming soon