Freestyle - Flutter Kick Focus

Posted by Glenn Mills on Apr 05, 2011 08:02AM (21,841 views)

To really sprint in freestyle, you're going to have to develop a strong kick. Focusing on how much you use your legs can really help this.

Why do it:
Learning to drive your stroke from your kick is one option to really swimming fast. Because many swimmers focus so much on the pull, switching your focus during sprints to the kick can help you develop a new tool.

How to do it:
1) Start with a length or two of freestyle using very little kick.
2) Just as with any descending set, as the lengths go by, start to increase the intensity of the legs.
3) Continue to drive the stroke from the legs and allow the arms to match whatever rhythm that develops.
4) On the fastest swim, rather than focusing on the arms, shift your attention to over-kicking to drive you forward.

How to do it really well (the fine points):
This is really a mental drill as much as a physical drill. Pinpointing all your attention to your legs during fast swimming will help you increase the effectiveness of your kick. If you spend most of your time thinking about your pull, switch the focus to the legs every once in a while to make sure you're leaving nothing to chance.

flutter kick, freestyle, racing, swim training

Responses

Dan	Responded Apr 05, 2011 02:20PM Standard free style has 6 kick on a complete cycle ( 3 kick/ stroke), but these are not egual in intensity and amplitude. There are one kick stronger than the other. How to discover the stongest kick in the group of three: swim 1 kick / 1 stroke (2kick/ complete stroke cycle). That is the strongest kick. Then try 3 kick / stroke: keep the focus on strongest kick and add 2 small kick. The strongest kick help the derotation of pelvis, second is anti-rolling kick and 3rd help rotation. Some times are used 4 kick / cycle, but this type is asymmetric and can be used with a good co/ordination for single side breathing swimmers.
Hank Webb	Responded Apr 05, 2011 04:01PM Who is the swimmer "mid frame"?
Al Kubeluis	Responded Apr 05, 2011 09:39PM Glenn ... Video says I need flash ... Previous videos played fine on my iPad .. What's up, or down? .... Al
Glenn Mills	Responded Apr 06, 2011 02:08AM Dan, you obviously posted the same thing on YouTube, so I'll just copy and paste my response from there here: When you say "standard freestyle has 6 kick on a complete cycle"... do you mean "standard" as most people? I don't think I'd necessarily qualify the 6-beat kick as a standard kick for most swimmers. I wish it was standard, heck, even in my own swimming, but unfortunately, I don't think it is. With that said, I like the using the one beat to find the set up kick. Good post from that standpoint. :) Hank... what do you mean "mid frame"? Al, it's standard YouTube... so not sure what the issue is. I just got the same thing on my iPad. I'll see if there's something else I need to push. Stupid Flash.
Dan	Responded Apr 06, 2011 07:58AM When I said "standard" I mean the fast way used in 50m, 100m and 200 m competition, in which most of the swimmers uses more than 30%-35% propulsion force given by kicks. In long distance 800m, 1500 m and triathlon swimming, 1 kick (2kick / cycle) should be "standard". In this last case the kicks provide balance and less 30% propulsion force, but it conserve energy
Glenn Mills	Responded Apr 06, 2011 02:24PM Very interesting. Where do you get 30-35% propulsion coming from the feet?
Glenn Mills	Responded Apr 06, 2011 03:35PM Al. Something changed in the code, so I've embedded the old code which seems to work better. Let me know if you find other vids that aren't working. Thanks.
Dan	Responded Apr 07, 2011 08:58AM The 6 beat kick give more propulsion than 2 kick. A slight elevated position of forehead, or avoiding a too olique entry of hand in water, can offers the conditions to increase the hips amplitude of kicking and the force of propulsion. (but too elevated position of head can increase the drag resistence). Jan Thorpe is an example of swimmer with a high propulsion of feet.
Dan	Responded Apr 07, 2011 09:19AM The common mistake is that most of the ineffective kick's swimmers initiate and beat too much from knee. The correct form is to initiate the kick from hips, to let the ankle relax to flex only 1/3 part while thigh make extension, and then make the kick like a whip slapped, counting 1-2-3 until the beating is automed.
Dan	Responded Apr 07, 2011 09:48AM The second, more subtle of ineffectiveness for kicks are the lack of co-ordinations with the body rotations and strokes. What means asimetry of kicking ? That means the differences in kicks amplitude and co-ordination with body for each side of rotation. What means the disrhythmic kicking ? If you look at some underwater videos you can see that some swimmers seems to make a small pause (break) of motion betweeen some kicks (it looks like stop & go movement). That is dysrhythmic kicking style. Some elite swimmers use asimetric and disrhytmic kicks, but they make these instinctively to find the highest propulsion force given by legs. To experience the sensation of leg coordination and propulsion it should have a good flexibility of the hip and ankle and it should be tried at a slow rhythm of kicks-beat.
Glenn Mills	Responded Apr 07, 2011 11:58AM Ok. So with that said... Where did the 30-35% come from? While the explanation of the flutter kick you gave is elaborate, the hope is that you can explain how this drill helps you in your own swimming. Thanks.
Dan	Responded Apr 07, 2011 03:33PM When I said 30-35% of the force of propultion come from kicks,that means from total force of propulsion (legs + arms) . The force of propultion is 70% from arms stroke + 30 % from legs = 100 % total force. Try to swim without legs kick and then swim with kick - the force of propultion will increase with 30%. If we imagine the legs is like a whip, when we crack the whip the shaping undulation and the shearing of the legs give the force of propulsion.!! Is common that most of the beginers focus atention only on stroke and forget the legs , so the tips from videos is useful and the first step to discover the importance of legs kicks
Dan	Responded Apr 07, 2011 04:04PM If you ask from which part of the body is originated the force of propultion spreaded in the kicks, I can ask you: BODY ROTATION (middle of the trunk). Is like a wake spreaded from the oblique abdominalis musles (pelvis rotation) via hip extension-flexion, via knee flexion-extension to the ankele and foot. :) (Excuse me, I dont want to be too elaborated in explanations). If you elaborated the video "Flutter kick focus", I repeat I find it very useful !!! and I hope with modesty that my comments only sustain the value of video you made. Thanks Dan
Hank Webb	Responded Apr 07, 2011 04:22PM Glenn, who is the swimmer demonstrating flutter kick? For some reason I'm adverse to the term "model".
Glenn Mills	Responded Apr 07, 2011 04:35PM :) So... the 30% is your own estimate? I've never heard it being that high that's all. As a breaststroker, who swims freestyle in practice, IMs and open water... what I can tell you is that even WITH the ability to add a fairly productive 6-beat kick... I'm not getting 30% of my propulsion from the kick. Rather than get into a big discussion, my point is simply that we can't toss out % as fact when we simply can't EVER know how much propulsion comes from one or another. It's a package and one side impacts the other. For further reading... check out this article forwarded to me on this subject by Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Goldblatt... and freestyler with a very good kick: http://www.springerlink.com/content/4vabww...
Glenn Mills	Responded Apr 07, 2011 04:46PM Hank. He's a high school swimmer in NYC. I don't like posting names of the kids for many reasons... but he's very good. ;)
Dan	Responded Apr 07, 2011 08:08PM ok, I understand you dont like to speak in ciphers. I dont want to make a problem of physics, mecanic theory or a debate of procentage (though I could, but here is not the place to be sofisticated). Its only a qualitative way of feeling the efforts given by kicks when I said 30-35% (1/3 one third part). I read the '98 article you forwarded to me and it speaks only about the gain in Velocity 10%, not about energy consumption, force of propultion. But 10% gain in velocity strengthens my conviction that my qualitative estimation to express in energy consumtion is correct. (the human machine could consume 30% more gasoline with 2 more cylinders disposed in line (the legs) not so effective than the main 2 cylinders disposed in "V" - (the arms) to gain 10% more speed). Far from controversy, I reaffirm the laudatory opinion you made good & useful vids on this site and on youtube, and I hope you and some readers will find suitable some of my comments, to increase the rating and value of this web site. (I make these comments coming out from my passion for swimming, nothing more). Good luck !
Glenn Mills	Responded Apr 08, 2011 12:53AM I have absolutely no idea what you just said. But thanks for posting. ;)
Hank Webb	Responded Apr 08, 2011 01:36AM Glenn, I completely agree with confidentiality concerning anything to do with youth. Thanks for everything you do!
Sergey	Responded Apr 15, 2011 07:31PM Glenn and Dan, in fact your points are very close to each other. To achieve 10% of velocity increase one needs roughly 30% of increase in generated power. This is due to the fact that drag force is roughly proportional to the square of velocity, and power, being force multiplied by velocity, is proportional to the cube(!) of velocity. Thus, p1/p0 = (v1/v0) ^ 3 = 1.1 ^ 3 = 1.331. So, p1 is p0 + 33% ;-)
GAGOO	Responded Jun 09, 2011 02:06PM i train my swimmers the fastest way used in 50m, 100m and 200 m competition, in which uses more propulsion force given by kicks. but In long distance 800m, 1500 m and swimming, 1 kick (2kick / cycle) should be "executed ". In this last case the kicks provide balance and conserve energy
steve	Responded Jun 09, 2011 09:06PM The day I tranferred my attention from arms (catch, pull, etc) to my legs (kicking hard, fast, narrow, and effectively) was the day when my speed increased and shoulders quit bugging me. Kick hard

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Freestyle - Flutter Kick Focus

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