It doesn’t matter whether you use a 2-beat, 4-beat, 6-beat, or even a crossover kick (like I’m using here). The one constant is that you should kick from your hip flexors -- the muscles at the TOP of your legs -- and not from your knees.

When I kick, I try to use a whole-leg motion and I try to rotate my hips as I swim.

When I’m swimming at aerobic pace, I use a crossover kick. It’s not a typical kick, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but it works for me because it helps keep my hips up and helps me rotate my hips.

Here’s another angle where you can see the crossover kick -- my feet cross over with each stroke. I use this kick when I’m in drafting mode and when I need to maintain proper body position.

When I switch gears and go into anaerobic and threshold swimming, my feet go to a normal 6-beat kick, which means that I take three kicks for every armstroke.

I train both the crossover and the 6-beat kick in practice. But I make sure that every time I’m swimming at threshold pace or above, I’m using a 6-beat kick. This is how I train for having good closing speed at the end of a race or when I’m trying to break away or respond to a breakaway.

In this last clip, I’ll start with a crossover kick and switch to a 6-beat kick in the middle of the length. This is a great drill to help build your kick and to help you learn to switch gears in the middle of a race. Start with whatever kick you use for aerobic swimming, and then switch to a 6-beat kick at the end of the length.

One more word about the kick is: Don’t give up. Lots of swimmers get discouraged when they can’t kick fast on a board.

Stretching your hip flexors might help, and here’s an example of one exercise you could try.

Try kicking from the hip flexors -- from the top of the leg. And use the whole leg instead of kicking just from the knee.


Sign In to watch video

Freestyle Technique - Kick from the Hip Flexors