Sweet Spot... leaving your arm extended as you do, but allow it to float up. Pause in Sweet Spot for at least three yoga breaths before rolling nosedown again; avoid feeling breathless or rushed.
4. Try to follow a laser-like line as you rotate from nose up to nose down and back again.
Common Questions about Kicking
Why do I go backward when kicking and drilling?
Inflexible ankles are the most common cause and triathloning "adultonset" swimmers are the classic case. We all lose flexibility as we age (unless you follow a dedicated stretching or yoga program) and if you didn't start swimming young you may spend 20 to 40 years gradually losing ankle flexibility. Years of running usually accelerate the stiffening. If you started swimming young, and continued, that's usually sufficient to maintain ankle flexibility.
The second cause is simple lack of coordination. The correct flutter-kicking action is counter-intuitive. Your other kicking experiences (soccer balls, tires, your kid brother) teach you to kick with about 90 degrees of knee flexion. But an efficient flutter kick uses only about 30 degrees; the kick happens mostly from the hip flexor and quadriceps. Kids learn it fairly spontaneously; the adult-onset swimmer often has to consciously unlearn incorrect habits in order to learn the right way.
How do I fix it?
Three ways have proven to work best:
Vertical kicking. This won't do much for flexibility but it is effective for learning coordination. Float vertically with arms folded across your chest, mouth just above the water. If you feel yourself sinking, tuck a pull buoy under each armpit, or hug a kickboard to your chest. Focus on keeping a long line from hip to toes as you kick. Your leg should be long and supple, never rigid. Use the muscles at the top of your thigh, moving your whole leg like a pendulum. (A good exercise for beginners: Sit on the edge of the pool and try to move the water solidly back and forth with an almost-straight leg, mainly using ankle flexion and extension to move the water forward and back. Try "stirring" the water with one foot to develop a bit more awareness of how to feel the water with your feet.) Practice vertical kicking for several periods of 15 or more seconds, resting for a similar amount of time. Then kick with the same feeling in the side position below.
Side kicking (and towing) Any time you're kicking in Sweet Spot, you're a lot less likely to use a "bicycle kick," because your knees don't flex in the direction gravity is working. The TI "buddy system" of tow-and-release can also be helpful in correcting inefficient kicking habits. The least-effective (but most instinctive) response to a nonpropulsive kick is to kick harder. While being towed by a partner, it's much easier to focus on kicking gently; maintaining a long, supple line from hip to toes; and on keeping your feet inside your torso's "shadow." After release, keep your kick as it was while being towed. Towing and Vertical Kicking are illustrated in the Freestyle Made Easy DVD.
Stretching This won't do anything for coordination, but can moderately improve the range of motion in your ankles. It won't suddenly turn you into a fast, easy kicker.
Will fins help?
The primary benefit of fins is that the blade will flex easily, compensating for the ankle that won't. In order for the kick to be propulsive, something has to flex, in order to move the water, similar to the pitched blades of a propeller. When your ankle refuses, it's only natural for your knee to substitute. That only makes the problem worse. First because a right-angle knee causes your lower leg to protrude from your slipstream - turning the leg into another source of drag. Second it triggers the pawing action of a runner's kick - which causes you to go backward. With fins on your feet - and your body on its side - pretty soon you're helping both flexibility and coordination.
Should I use fins in drills?
The Sweet Spot pause in every TI drill helps your
4. Try to follow a laser-like line as you rotate from nose up to nose down and back again.
Common Questions about Kicking
Why do I go backward when kicking and drilling?
Inflexible ankles are the most common cause and triathloning "adultonset" swimmers are the classic case. We all lose flexibility as we age (unless you follow a dedicated stretching or yoga program) and if you didn't start swimming young you may spend 20 to 40 years gradually losing ankle flexibility. Years of running usually accelerate the stiffening. If you started swimming young, and continued, that's usually sufficient to maintain ankle flexibility.
The second cause is simple lack of coordination. The correct flutter-kicking action is counter-intuitive. Your other kicking experiences (soccer balls, tires, your kid brother) teach you to kick with about 90 degrees of knee flexion. But an efficient flutter kick uses only about 30 degrees; the kick happens mostly from the hip flexor and quadriceps. Kids learn it fairly spontaneously; the adult-onset swimmer often has to consciously unlearn incorrect habits in order to learn the right way.
How do I fix it?
Three ways have proven to work best:
Vertical kicking. This won't do much for flexibility but it is effective for learning coordination. Float vertically with arms folded across your chest, mouth just above the water. If you feel yourself sinking, tuck a pull buoy under each armpit, or hug a kickboard to your chest. Focus on keeping a long line from hip to toes as you kick. Your leg should be long and supple, never rigid. Use the muscles at the top of your thigh, moving your whole leg like a pendulum. (A good exercise for beginners: Sit on the edge of the pool and try to move the water solidly back and forth with an almost-straight leg, mainly using ankle flexion and extension to move the water forward and back. Try "stirring" the water with one foot to develop a bit more awareness of how to feel the water with your feet.) Practice vertical kicking for several periods of 15 or more seconds, resting for a similar amount of time. Then kick with the same feeling in the side position below.
Side kicking (and towing) Any time you're kicking in Sweet Spot, you're a lot less likely to use a "bicycle kick," because your knees don't flex in the direction gravity is working. The TI "buddy system" of tow-and-release can also be helpful in correcting inefficient kicking habits. The least-effective (but most instinctive) response to a nonpropulsive kick is to kick harder. While being towed by a partner, it's much easier to focus on kicking gently; maintaining a long, supple line from hip to toes; and on keeping your feet inside your torso's "shadow." After release, keep your kick as it was while being towed. Towing and Vertical Kicking are illustrated in the Freestyle Made Easy DVD.
Stretching This won't do anything for coordination, but can moderately improve the range of motion in your ankles. It won't suddenly turn you into a fast, easy kicker.
Will fins help?
The primary benefit of fins is that the blade will flex easily, compensating for the ankle that won't. In order for the kick to be propulsive, something has to flex, in order to move the water, similar to the pitched blades of a propeller. When your ankle refuses, it's only natural for your knee to substitute. That only makes the problem worse. First because a right-angle knee causes your lower leg to protrude from your slipstream - turning the leg into another source of drag. Second it triggers the pawing action of a runner's kick - which causes you to go backward. With fins on your feet - and your body on its side - pretty soon you're helping both flexibility and coordination.
Should I use fins in drills?
The Sweet Spot pause in every TI drill helps your
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