Leg Action

1tony

Hi
Ive been getting swimming lessons for about 8 weeks now and although i feel ive greatly improved i dont seem to be able to get the leg kick right. I fall behind the class by up to 1/2 a length in 4 when doing leg only exercises while when the legs are supported (using arms only) i tend to be ahead of the posse by double that

any comments / suggestions greatly appreciated
tony

speedo

You really should ask your swimming instructor to take a look at your leg action. One would have to see just what you are doing in the water. One possible cause is your body position - if you are lifting your upper body high this will cause your legs to sink and act as an anchor. You need to get your hips and legs high in the water by adopting a streamlined position. the feet should be plantar flexed (stretched backwards towards the calf)with toes pointed inwards, again if the feet are facing downward they will act like anchors. The kick is made from the hip with the feet working close together. The ankles should be loose not tense. letting the feet lift out of the water is another problem, the heels should just break the surface. Hope this is helpful.

ician

1tony wrote: »

Hi
Ive been getting swimming lessons for about 8 weeks now and although i feel ive greatly improved i dont seem to be able to get the leg kick right. I fall behind the class by up to 1/2 a length in 4 when doing leg only exercises while when the legs are supported (using arms only) i tend to be ahead of the posse by double that

any comments / suggestions greatly appreciated
tony

Hey, the main problem I see with people's kicks usually are one of a few things.

A lot of people seem to do a big wide kick, you want your kick to be a small fast kick, hence the name flutter kick.

Another problem you see is people bending their knees a whole lot. Your kick should be coming from your hips, that doesn't mean your keep your legs completely rigid and straight, be relaxed, but the power comes from the hips.

90% of people have body position problems though, more than likely when your doing kick drills your shoulders and head are too high and your legs too low. This is common when using a kick board, if the drills require them which would be unfortunate as they promote bad body position, but just try and raise your hips and legs to the surface, putting your face in the water and looking to the bottom of the pool may help.

You are probably swimming in this type of position (/) creating a lot of drag when you want to be in a more streamlined position (---) like so.

Practice is important too, the kick comes from your hip flexors, which is a muscle generally not used so rigorously out of the pool. The reason your probably ahead in the arms only work is because the pull buoy is raising your legs putting you in a better body position. Work on full stroke and don't rely on the buoy. A more submerged head position will raise your legs.

1tony

Thanks for that,
most of it make sense and is what i am generally doing wrong esp feet apart; / position etc. Can I ask a couple of other things...
1. Are you recommending that I forget about the floats? and just practice the full action?
I presume this also includes training flippers.
2. Im a bit peed with instructer so have decided to leave the class (doing the marathon soon anyway so will get a new instructer / class in next couple of weeks). This is because he seems to move on at his own pace regardless of level / quality. I mean there are 3 levels each with (normally) 3 people. But it seems like its a case of "its week 7 so that means...." but he doesnt seem to realise that (esp in the beginners) 2 of the 3 are on week 1...(it just occured to me that this is quite a high turnover)
3. Also is it normal for beginners doing 2 classes per week for 1 of the classes to be doing endurance / speed work / lifesaving (such as towing someone behind you). I would have thought that this level should be technique - technique - technique?
4. When I say beginner, i must point out that my (former) instructer was definate that a beginner getting "coaching" is not the same as a beginner "learning" to swim....he obviously coaching me!!!

Anyway didnt mean to rant (as much) and thanks for any opinions

ician

1tony wrote: »

Thanks for that,
most of it make sense and is what i am generally doing wrong esp feet apart; / position etc. Can I ask a couple of other things...
1. Are you recommending that I forget about the floats? and just practice the full action?
I presume this also includes training flippers.
2. Im a bit peed with instructer so have decided to leave the class (doing the marathon soon anyway so will get a new instructer / class in next couple of weeks). This is because he seems to move on at his own pace regardless of level / quality. I mean there are 3 levels each with (normally) 3 people. But it seems like its a case of "its week 7 so that means...." but he doesnt seem to realise that (esp in the beginners) 2 of the 3 are on week 1...(it just occured to me that this is quite a high turnover)
3. Also is it normal for beginners doing 2 classes per week for 1 of the classes to be doing endurance / speed work / lifesaving (such as towing someone behind you). I would have thought that this level should be technique - technique - technique?
4. When I say beginner, i must point out that my (former) instructer was definate that a beginner getting "coaching" is not the same as a beginner "learning" to swim....he obviously coaching me!!!

Anyway didnt mean to rant (as much) and thanks for any opinions

To answer the first question. Pull buoys and kick boards really shouldn't be used very much when learning technique as they make put you in "unnatural" body positions.

With the pull buoy your legs and hips are more buoyant giving you a really good high body position hence why some people rely on them when swimming. They instead should focus on their head position which will then raise their hips and legs.

Fins can be really useful but if you are using them to practice a flutter kick you should be using zoomers rather than the big fins which are useful for practicing a fly kick. I just see boards, buoys and fins as being training tools rather than tools for teaching.

Also to add to your point about about speed work and endurance, this is completely pointless. No idea why they are doing that? Maybe to appease the people who see the classes as a way to get fit. But this will hurt your technique rather than help it.

1tony

Again - thanks,
i suppose i wanted comfort in deciding to get new instructer and that i wasnt a (complete) turd, i guess a lot of people use it as either a way of getting fit as you say or just go with the flow as everyone else is doing it.
It just seems absurd to be honest, you dont train for the marathon by either running 15 miles day one or sprinting every seesion and you dont learn to box / martial arts by sparring every nite.
No matter what you do you need to work on the basics probably most of the time and i'd say your probably right about the traing aids, i'll give it a go for a few weeks anyway and hopefully i wont be on again about Instructer Ician!!!!
will keep you posted on progress