Freestyle Kicks (Swimming)?

Question

Hi. I'm joined my high schools swim team and had my first practice today. We were told to do a 200 but i completely out of breath in my 3rd lap (25yrd pool). My legs were in such pain. I usually swim by pulling my legs in and kicking the water back...which is wrong.

Well back to my question.....Are the freestyle kicks suppose to propel you forward or just keep your legs up and streamlined? because every time i do the not-bending-your-knees-movement-from-hip... kick it really doesn't help me to go faster, am i doing something wrong? and if then what? ive already watched all kinds of swimming vids but they don't seem to help

Answer 1

The trick is to bend your knees SLIGHTLY. Some people just get the kick and some people don't.

My advice to you would be to get in the pool early/later than everyone else and work with just a kick board. Experiment with different kicks and try to get a feel for what works. I know people that have had a horrible kick but went 20.xx in the 50 free.

Answer 2

Kicking is definately done from the hips.  The knees do bend slightly but just because your legs need to to be loose not stiff and rigid when you kick.  The ankles flex, too.  Try kicking streamline without a board and you will have to eventually get your legs in the right motion and level to kick effectively.  Also, many people put too much effort into the down beat of the kick and not enough into the upbeat,  You have to kick equally in both directions.  Another thing to try is to use fins.  Get the fully rubber fins that go all around your foot like putting a shoe on.  Speedo and TYR make them.  TYR tend to run wider through the ball of the foot.  Speedos can be narrower.  They size just like shoes.  NO HARD PLASTIC ONES.  You propel by kicking from the hip, flexing the ankle and pushing down with one side of the fin and pressing up with the other.  It does not go forward and back from the tip (The edge above your toes)  The fins will correct your kicking problems.  Good luck!

Answer 3

It sounds like your doing half of a breaststroke kick. How you do a freestyle kick, is to kick normally, but lightly a (flutter kick) and you can bend your knees if you need to but, just try to kick with your legs. Keeping your legs up will help you a lot or you will end up pulling your weight down which will make you go slower.