Light 6-beat

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Quoted message said:

I've been experimenting with a very gentle 6-beat kick. It's amazing
how much better it makes your stroke feel. But a couple comments:

1. Do you think a very light 6-beat kick is metabolically within reach
of most fitness swimmers?

I think we all agree that a big 6-beat like the one Larsen Jensen
employs is clearly something only the most gifted atheletes can
produce. But what about a real easy flutter. It's truly amazing how
much more tired it makes you when you choose not to use a broken rhythm
and instead, keep your legs moving throughout the stroke cycle, even if
the motion is small and gentle. I see some other fitness swimmers
using gentle 6-beats, but maybe they have a bigger engine than I do.

2. It ocurred to me that regardless of how much it smooths out the
stroke, that a weak 6-beat is probably not the way to go since elites
never seem to employ it. They use big 6-beats or broken rhythms. In
anotherwords, they always go big on the kicks.

Eric

I've tried a lighter kick recently as well. I found it leaves me gliding too
long to be of much use. I use it when warming up or just in for an easy
swim, but that's all.

Well now we're in deep water indeed 🙂

Gliding versus higher stroke rate. I agree with what you say
wholeheartedly. That is, if you don't kick to maintain a bit of
momentum, particularly after breathing, you naturally and instinctively
start pulling sooner. Maybe swimming isn't as hard as we make it out
to be sometimes - the body does what it's supposed to.

Eric

I have a question that might sound silly, but I've been thinking about
lately. Does your foot only act like a fin propelling you forward while
you swim, or does you whole leg act to propel you forward? If your
whole leg acts to propell you forward, then you may want to concentrate
on a deep kick starting from your hip vs a shorter fuster flutter kick.

Comments,

Andres

Quoted message said:

I have a question that might sound silly, but I've been thinking about
lately. Does your foot only act like a fin propelling you forward while
you swim, or does you whole leg act to propel you forward? If your
whole leg acts to propell you forward, then you may want to concentrate
on a deep kick starting from your hip vs a shorter fuster flutter kick.

Comments,

Andres

I use my hip primarily to make my foot flop, once if I'm not breathing,
3 times if I am.

It's like 6/8 rhythm with accents on 1st and 4th beat. For an alternate
breather like me it's: 1..4..123,4..1..456 etc.

Fortunately, it's automatic and I don't direct my kick. While watching
all kinds of kicks, it has seemed to me that one's legs kindly
compensate for the stroke. If I see an extremely wide kick, I look to
the breathing for the cause, a deep kick - high head. Whatever the kick,
it seems to be the effect of a cause higher up. So I usually suggest
ignoring the kick and paying more attention to head position, breathing,
wide or cross-over stroke.

ruth kazez

(off to the races. Danskin, Sandy Hook, N.J. drive today)

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I have a question that might sound silly, but I've been thinking about
lately. Does your foot only act like a fin propelling you forward while
you swim, or does you whole leg act to propel you forward? If your
whole leg acts to propell you forward, then you may want to concentrate
on a deep kick starting from your hip vs a shorter fuster flutter kick.

You cannot consider any part of the body separately. Each and every surface
bears on the water at all (well most, the small portion of the head and arms
can be partly excepted from this statement) times, and pressures exerted on
all those surfaces will have an effect on the travel of the swimmer thought
the water. Some surfaces will have a shape and orientation such that they
will have a greater effect for the same effort; but the amout of force
available and the desireability of the effect produced will vary, not only
with the individual, but also with time, the stroke technique, and the
particular point in the stroke motions, and quite probably other factors as
well.

As far as kicking is concerned, assuming tha you are speaking of the kick
commonly used in the stroke named Front Crawl, the foot, especially the part
of the foot known as the toes, is by far the best shaped and best placed to
propell the body forward, but the force it exerts is provided by motions of
the leg and thigh. Those parts, when moved so as to exert force with the
foot, could have effects themselves which may or may not be productive, in
terms of forward motion.

Generally speaking, a swimmer doing the Front Crawl stroke should, if
kicking is an individual element which the swimmer wishes to emphasise,
attempt to restrict the excursions of the thigh and leg while producing as
great a force at the foot consistent with the requirements of the other
parts of the body and the length of the swim.