The best Freestyle Kicking Pattern for Triathletes
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
“The design is finished not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”
Kicking has Multiple Functions in the Freestyle Swim
The kick can help rotate the body, create forward movement, and provide lift in the back end. Each swimmer needs to understand how their kick is fitting in to their stroke, what benefit it’s giving them and how they can improve it. Some folks will use kicking to keep the back end up, while in the mean time they are pushing down on the front of the water with their stroke. If they were to fix the front end, the back end could be repurposed and the same energy used would help them go faster. Yet in many swim squads, as long as the athlete is doing a continuous or 6 beat kick the coach is happy, and hopes over time they’ll get better at it.
Kick Removed equals the popular “band swimming” drill
If you take the above quote to the extreme and “take away” all the leg movements you’re left with the ever popular “band” swimming or no kick swimming, which helps teach swimmer how to quiet the legs, create good balance in the front half and identify the core muscles better.
Progress from there to 2 beat kicking which adds additional rotational component and not a lot of lift. A 4 beat may provide more lift and compensate for balance asymmetries at various stroke points (sun yang uses a 4 beat on his breathing cycle) and often a 2 beat on non -breathing for example.
Progressing again, a well timed 6 beat kick provides rotation as well as propulsion. Each step also uses more energy and is less efficient when comparing energy spent for forward movement produced. Having the technical ability to choose your kick strategically based on energy management as well as swim speed in a triathlon is a high level goal for any triathlete.
How much Energy should Triathletes spend in the Swim?
No one suggests that a triathlete should go all out on the bike portion of a tri, or that their best tri run split should be equal to their best standalone run split. Yet many swim-centric triathlon or masters coaches will suggest swimming with a 6 beat kick during a triathlon. This inconsistency in energy expenditure is baffling.
So why the inconsistency in suggesting a 6 beat or flutter kick… is it best for a triathlete because it will result in the best speed ? It may be faster when done well…but also uses more energy than a 2 beat kick. If a triathlete needs to manage energy across 3 sports, why not use kick timing as an energy management strategy and opt for a 2 beat kick more often?
Why not spend time developing both a 2 and a 6 so you have choices? After all, you train in more than one bike gear too, right?
Triathletes Should get Confident with Multiple Patterns for Maximum Choices while Racing.
It seems like the same coaches who advise against a 2 Beat Kick are also gung-ho for the “band” swimming drill. In this drill an elastic band is placed around the ankles to remove the kick, and force the athlete to focus on balance and the front end of the stroke. I think it’s also an excellent drill…especially when it can be done as a no-kick drill withOUT the band! Learnign to control the legs adequately and keep them closely streamlined without having a restricting band, also teaches the swimmer how to control the legs while kicking in any pattern.
If the kick is a progression of frequency from no kicking to a rapid flutter kick, then a 2, 4 & 6 beat kick all fall along this spectrum. It’s incongrunent to prescribe band drills but proscribe the two beat kick. Practice all types and expand your options while getting faster as well.
Some examples of Elite Swimmers & Their Kicks…
Here’s a fast female with a 2 beat kick from what I can tell… honesty with a tempo that fast I don’t know how she’d fit in 4 or 6 beats. This is the incomparable Janet Evans, a 5’0″ powerhouse champion.
Here is Katie Ledecky, World Record Holder in the 1500m at her performance in the 2015 World championship. This is a great video to wtach because she displays a variety of kick patterns including 2, 4 & 6 beat. her 4 beat kick is an asymmetric 1-3 kick, which means it resembles a 2 Beat kick on one half of the body and a 6 beat kick on the other half. Take a look and let me know what you see…
Here’s a great one of Katie Ledecky & Simone Manuel competing in the 200m race. Simone Manuel who I have written about before, is racing at the long end of her competitive ability, and Katie Ledecky is racing at the short end. Who do you think will win? Both are using 6 beat kicks here the entire way as far as I can tell. This shows that the distance can help determine the kick pattern. In the 1500m Ledecky kicks less often.
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”
What are your thoughts on the best kick timing for triathletes?
Image by <a href=”https://pixabay.com/users/tpsdave-12019/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=79592″>David Mark</a> from <a href=”https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=79592″>Pixabay</a>