Do you use a kick board and kick drills in your swimming practice? If so, how do you use it? As a warm up? For strengthening your legs? Why?
Forums » General Training » Swimming
Do you use kick boards?
(2 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
-
Brad, I try to use a kick board and kick drills at least once a week, depending on the availability of a pool. I kick the entire work out, generally about an hour. I had been doing scissor kicks and freestyle kicks, but have recently switched to freestyle only.
I'm noticing a marked increase in my leg strength, my endurance, and my times since switching to the kick drills. I can't say for certain that the kick drills are solely responsible for the change, as I've moved to a run, bike, and swim routine, but at the very least I don't face the monotony of two or three days of doing laps in the pool.
I balance the kick drills with pull drills (arms only) and laps, though I have slacked on the full arms and legs laps due to limited access to a pool during the week. The pull drills have allowed me the freedom to work on my breathing technique. Of all the things I've done, breathing practice has helped the most.
The kick drills also allow me to work on my kicking technique. It feels strange to say that I kick wrong when I'm tired, but its true. When my legs get tired, I kick more from the knees and it just doesn't propel me as fast.
At some point I hope to add in some drills where I count the number of kicks and stokes used. The goal of the drill is to use one less stroke on each lap. This is supposed to teach you to glide more through the water, but this seems to be a bit to advanced for me: I still have to pay attention or I forget to breath or, worse yet, ram my head into the wall.
Posted 1 year ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.
