CSS Help: Fix Your Kick

Do You Need Help with Your Kick and Glide?  Most Non-Swimming / Land Athletes Do...

KICK AND GLIDE- You cannot have a good glide without a strong kick and you cannot utilize an effective kick without a good streamlined body position (good glide). The kick and glide and essential to you creating a fast/efficient CSS. 

I prefer a scissor kick, and most land athletes who do not have well-developed breaststroke/frog kick muscles typically do as well.  The kick is your preference as well. You can do a scissor kick with the top leg moving forward during the kick on either side, OR you can do a breaststroke kick.  Up to you.  NOTE - You cannot swim with fins using a breaststroke kick. Eventually, you must use small scissor kicks or flutter kicks when swimming with fins. Some will use a dolphin kick when finning as well.  I tend to mix all of the kicks into longer swims and change sides every 5-10 minutes to change up the muscle groups working when the swims turn into more than an hour long. Watch this YouTube video of a great kick and streamline glide combo. 

TIPS: Do not do a giant leg spread to kick the scissor kick. The power does not come from the hips when doing the CSS without fins. It actually comes from whipping your legs closed from the knees down as quickly as you can. We do a drill called the "half-kick" drill for those who use too many hips (look like they are doing the splits) when they kick. Open the legs halfway and focus on more power from the knees down versus trying to open and close your legs at the hips fast. 

B-Skips - Think of the dynamic warmup of the B-Skip. This is how the top leg of the scissor kick should look and feel. 

Need Help with your Kick?  Try This Drill

The kick board drill works like this:

Repeat 10 times
Swim 25m with kickboard (any side)
Swim 50m without the kickboard CSS (focus on kick and glide)
Swim 50m freestyle

= 1250m workout - call it a warmup or cooldown for the 50-50, but put in more effective time in the water using these two drills/workouts, and you will crush the CSS.

@stewsmith50

Need to work on your scissor kick? Try this. 25 yards with a kickboard try to glide two seconds each kick. Swim 50 yards CSS repeat 5-10 times. #css

- Stew Smith CSS Coach

 

(here is a video of what kick board drill looks like)

Now - Get Into Swimming Shape with the 50-50

The 50-50 Workout (How It Works) - Here is a set of the 50-50 workout. Check it out. See the previous post for the actual warm-up, 10 sets of 50-50s, and cool down. 

Dude - You are not in Swimming Shape and practice with the 50-50 Swim workout below 4-6 times a week:

@stewsmith50 Here is a set of the 50-50 workout. Check it out. See the previous post for the actual warm-up, 10 sets of 50-50s, and cool down. #css #specops #swim ♬ original sound - Stew Smith CSS Coach

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