(up-beat music)
- Today we'll be breaking down
the front crawl kick
and explaining exactly how to perform it.
A greatly improved kick is vital
for your overall propulsion in the water
and will help efficiency of your overall stroke.
The key areas which are often overlooked
when it comes to front crawl kick are the ankles and hips.
The hips are the driving force
behind the stroke
with your glutes doing lots of the work in combination
with your quads and hip flexors.
At the other end of your leg,
your ankle needs to be as relaxed and flexible as possible.
Picturing the action is a good starting point.
As your leg moves up and down
there needs to only be a slight movement at the knee
and a gentle flex and extension as it response
to the drive coming from your hip.
Your ankle and foot will naturally extended and flex
to the pressure of the water
combined with the muscle contraction.
This is where the propulsion actually comes from.
Let's think of the kick in two halves,
the downward propulsive phase and the upward phase.
The downward phase begins with hip flexion
as you push your leg downwards you decrease the angle
at the front of the hip.
Your leg will naturally flex at the knee
but try to limit too much flexion here.
When your thigh finishes its initial movement,
your lower leg needs to catch up.
So you need to extend your knee.
This downward force will cause
your foot and ankle to extent,
and it's this movement that gives the propulsion.
At the end of the day downward phase,
your leg should be straight
and at its lowest point in the water.
From here you need to return your leg to just below
the surface ready for the next propulsive phase.
As soon as your foot and leg are extended,
you should initiate this upward movement.
Your glutes will extend your hips and the pressure
of the water will naturally keep your knee straight,
cause your ankle to flex
and also provide a little propulsion.
Once your leg is straight and flat in the water,
it's time to return to the downward phase.
It should be a smooth transition between each.
The kick is continuous but the speed or rate of each kick,
depends on how dominant you want your kick to be.
The rate of kick is measured
in relation to each arm stroke cycle.
You'll either use two, four or six kicks
per double arm cycle.
However you don't need to be bobbed down with the numbers
as you'll naturally find the right way for you.
It is worth noting that the leg kick also helps with
stability during the stroke as well as propulsion.
With this in mind, the other leg always needs to
be doing the opposite movement.
Keeping the depth of the kicks small is important.
If you start to make a large kicking action,
it is likely to off-balance you
and can cause over-rotation,
even leading to something known as scissor kick.
Also, the larger the kick movement,
the more water you'll have to move in each direction
making your kick less efficient.
Having a small knee bend is equally important.
Excessive movement of this joint not only ads resistance,
but if bringing your ankle too far towards your bottom
you could even end up
pulling your body backwards in the water.
To think of keeping the kick shallow,
only your heels should break the surface
and that is only when you're kicking hard.
As well as thinking of keeping your leg movement small
in the vertical movement,
you want to keep them close together
so that your feet are almost touching.
This will make you more streamlined.
Professional swimmers' feet are almost touching
and you'll notice their toes are angled in slightly.
This enables them to maximize the range of movement
at the ankle.
Flexible ankles are important.
If there's limited movement at this joint,
it will seriously reduce the propulsion from your kick.
Your ankles need to be soft whilst keeping your toes pointed
during the downward phase.
Perfecting your kick will make you more efficient
overall as a swimmer.
Once you've mastered it, it will become second nature
so I recommend planning in some pure kick isolated efforts
and drills into your training now.
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