'sup guys

[christoffe112]

'Sup guys, I'm wanting desperately to improve both my scissor kick, and my flutter...is there any way that I could do this? It just doesn't feel that strong. I've been told that I need to use a kickboard, but I just feel there's more than that.
You see, my dilemna is that I have a partner...a BUD/s wannabe like me that is about 6'4'' and can swim freestyle so fast. I can keep up with him for about 50m, but then after that, it's like he sprouts gills, and just begins to lap me around 1000m. I'm 5'7'', and he says that it's either his kick is that-much stronger, his arms are longer (thus enabling him to pull further), or that it's his kick off of the wall...I would like to know how I could simply improve my freestyle and side stroke technique/form. Now I'm very well aware that in BUD/s, the basic stroke is sidestroke. In my opinion, being comfortable in the water means being comfortable with every stroke possible as well as being mentally comfortable (if that makes any sense)!
As far as our overall fitness, I'm right there everytime with our runs, and our calisthenics...and it is somewhat discouraging to me to see myself struggling with swimming(in swimming, I mean keeping up with him). I just feel that I have the capabilities to be right there with him, and would really like to expand my abilities to bang out the swims right there next to him.
Thanks for everything guys, I really appreciate it. Hopefully I will get some really good stuff...I'm open to anything...tips, exercises, etc....Thanks again
~~~Chris

[boredatwork]

I am a lifeguard so I hope that gives me some creditability. With the scissor kick your power comes when you bring your feet/legs back together. Make sure you are pointing your toes. Don’t let your legs separate when you bring them back together that will cause drag and slow you down. Hope that helps some if you need more help let me know be more then willing to help. Good luck

[Illmaxic]

all you gotta do is put in work son. you get out what you put in. work on your form, you don't need a kickboard. you just need to keep practicing. they don't say practice makes perfect for nothing. don't quit, work hard, put out!!!

[ian.zapotocky]

Its hard to say what he's doing compared to what youre doing without watching your form but I'll try to give some tips. Make sure you are extending your body fully...i mean really stretching out your body to make it streamline. Being streamline and reducing drag is everything on long swims. Every movement and every stroke should be as smooth and effortless as possible. Make sure youre keeping your hips up in the water. A big mistake swimmers make is letting their lower body sink down which in turn creates a lot of drag. The more horizontal in the water the better. keeping your hips up and head down will keep you horizontal instead of being a vertical cork in the water. Speed up on the turns. Flip turns are critical for pool swimming. The turns is where good swimmers will leave avg swimmers in the dust. Just practice and make sure you explode off the wall and get a good glide before you start your stroke again. Breathing is very important. make sure your getting good exhalation. dont forget to exhal! If you can breath every other stroke. ie 1,2,3,4 breathe, 1,2,3,4 breathe. Remember man, when you get to bud/s it all evens out when people put fins and gear on. Dont get too wrapped up in freestyle. its very good exercise but you will never use it in any combat diving. Concentrate on being really comfortable in the water and practicing breath holding never hurts. hope it helps, keep practicing and let me know if you have anymore questions.

iz

[ian.zapotocky]

Its hard to say what he's doing compared to what youre doing without watching your form but I'll try to give some tips. Make sure you are extending your body fully...i mean really stretching out your body to make it streamline. Being streamline and reducing drag is everything on long swims. Every movement and every stroke should be as smooth and effortless as possible. Make sure youre keeping your hips up in the water. A big mistake swimmers make is letting their lower body sink down which inturn creates a lot of drag. The more horizontal in the water the better. keeping your hips up and head down will keep you horizontal instead of being a vertical cork in the water. Speed up on the turns. Flip turns are critical for pool swimming. The turns is where good swimmers will leave avg swimmers in the dust. Just practice and make sure you explode off the wall and get a good glide before you start your stroke again. Breathing is very important. make sure your getting good exahlation. dont forget to exhal! If you can breath every other stroke. ie 1,2,3,4 breathe, 1,2,3,4 breathe. Remember man when you get to bud/s it all evens out when people put fins and gear on. Dont get too wrapped up in freestyle. its good exercise but you will never use it in any combat diving. Concentrate on being really comfortable in the water and breath holding never hurts. hope it helps, keep practicing and let me know if you have anymore questions.

[StoicSean]

Some good advice here, even what Ill said except for the kickboard part :D. The secret to having a good freestyle kick is to relax your leg and to sort of flow through the kick. Let me try to paint a good picture. Rmember watching cartoons and someone is running away on the carpet? Then someone on the other end would grab the carpet and flick it up in the air causing a wave to go through it. Imagine your leg being the carpet, and starting the wave at your hip. With a relaxed leg, start your kick and let it flow from your hips, over your thighs with a slight bend in your knee, keep the ankles relaxed so that when you push down with your leg, the water causes your feet to point.
Next time you go to the pool grab a kickboard and kick for 200 metres. If your kick is perfect you shouldn't have any real trouble, but if its inefficient you will tire quickly or not even move at all.
Google is your friend, try looking up freestyle and try to find vids on youtube and look at how some of the faster swimmers kick.
Good luck