THE KICKING TOOLKIT: FUN DRILLS TO BUILD LEG POWER AND SPEED

Why bother improving your kick? Because without an effective and efficient kick, you will always struggle to swim smoothly. Your body balance and position depend on it.

But kicking practice doesn't have to be 30 minutes of boredom staring at a black line. In this post, I will share tips and specific drills to make your kicking sets more fun, challenging, and effective.

Dive Into: The Kicking Toolkit

• The Basics: Ditch the Board and Grab Zoomers
  • 🎥 Watch: How To Use Zoomers
  • 🎥 Watch: Kicking Mistakes Revealed
• Drill 1: The Never-Ending Wall Kick
• Drill 2: Whistle Kicking (Sprint/Easy)
• Drill 3: The "Shoe Kick" Challenge
• Drill 4: Vertical Kicking Variations
• Drill 5: Breaststroke on Your Back
• Drill 6: Stretch Cord Kick Set
• 🎥 Watch: Try This With Your Kickboard
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Basics: Ditch the Board and Grab Zoomers

Before we get to the drills, let's set some ground rules.

1. Lose the Kickboard Kicking without a kickboard is a must for the majority of your exercises. It forces you to focus on stabilizing your body using your core, improves your balance, and is much easier on your shoulders.

If you must use a board, cut it in half so it's smaller and makes you work harder. Also, try doing flip turns while keeping both hands on the board. It's a great core challenge.

2. Balance Your Kick Kick equally on your stomach and on your back. This helps exercise the opposing muscle groups (the backside of the leg), balancing out the muscles used in freestyle.

3. Use Short Fins (Zoomers) When using fins, opt for short fins or "zoomers." They help you create a faster, snappier kick, as opposed to the slow-moving motion of long fins. If you don't want to buy new ones, you can simply cut the tips off your old fins!

🎥 Watch: How to Use Zoomers

🎥 Watch: Kicking Mistakes Revealed

Here is a short video showing different types of flutter kicking.

Drill 1: The Never-Ending Wall Kick

This is a continuous endurance set.

• The Drill: Start kicking while holding the wall. Kick very easy for 15-30 seconds (recovery), then sprint for 15 seconds.
• The Turn: Immediately push off (or do a flip turn) and swim/kick to the other side. Grab the wall and continue kicking without stopping.
• The Set: Try 20x25 of this. You never stop kicking until the set is done. It is important that your recovery kicking is very slow, so you really recover.

Drill 2: Whistle Kicking (Sprint/Easy)

This exercise requires a partner or coach.

• The Drill: Select a distance (e.g., 500m) or a time (30 minutes). Begin kicking at an easy pace.
• The Trigger: When your friend blows the whistle, sprint as hard as you can. When the whistle blows again, slow down to a recovery pace, but keep moving. This variable intensity is great for conditioning.

  

Drill 3: The "Shoe Kick" Challenge

Strengthen your leg muscles without getting out of the water.

• The Drill: Get a pair of old tennis shoes (clean them first to not dirty up the pool!). Do 6x50m kicking with a board while wearing the shoes.
• Why it Works: The shoes add significant drag and weight. This resistance exercise strengthens your legs and definitely breaks up the monotony! Pick a slower interval for this one.

Drill 4: Vertical Kicking Variations

This is my personal favorite. You stay in one spot in the deep end, using only your kick to keep your head above water.

1. Sprint or Distance: Do short intervals of fly (dolphin) kicks as fast as you can. Count your kicks and try to increase the number each time. Or Alternatively, kick steady on a set interval, keeping an even pace.
2. Posturing: Kick with your arms in streamline, on your head, or at your sides. Keep your neck tall and wrinkle-free. Do not look up to the ceiling. Your eyes point straight ahead.
3. Weighted: Hold a bucket of water or a medicine ball above your head to add resistance.
4. Push-Offs: Push off the bottom as hard as possible in a streamline kicking butterfly. As you fall back down, fight hard not to sink deep underwater.

Drill 5: Breaststroke on Your Back

This is great for fixing knee position.

• The Drill: Lie on your back in a streamline and perform powerful breaststroke kicks.
• The Focus: Keep your body flat on the surface. Your knees should stay underwater at all times, do not let them break the surface. Your heels should come up almost to your butt.

Drill 6: Stretch Cord Kick Set

Get some resistance work to make your kick more powerful.

• The Drill: Get a short stretch cord, attach it to the block, and have a set of explosive kicks off the wall. For example: 5x (30 sec sprint+30 sec rest).

This list should get you started on spicing up your kicking workouts.

Remember, kicking is all about your attitude. It doesn't have to be the dreaded part of practice. Mix it up with these drills and have fun!

Happy kicking.

🎥 Watch: Try This With Your Kickboard

And if you really do not want to get rid of your kickboard. Try at least something different.