Swim Kick Drill

How to do it

1. Push off into a streamlined position on your front with the body long and the head neutral.
2. Hold your hands extended ahead of you, or on a board, so the arms take no part in propulsion.
3. Point the toes and keep the ankles loose so the feet can whip through the water.
4. Start each down-kick from the hip, letting the knee bend follow and the ankle finish the movement.
5. Bring the leg back up with almost no knee bend, keeping the feet just under the surface.
6. Kick at a quick rate over a small range for the length of the drill, then reset and repeat.

Common mistakes

• Starting the kick from the knee, which turns it into a bicycle motion and kills the whip action.
• Kicking too big, which creates far more drag than the extra propulsion is worth.
• Bringing the feet above the surface, where they move air instead of water and produce nothing.
• Kicking with rigid ankles, which stops the foot acting as a surface and wastes the down-kick.