Developing the Perfect Freestyle Kick

It is no coincidence that the best freestyle (front crawl) swimmers across the world have an amazingly strong, powerful leg kick.

As much as the freestyle stroke is predominately powered by the arms and upper body, and only relies on the leg kick for a small amount of overall forward propulsion (around 10 to 15% and even less for novice and weaker swimmers), without a strong leg kick, you are at a disadvantage.  The perfect freestyle kick can generate better balance, drive body rotation and lift the whole body higher in the water. Triathletes generally aim to kick less in their freestyle swimming stroke but without any kick, the body position is affected and as the legs can drop. To swim faster, you need to put the leg work in during your swim training and also develop leg strength in the gym.

Benefits of a strong freestyle kick

1. Increases propulsion and speed 
2. Creates a more streamlined (horizontal) body position
3. Boosts power in driving hip and body rotation
4. Stabilises the counter rotation as the body rolls back down
5. Supports the arm stroke in generating power
6. Improves (even creates) balance for novice swimmers
7. Helps power through a wave in open water swimming and triathlon swims
8. Helps accelerate away from the pack at the start of a triathlon and overtake swimmers
9. Promotes swimming in a straight line as the kick stops the legs moving left and right

​Tips to improve your freestyle kick
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1. Kick from the hips not the knees
2. Develop ankle flexibility
3. Stretch and lengthen the legs during kicking
4. Relax through the kick and release all tension
5. Dedicate more time to leg work in the pool (especially through off season training)
6. Increase sprint and explosive kick sets in the pool
7. Increase explosive leg work on land training (squats, burpees…etc)
8. Perfect leg and kick drills (including the use of fins in your training)

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