I had seen the kick trainer on the NZ website for several years
and had wondered how well it worked. Great kicking is critical for
great swimming and great kickers, for the most part, are made and
not born, so a device to help swimmers kick better seems like a
great idea. It is difficult if not impossible to train swim kicking
outside of a swimming pool. I have spent many hours trying to think
of how to improve a kick out of the water. When I was in college, I
tried what I was sure was going to make me the best kicker in the
world. For a season, I did leg extensions, 500 a day with between
110-150 lbs until my quadriceps cried. I had to add extra padding
to the machine where my leg pressed against it to keep my lower
shin from bruising. I did this at least five days a week. All
season long, I never let up. But, at the end of the season, my kick
was virtually the same as it had been at the end of the previous
season.
I worked so hard on my kick because I understood just how
import a great kick was to fast swimming. But, my kick didn't
improve with all the dryland work because what I didn't understand
was what actually made a kick fast. I thought if my quads were
stronger, then I would increase the power in my kick and by doing
this, increase my speed and endurance. What I did do was increase
my ability to do leg extensions. I was really good at them. I'm
sure I was in the top ten of all the college swimmers in the
county, perhaps even #1.
It took several years before I understood why strengthening what
I thought was the primary muscle for kicking did not make me a
faster kicker. In the water, the kick is a very dynamic movement.
It's about moving water off the correct part of a foot (top and
bottom depending on where the foot is in the kick phase). A great
kick is not limited by muscle strength as I thought while I was in
college.
I'm not sure who invented the Kick Trainer, but it's easy
to understand why they did-for the same reasons and with the same
intentions I had when I was in college doing all those leg
extensions. The Kick Trainer was probably designed to fatigue the
quadriceps and hamstrings more than just kicking alone, and they do
tend to do this. Will this help swimmers kick better?
Maybe-certainly better than leg extensions. The important point is
whether using the Kick Trainer helps you or your swimmer. When used
as designed, the Kick Trainer is not for the weak kickers-but to
help good kickers become better.
I have found another use for the Kick Trainer, one I doubt was
ever considered during its design. For this purpose, it seems to
work better than anything else I have found. Many beginner (and
some moderate) level swimmers are prone to kick with a whip-kick
(breaststroke) motion rather than a flutter or dolphin kick.
Sometimes this occurs in both feet, sometimes only in one. Either
way, having one or more feet in a position where their toes are
pointed at the bottom of the pool (flexed at the ankle rather than
extended) is highly detrimental to good swimming. The Kick Trainer,
because of its design, pulls the heel and points the toe. This can
effectively eliminate this problem and help athletes swim
faster.
One session with a Kick Trainer is not magic and is unlikely to
instantly solve the problem. But, it will get the swimmer feeling
his kick and better understanding how the foot is supposed to press
against the water.