4.1. What does a proper freestyle kick look like?

Have you ever tried kicking freestyle legs? Just legs without arms? And did it work for you?

If yes, then you’re in the luckier half and your legs can be your next small driving force in freestyle. If not, our course will show you how to squeeze the most out of them so they’re not two anchors but two boats. Without an engine.

It’s important to understand that unlike breaststroke, where toes point outward, in freestyle we try to keep our toes pointing inward. In breaststroke, the feet are flexed, while in freestyle they’re in extreme extension.

And one of these variations feels more natural to everyone.

I don’t want to categorize anyone, but from experience, soccer players or ultra-runners often have more difficulty with freestyle kicks because they have very firm ankles and tight ligaments, whereas for swimming we need them to be completely flexible.

Kicking might also be harder for those of you who’ve been swimming breaststroke all your life and that breaststroke kick keeps interfering because it’s an ingrained pattern. Or if you have a walking style with toes pointing outward, it will probably be harder to turn them inward.

But don’t worry, absolutely anyone can learn it – some will get it right away, others after a bit of practice.

Freestyle legs are alternating kicks that originate from the hips, never from the knees. The range of the kick is about 40 centimeters from the surface to depth, no more – so we don’t create resistance, but it’s not frantic mini-fluttering either. The entire almost-straight leg kicks, which we don’t bend at the knee ourselves – it’s only bent by water resistance because the leg should be relaxed, not stiff and stretched.

It’s important that the kick is performed with the whole leg and especially with the instep.

When kicking, we shouldn’t pierce the bottom with our toes, but try to kick against the bottom with our instep.

That’s why we want flexible and supple ankles, to be able to achieve that proper extension. We definitely don’t keep those ankles stiffly extended all the time – the water resistance actually bends them into extension when we kick with the whole leg toward the bottom. The entire kick looks like a fin, it’s a whip-like motion, as if you were flicking off an ant.

To understand the importance of those ankles, try to guess how quickly a professional swimmer can kick 50m with proper freestyle legs – just legs without arms – and how quickly they would kick 50m with toes pointed downward.

With proper kicking technique, they can reach the other side of a 50m pool in about 40 seconds or faster. With toes pointing down, they’ll never get there because they’ll be moving backward. To avoid moving backward, your toes must always point inward and be extended but relaxed.

This lesson is one of the few that is accessible to the public.

To download the SWIMBOOK, please check the lesson before or after this one.