Hi! I'm new here and have been browsing the posts. In the topic "Dragging" it was noted that legs don't give a lot of speed. Is that true? To increase the workout my legs and arms get, I do four laps using just my kick and another four using just arm stroking. I notice that my arms move me across the pool much faster than my legs. This seems weird to me, because the muscles in my legs are much larger and heavier than those in my arms. Is this really normal, or have I got a very defective kicking technique? If so, how do I improve it?

Thanks!
Donna

OK. It IS true that legs do not give a lot of speed.In a proper technique they give around 20-30% of the overall speed.It IS normal, because the path of the arms underwater is WAY too long than the legs'.The main use of legs in swimming is to keep the body horizontal and give a little bit of speed.If we could spin our legs on 360 degrees,just as our arms, they would have given us more speed than the arms because the leg muscules are much stronger.

(Nov 30, 2011 11:33am)mastapeace Wrote:  OK. It IS true that legs do not give a lot of speed.In a proper technique they give around 20-30% of the overall speed.It IS normal, because the path of the arms underwater is WAY too long than the legs'.The main use of legs in swimming is to keep the body horizontal and give a little bit of speed.If we could spin our legs on 360 degrees,just as our arms, they would have given us more speed than the arms because the leg muscules are much stronger.

---

Hi mastapeace:

Thanks for the reply! That totally makes sense. I'm learning this on my own and don't have access to critique, so I was concerned; I really want the most possible out of my workouts. Now I do some of my kick laps with fins and the propulsion is much stronger. Don't want to get totally in the habit of doing that, though, and I still want my technique to get stronger.d Again, thanks!

You know, I'm actually more of an "arms" kind of girl but I find that when I start to focus and utilize my legs (since the arms seemed to be mindless) my speed picks up significantly. Not just a little...but significantly Pay attention to your body and asked yourself if you are actually using as muscle as you could be. I find some good tips at http://www.lanemates.com; check it out...if anything I get some coupons on swim gear.