Fast kickers are fast swimmers. Kick things up in the pool with this swim workout designed to help you build a fast kick while swimming.
Swimming fast, whether it’s on race day or at the tail end of a brutal main set, requires a blend of technique, endurance, and strength.
Moving through the water as efficiently as possible is the name of the game, and an area where many swimmers struggle is with the kick.
They kick too little. Too much. Or cannot carry over the fast kicking they can do with a kickboard with full swimming.
The swim workout below, which I did recently, seeks to solve some of the challenges swimmers face when it comes to building a strong kick that can generate faster swimming.
The workout will:
- Challenge you to kick hard and fast while swimming (and on a kickboard).
- Build your six-beat kick conditioning.
- Force you to be Johnny-on-the-Spot with split taking.
- Leave your face warm and flush for several hours post-workout.
Let’s get right into the workout.
The Six-Beat Kick Swim Set
Longtime readers of my blog know how much I like kick-swim combo sets.
Whether it is doing a long series of 100s (50 kick, 50 swim) for general conditioning, or cranking up the speed with 50s all-out (25 kick, 25 swim), this type of swim training is an excellent way to teach swimmers how to kick FAST when swimming.
Here’s the full swim workout, which can be adjusted by distance and interval according to your ability and is designed to teach you to swim with a six-beat kick:
Warm-Up
600 swim/kick by 100 with swim fins. Build the last 25 of each 100 kick to strong.
Main Set
6×100 kick/swim by 50 on 2:00
- Note the time fastest 50 of kick
- The 50s kick should be fast
- Kick with the same intensity while swimming
200 backstroke swim easy with fins
12×50 as 1 kick, 1 swim on 1:00
- The 50s kick should be faster than the fastest 50 kick split from the 100s. Note the time of the fastest 50.
- The swim 50s are all with a six-beat kick
200 backstroke swim easy with fins
24×25 as 2 kick, 2 swim all FAST on :40
- For the 25s kick, go faster than half of the fastest 50 from the previous round. For example, if the fastest 50 kick from the previous round was 40 seconds, aim to kick faster than 20 seconds per 25.
- Aim to be 100 race pace for the 25s swim.
200 backstroke swim easy with fins
Set Notes:
- More conditioned swimmers can increase the distance with each round. As detailed above, each round is 600m. More advanced swimmers can increase it to 800m or more (i.e. 8×100, 16×50, 32×25).
- The primary goal of the set is leg conditioning specific to full swimming. Kick fast on the board, but also kick fast and with a six-beat kick when you transition to swimming.
- Stretch lots for this workout; the legs take a beating. Include dynamic stretches beforehand, including ankle circles, front and lateral leg swings. (See also: 8 Essential Stretches for Swimmers)
- This is a calorie-buster of a swim workout. If you swim strictly for fitness, the increased metabolic demands of kicking hard are a fantastic workout. My face was still red and warm hours after completing this workout.
Total Distance: 3,000m
Time elapsed: ~70 minutes
Why You Should Train the Kick More Often
Fast kickers are fast swimmers.
Research with competitive swimmers shows that as leg kick performance improves, so does swimming performance.
According to a study with 23 national-level swimmers, the kick contributed to 29.7% (males) and 33.4% (females) of total propulsion when performing all-out tethered swimming.
See also: 9 Best Kickboards for Swimmers
And another study showed that a strong kick helps to create a stiff trunk and improved body position in the water, which reduces drag and creates a more hydrodynamic profile when swimming.
Adding more kick training to your swimming, especially swim-specific kick training, can help you take your swimming to new levels.
To understand how a six-beat kick helped Michael Phelps become one of the greatest freestylers in history, check out this story of how he stubbornly mastered a six-beat kick freestyle in training.
More Swim Workouts and Sets
15 Swimming Workouts for Every Type of Swimmer and Goal. Looking for the best collection of swim workouts around? Check out this big list of workouts for every type of swimmer and goal.
6 Sprint Swim Workouts for Bringing the Thunder. Crank up the speed and power with six sprint swimming workouts from some of the fastest swimmers on the planet.
7 Kick Sets for Swimmers. Level up your swimming with these seven kick sets for a stronger and more powerful kick in the pool.
5 Sets of Improving Underwater Dolphin Kick. Ready to power up your underwaters? Dive into our favorite swim sets for improving the underwater dolphin kick.
ABOUT OLIVIER POIRIER-LEROY
Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national-level swimmer, author, swim coach, and certified personal trainer. He’s the author of YourSwimBook, a ten-month logbook for competitive swimmers.
He’s also the author of the recently published mental training workbook for competitive swimmers, Conquer the Pool: The Swimmer’s Ultimate Guide to a High-Performance Mindset.
It combines sport psychology research, worksheets, anecdotes, and examples of Olympians past and present to give swimmers everything they need to conquer the mental side of the sport.
Ready to take your mindset to the next level in the pool?
Click here to learn more about Conquer the Pool.