Kick timing is an important but often-overlooked aspect of freestyle. But when your swimmers discover the right kick timing connected to hip rotation, they can tap into previously unavailable core power to drive themselves forward faster with far less effort.

I usually describe kick timing to swimmers by comparing it to the more familiar, upright, terra firma counterparts of walking, jogging, or running. When you’re walking or running, as your left leg swings forward your right arm swings forward as counterbalance. The same is true for the opposite side: when the right leg swings forward, the left arm also swings forward. We’ve acquired this instinctive diagonal timing since taking our first steps as infants.

But put a human in a horizontal position in an aquatic environment and the instinctive diagonal left-right/right-left sync is fleeting or disappears altogether. Worse, swimmers isolating their legs only by using a kickboard or arms only when using a pull-buoy further disengage the core and coordination of their arm strokes with leg kicks. Legs and arms are not mutually exclusive departments and must be trained to work together, not independently.

Click here to read more of this post …