By Louis Tharp

Inflexible ankles plus poor kick are not remedied with high hips.

That’s like getting gay marriage out of Lawrence v Texas. It might happen, but it’ll take a long time and there are easier ways.

Louis,

Can you recommend drills that emphasize high hips? I have inflexible ankles and a poor kick, so I am always looking to increase my efficiency/streamline in order to swim faster.

Thanks.

Richard Chapkis, December 27, 2010

First, I’d like to ask you to engage in two positive activities.

1. Stop kicking when you swim. For now.

2. Point your toes three times a day — when you’re not in the water.

If you are defining your kick as poor, then I think a poor kick is worse than no kick, so dump it. For now. Triathletes can add foot movement as the final ingredient in an otherwise stellar swim technique. Before then it’s not a kick, it’s a valiant attempt by the brain to keep a triathlete from sinking.

Also, I assume you’re defining kick as something your feet do. It’s really something your hips do — those things you want to get to the top of the water which is a good goal to have.

So stop kicking and point your toes toward whomever is behind you.

But before you get over-involved in this second drill, pointing your toes, remember your foot has 26 bones and they break easily. Three times. Do this stretch three times a day. Hold it for about 10 seconds. That’s it. If you get a calf cramp you’re pointing too much. You can break bones in your feet by overdoing this stretch.

 Ok, back to the stop kicking part. Good luck with that. When you think you’re doing it, ask the person next to you if you are kicking. You are. It is virtually impossible to not kick at all. But the point of this drill is to tell your brain to stop your feet from moving.

The result will be that your feet will move a little less than before, and after a while, they will move a lot less and you’ll be a happier swimmer because your brain will be telling your muscles what to do, not the other way around.

There are ways to trick your feet into not moving.

You can wear this Speedo band thing around your ankles. It can be scary, but it will severely restrict your kick. If you’ve never used this deSade item before, do not use it in deep water. Be able to stand up if the fear factor gets in the way of the drill.

You can also place the bottom of one foot on the top of the other for a second or two while you swim.

You can also allow your ankles to touch.

And point your feet toward the wall. Easily. No cramping.

So what happens when you stop kicking and point your feet toward the wall by stretching your ankles?

You’ll sink like a stone.

And now we’ve gotten to the real issue. It’s not about kicking it’s about balance which, for you, is defined at this point in your swimming life, as high hips.

The problem now isn’t whether you can get your hips consistently high, your feet pointed and your kick nearly stopped. The problem is whether you are willing to go through the frustration necessary to reach this goal.

It’s like organic chemistry. The only reason it exists as one of the first medical school courses to determine who’s going to be a physician and who’s going to to law school.

Physicians revel in the hubris of passing organic chemistry — until they need a lawyer.

When I work with a swimmer who is working toward the high-hips goal, it usually takes five hours, and a customized progressive drill set.

Here are a few of the drills we do. They will be helpful, but without seeing exactly what you’re doing and modifying or inventing new positive steps, I can’t guarantee they will work perfectly. 

I’m assuming you’re a smart and patient person so here they are:

1. Push off from the wall. A streamlined pushoff with a strong glide. None of the typical triathlete head-up, bent elbow pushoff.

2. Take five strokes and go into a glide position that has one hand anchored at 45-degrees in front of you, the other hand resting lightly on your hip, your head in line with your body and looking up so you can breathe, and no kick.

3. As soon as any part of you starts to sink, take five more strokes, and then go into the same glide position.

4. Repeat until you want to drop-kick that moron using a pull buoy in the next lane.Yea, his hips are high with that appliance wedged between his thighs. So what? The more you do this five-stroke drill, the longer your glide will become. You want to maximize the time your hips are high and you are gliding.

5. Stretch. Focus on the leading hand and stretch it as far forward as you can. Feel the stretch in your shoulder and lats. The big secret here is that stretching will make your hips higher. Maybe not at the top of the water when you first start, but they will be higher and get higher the more you focus on this stretch.

Don’t forget this stretch feeling because it is this core body stretch that not only will keep your hips high, but is the first step to a productive kick — the kind that starts at your hips and ends with you swimming in the first pack.

 

 

 

 About:

Louis Tharp is a competitive age-group swimmer and a TI triathlon swim coach who is currently taking a few semesters off from West Point coaching in order to work one-on-one with Nicholas Sterghos, an ’09 West Point graduate and pro triathlete.

Louis Tharp’s book, "Overachiever’s Diary, How The Army Triathlon Team Became World Contenders" is available from Total Immersion.

Read a sample chapter and reviews from the top triathlon and swimming media at Overachiever’s Diary.

Buy Overachiever’s Diary by Louis Tharp on TI. Read a review of Overachiever’s Diary at active.com

His home pool is Club Fit, Briarcliff in Westchester County, New York.

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