As far as body alignment is concerned, kicking helps promote keeping the body in a straight horizontal line. I will say this with a little asterisk because obviously if you don’t keep the body in a horizontal line or if you have an imbalance in your kick then it won’t keep you horizontal. Say you Up Kick more than Down Kick that’s going to affect how their body line is, so if you have a nice solid equal Up Kick and Down Kick that’s going to promote the body staying at a straight horizontal line. If the kicks down kick phases are on equal mass then it will cause the body to tell. The best way I can describe that is when you’re a kid and you’re at the park and you play on a seesaw. If something’s going on with the legs, it’s going to automatically affect the upper part of the body and vice versa; if something’s going on with the upper part, like the upper back, it’s going to affect the legs. As a result, it will increase your drag as you’re swimming down the pool. If you have a nice equal kick up and down, then you’ll have a very straight body line, which is going to help you reduce your drag and increase your speed.
