Plantar flexion is key, everybody has some, and you can also work to improve yours. You may not have as much as Michael, but you still can plantarflex your toes so make sure that you’re not, you know, diminishing the fact that you’re able to point your toes. Also, most of us struggle with the Up Kick more than the Down Kick because as a society we’re just more quad-driven than we are hamstring driven. So think of the analogy of bow and arrow and try not to pause when you’re kicking. When you’re breathing on your kick, a lot of younger kids will do this, they’ll pause during the breath, which just doesn’t help you stay moving forward, so try to eliminate that pause. Also kicking more is going to get your legs into better shape, which is going to significantly increase your overall swimming speed by increasing your body’s physiological shape. So, when you look at your arms versus your legs, my arms are significantly bigger than my legs. If I get the larger muscle groups in better shape, therefore, shuttling blood better, getting more oxygen, getting the lactate out, and getting rid of the CO2. Overall, I’m in better aerobic shape because the smaller muscles don’t require as much to do as much. With kicking you can’t get around that you have to get your body into better shape. So, picking more it’s gonna put you in better physiological shape which means you’re gonna be able to swim faster. This is my favorite key takeaway because I feel like so directed it’s awesome, but a two-beat kick is slowly becoming obsolete and it’s like the best news ever, because there is always like well what about Janet Evans, and then Katie Ledecky came around so doobie kick doesn’t do anything. At the end of the day, swimming is getting so fast that you can’t just get rid of your kick because you want to be the best, and you want to be the best you’re gonna have to be using all four limbs.
