Competitive swimmers out there - can u frog kick?

[Kenderson]

It was hysterical with the swim test. She did it as an IM. Was almost done as everyone was just maybe half way through it. Thing is, she was done, and resting at the wall, and one of the instructors chastised her, saying "I told you not to go too hard, and now you are not able to finish". She looked at him and smiled, saying, "um... I'm finished." He didn't want to believe her until someone else backed up her statement.

I told my instructor I was a swimmer, he went to do something else while we were swimming, I got out before he came back and he couldn't believe I was already done. I wish I had thought of doing it IM just for the fun of it.

I don't have much of a problem with the frog kick, though I think I take my knees too far out when I do.

 

[Heat Miser]

The one thing that seem different with frog kick and fins versus breast stroke kick, seems to be the need to articulate the ankles. It seems if your frog kicking and the toes are pointing down that it stirs up silt whereas with breast stroke kick in the pool its no problem and leads to a faster recovery.

 

[ShallowSeasGallery]

Even if this is just a cutesy humblebrag, please learn how to fin correctly before silting out everyone elses muck dive. Part of being a strong swimmer is using the right tool at the right time and unless disability is involved, you can easily just use the modified frog with your ankles.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I was a competitive swimmer from about 14 years growing up. Distance freestyle, fly, IM. I can frog kick without issues. I actually hate to flutter kick, but part of that is because (1) I use fins ideally suited to frog kicking and not flutter kicking and (2) flutter kicking stirs up the bottom like nobodies business. Unless you are midwater you should not be flutter kicking.

 

[ScubaDivingwithEllie]

Yes! Been learning it in stroke tech class too.

 

[chthonicly]

yes! This actually took a while to fix for me. Non-useful habits from the breaststroke kick: My frog kick was too wide (breast stroke kick is very wide), too powerful, and my knees were dropping. This is really well illustrated in this video: (esp around 2:45) -- a lot of power is generated. The breast stroke kick will absolutely stir up silt when executed as a swimmer would. The scuba frog kick is actually closer to the elementary backstroke kick (a non-competitive stroke) than the breast stroke kick. In scuba, the knees should stay in line with the hips and shoulders.

Contrast the swimming breast stroke kick the actual scuba frog kick: -- it's a much, much, more subdued kick than the breaststroke kick. Modfrog even more so. The other thing is that breaststroke is a short axis stroke, and there is some core movement, which sets up the breathing cycle of the stroke. This should be entirely eliminated in scuba. In scuba, the core should be engaged, but not moving.

Competitive swimming gave me some advantages: high degree of in water comfort, trivially passing all swim tests, great shore diving surface swim tolerance, better sense of in-water balance. But, I don't feel like it was that much of an advantage for the technical kicks.

 

[happy-diver]

there's a dude that frogs like he's thrashing around doing the break dancing worm to move forward one inch

So I would get used to whatever you get used to, just do it

How do you like my Ex broken multi manoeuverable left leg

 

[dmaziuk]

Did you hold up a chair too?

Meh. Real men hold the 10lb brick.

I don't have a problem with frog kick, but I don't have a problem doing dolphin on flutter kick with just my feet, either. And if you're a swimmer you shouldn't have a problem with trim and ankle flexibility either. I.e. in open water you should be able to do the regular flutter kick without raising silt, and that what I usually do.

You can practice frog kick in the pool on your back with the kickboard under your head/neck. Also reverse kick, but then you want the board under your butt.

 

[sjkoen]

Competitive swimming gave me some advantages: high degree of in water comfort, trivially passing all swim tests, great shore diving surface swim tolerance, better sense of in-water balance. But, I don't feel like it was that much of an advantage for the technical kicks.
[/QUOTE]

I feel exact same. Thanks for the other information.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Near as I can determine, the breast stroke frog kick and the diving “frog kick” are opposites. The breast stroke frog kick uses the back of the foot to push against the water, whereas the diving “frog kick” actually uses the top of the foot/fins for the push. That is the equivalent to what 50 so years ago we called the “whip kick.”

SeaRat