Rowdy Gaines Still Has It!
Nick D'Arcy Back In The Water Come August

Go Swim - Freestyle - 1-2-3 Drill

Anyone who has been at a workout with me knows that I get out for a pee break during kick sets and anyone who has swum behind me knows that my legs don't kick they just sway back and forth.  Well maybe the sashay.  Either way over the last year or so I've been struggling to add kicking to my swimming.  Bit by bit I'm kicking more when I swim.  I still have to think about it sometimes and turn on those little feet to get going. 

With all that said I found this great little drill on GoSwim.tv that I will be doing from time to time to help me get that magical 6-beat kick.:

How to Do It:
1.  This is a pretty tough drill that takes a lot of thought, so practice it a little bit at a time... and slow down!
2.  Start by swimming normal freestyle, but initiate some musician tactics into your swimming... COUNT your kicks per stroke as if you were in 3/3 time... 1-2-3, 1-2-3. 1-2-3... etc. 
3.  While that may sound easy, it's a LOT more difficult than it sounds.  Try to set the rhythm with your arms first, and then work your kick into the armstroke rhythm.
4.  Don't over kick.  You're going to need to keep your kick small, and flowing... or you'll end up working so hard you won't be able to maintain this for very long.
5.  Swim for very short stints... mainly 25s until you get the hang of it.
6.  The final step will be to breathe every 3rd stroke to keep all the counting consistent.  You can even start talking to yourself while you're counting your kicks... Breathe-2-3, Breathe-2-3, Breathe-2-3, Breathe-2-3... etc.

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