Pull kick, Arena’s revolutionary training aid

You are used to using training aids to help with body alignment and buoyancy, allowing you  to focus on key aspects, such as your legs, arms, upper body or swim stroke.

The Kickboard is ideal for working on just your legs. It helps you improve your leg kick and position in the water before effectively incorporating the latter into other aspects of your swim stroke. Everybody knows that leg training is extremely hard work for a swimmer, particularly an amateur, because lots of beginners do not have either flexible ankles or the body position required to generate an effective leg kick.

Try including the following sets in your training if you want to improve this basic skill:

• 4x(50m fast leg kick + 50m recovery swim)
• 2x(1x25m fast leg kick + 1x50m leg kick #25m slow+25m fast + 1x75m leg kick #25m slow+25m steady +25m fast) 15” rest between set

If, on the other hand,  you are an experienced swimmer and looking for something revolutionary, arena has come up with an innovative training device.

The first time I saw it was in the USA, when I was a guest of the CAL University swim team. They were using this hybrid board for both leg and arm work, moving on swiftly from one to the other.

When I found out that arena made this tool, I asked them if I could try it out for some exercises I usually give my athletes.

The tool we are referring to is the pull kick. A pull kick is an ingenious 2-in-1 combination of a pullbuoy and kickboard allowing you to use either one or the other and swiftly move on from training first your arms and then your legs or the other way round.

I tried it out and it was great fun, because the pull kick guarantees optimum buoyancy, particularly for those sessions that would be particularly complicated without it.

So I put on my fins, mainly to increase the speed and ease of my swim stroke, and tried out the following:

• 500 m butterfly using fins, alternating 50 m with the pull kick between my legs, mainly focusing on my arms, and 50 m with the pull kick in my hands, mainly focusing on my leg kick.

If you want to try something extra, wear a snorkel. Holding the board in your hands, the snorkel will let you breathe without lifting your head or pausing for breath. Now try the following:

• 3×100 m fast legs wearing a snorkel and controlling the speed of your leg kick, rest for 30” + 1×300 metres fast wearing a snorkel with the pull kick between your legs controlling the catch-and-pull phase of your stroke.

Now you know what a pull kick is, keep on following us. In forthcoming articles we will explain how to make the most of fins and a snorkel to improve your swim stroke.

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