What's the most efficient kicking style?

[00wabbit]

Looking to try and reduce air consumption as much as I can while I am learning. What's the most efficient kicking style. Power vs. Effort?
One less thing to raise the heart rate.

 

[TSandM]

Well, it depends somewhat on the conditions in which you are diving.

Frog kicking is a very efficient kick in still water, because it incorporates a long glide phase, during which you are essentially resting. But by the same token, it's not efficient in current, because during the glide phase, you are losing momentum you expended energy to create.

No matter what kick you use, you will need less gas if you go slower.

 

[Gravybird]

Everyone always ignores the crane kick. It is really efficient

 

[FinnMom]

Whatever makes hubby stop snoring

Maybe it's not the kick, it's the resistance to overcome: get rid of your danglies, get horizontal and learn to kick then glide.
And go slow. Go twice as slow and see twice as much. No, 4x as much because you scare 1/2 as many critters as you would have going faster.

 

[mala]

depends on the individuals size,shape, muscle grouping and type of fin.

my most efficient for cruising is the split kick.

 

[nimoh]

I agree with Lynne, although I will add that when doing the frog kick, it is often not necessary to do a large kick with your whole leg. If you do little sculls with your fins using mostly your ankle, you will likely keep up with most other divers, and with minimal effort.

 

[Scott]

One of these

 

[supergaijin]

I have found a combination to me most effective.

For raw speed the flutter kick.
For sustained exercise, the frogkick.

For Andre the Giant, the dropkick was fairly ineffective as it caused more damage to him than his opponent and he was soon advised by his manager to stop. I was an eighties child. We knew these things.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I find the technique used is just as important if not more so than the kick style.

The flutter kick gets a bad rap sometimes just due to some many divers using it without thinking what their feet are doing. They get out of trim, try to muscle through and either burn up their gas or get cramps. The frog kickers actually have to think about what they are doing since it not as natural as a flutter kick. As a side effect tend to have better control and it seems like its more efficient.

Anyway, I tend to swap back and forth as each uses a different set of muscles and when on starts to get tired I can switch over.

 

[nimoh]

The Rockettes definitely prefer the flutter kick