Frog Kick Help

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Aquatic Eagle

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Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
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Location
Hurst, TX
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Hello everyone. I have a bit of a problem. I have recently started seriously getting into dynamic apnea as a hobby/sport. I feel that I'm doing well but I have a physical limitation that is really throwing up a road block. I was born with in-turned feet or "pidgeon-toed". Since my feet are naturally turned in it is incredibly difficult to turn the feet outwards and push the water with the arches of my feet as is done in a proper frog-kick. I know exactly how to do a frog kick but this impairment is stopping me from being able to properly execute one. I regularly swim 50-meter laps on one breath as training because I can only swim about 60 on one breath. I feel certain that I could go even further if I can get over this hurdle and I really don't want to abandon the no-fins approach because of it.

Has anyone here had this problem and know how to overcome it or does anyone else have any ideas. I'm open for any suggestions. Thanks!!
 
Don't know if this helps, but it's all I can offer.....

I started swimming laps in the pool with my dive fins to exercise my "dive muscles." Several-hundred laps later and my frog kick has morphed into a finely-tuned kick. It wasn't until my legs started getting really tired that I was able to really "tune" my frog kick. I found the path of least resistence to set up the frog kick and the most efficient kick to propel myself forward with minimal effort.

Maybe a few hundred laps in the pool with your fins might help.
 
Don't know if this helps, but it's all I can offer.....

I started swimming laps in the pool with my dive fins to exercise my "dive muscles." Several-hundred laps later and my frog kick has morphed into a finely-tuned kick. It wasn't until my legs started getting really tired that I was able to really "tune" my frog kick. I found the path of least resistence to set up the frog kick and the most efficient kick to propel myself forward with minimal effort.

Maybe a few hundred laps in the pool with your fins might help.

Thanks for the post. I'll try anything.
 
Don't know if this helps, but it's all I can offer.....

I started swimming laps in the pool with my dive fins to exercise my "dive muscles." Several-hundred laps later and my frog kick has morphed into a finely-tuned kick. It wasn't until my legs started getting really tired that I was able to really "tune" my frog kick. I found the path of least resistence to set up the frog kick and the most efficient kick to propel myself forward with minimal effort.

Maybe a few hundred laps in the pool with your fins might help.

I'm wondering if using the swim fins to do a frog kick for hundreds of laps can eventually turn my feet out as they should be. I'm talking about years here. When I was newborn the doctor put casts on my feet in hopes that they would correct the problem. The casts did not work. I know I'm much older than that now and my bones are not developing anymore but I wonder if years of work with fins could correct the issue. Any thoughts?
 
I'm wondering if using the swim fins to do a frog kick for hundreds of laps can eventually turn my feet out as they should be...

No. But practice will help you find a frog kick that you can do
 
Still only one responder? OK, I'll give this a shot.

Firstly a disclaimer: I'm a layman with absolutely no medical, physiotherapy or dynamic apnea knowledge. Have you spoken to a doctor and/or physiotherapist about this? It could be wise to have professional guidance. If you have to do something bizarre with your knees or ankles to produce the right foot position then doing hundreds of laps with fins could cause you other problems.

But if you insist on relying on us laymen... If you're physically able to position your feet correctly then practice / repetition should help. Perhaps start with very slow, gentle, precise movements while holding the side of the pool, to burn-in "muscle memory" of the required position before you start trying to build up strength. You may find that you can hold the correct position when there's very little water pressure against your feet, but when you push harder your feet flip inwards. If so that's great - now you can strengthen your muscles by gradually increasing force, and when your feet are strong enough to maintain perfect position then you can start swimming laps. As you suspect this may be good for your feet, but I doubt it would completely "fix" them.

But if it's physically impossible to maneuver your feet into the correct position then repetition won't achieve anything. Presumably it's not mere strength but the length of your tendons that's the problem, is that right? Have doctors/physiotherapists ever given you strengthening/flexibility exercises that you're supposed to do each day? If you've been neglecting your stretches then doing those would be a great starting point.

If your feet are so bad that you can't ever have a strong frogkick then I wonder.... is frogkick required for dynamic apnea, or can you experiment with underwater sidestroke? (The efficient version with a long glide between full-size strokes.) Foot position and ankle strength are less relevant in sidestroke, and underwater sidestroke's tricky but possible (and great for cruising beside critters).

Sidestroke is a faster stroke than breaststroke, but theoretically less efficient. However, I wonder whether the theoretical advantage of frogkick is lost in your case, because you have to expend so much physical and mental effort fighting your feet. Sidestroke isn't much less efficient - after all it's the basis for the so-called Combat Swim that US Navy Seals apparently consider the most efficient swimming stroke.

I hope something there helps. Let us know how you go.
P.S. I still reckon you should seriously consider getting professional input on this.
 

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