Tips on excercises for better frog and back kick?

[AK47Diver]

Anyone have any tips on exercises that target the muscles used in the frog and back kicks?

 

[diver_daver]

Other than the obvious 'time in the pool', there are the basic squats and lunges. Start slow with only your bodyweight, then slowly add resistance. Moving on to back squat, front squat, deadlift and when your ready the olympic lifts {clean, jerk, snatch}. I highly recommend getting a trainer who knows the heavy lifts to start out with as proper technique is paramount.

I would stay away from the isolation exercises {hamstring curl, leg extension, etc} and work on having your body work together as one unit instead of a bunch of isolated muscles.

If that doesn't suit you, you can always find a park with a large number of stairs and 'run' them. Also hill sprints would work well.

Enjoy.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Some Kama Sutra "exercises" work as well!

 

[Hank49]

I"m not sure exercise will give you a "better" frog or back kick. It's more technique than stamina although stamina won't hurt if you have to swim a long way. When frog kicking I pull my legs forward again right after extending. This way, I'm kicking again before I slow down too much from the last kick. Kicking from a dead stop is what takes more energy.
Back finning is more ankles and calves than thighs...at least with my Mares Quattro fins, and it's not normally done, in my diving anyway, for any long distance that would require building up stamina. Technique is more important here also IMO..

 

[merxlin]

Try Yoga along with whatever weight/exercise program you choose as it really helps your flexibility. You might especially appreciate some of the hip opening poses, one is appropriately named "Frog" (might be called another name in the book)- see this thread: Yoga for Scuba Divers

 

[AK47Diver]

Thanks, I'll give the squats, lunges, and yoga a try. I seem to suffer from ]rigor mortis of the hips and hamstrings.

 

[divingyogini]

merxlin,
Thanks for the endorsement.

Both those kick styles require strong glute muscles, and a lot of people don't have good strength there, which leads to lower back and knee pain. You also need hip flexibility as well so that you have good range of motion and body mechanics.

The prime movers in the traditional kick are your gluteus maximus and your hip flexors. You also use your rectus abdominus to stabilize so that you are not over-arching your back.

In our Yoga for Scuba Divers book, we include an exercise that strengthens these muscles with good form--I learned it from a physical therapist ages ago when I was working on on strengthening my glutes to help with some knee issues.

Walking lunges or static lunges are great ways to build strength there, but you have to pay attention. The quadriceps will often take over and the glutes will get lazy. The yoga poses that I find work best for glute strength are chair and warrior 1.

In the frog style finning, it requires strength in several muscles of the hip and thigh. To open the legs, you use the gluteus medius & minimus along with the tensor fascia latae. I find warrior 2 is an excellent way to strengthen them. The adductor muscles draw your knees together and chair pose is a good way to strengthen them.

But flexibility is crucial too. Most people have tightness in their hip flexors because they sit all day, keeping the muscle short. So while it's important to strengthen, it's also important to stretch the hip in all the planes of motion.

Here's a good online discussion I just found about the movements of the hip: index 6

Good luck!