Types of kicking

[The Chairman]

what? No sculls? Think itty bitty frog kicks using only your ankles. Of course, there's also the pull & glide.

 

[tursiops]

And you can easily do flutter kick without kicking up silt, all it takes is a decade or two on the swim team.

How does decades on a swim team change physics?

 

[Ayisha]

There are some very helpful videos of various kicks that make it a bit easier to replicate. The ones that DIR agencies teach are the:
*Frog Kick
*Modified Frog Kick
*Flutter Kick (no resemblance to a typical flutter)
*Modified Flutter Kick (again, no resemblance)
*Helicopter Turn
*Backwards Kick
UTD has some very accessible good ones. GUE TV has excellent how-to videos, but it requires a paid subscription.

See the UTD series of propulsion videos at:

 

[Landau]

I use dolphin kick often as a DM for a short sprint - say to grab a diver who just accidentally lost his weight pocket. I use scissor occasionally on a long swim underwater just for variety.

And I've far too often seen bicycle kick which can actually generate propulsion with fins that are fairly long and flexible. This type encourage bad habits as almost any motion in these can generate thrust. Bicycle kick is also great for stirring up silt.

I can see the difference the article describes between the "modified flutter" and the "cave diver kick", at least I think I can as the article has confusing description, but I have no idea why anyone would use what they call a modified flutter - moving the entire leg but with a bent knee

 

[Ayisha]

...I can see the difference the article describes between the "modified flutter" and the "cave diver kick", at least I think I can as the article has confusing description, but I have no idea why anyone would use what they call a modified flutter - moving the entire leg but with a bent knee.

Again, the DIR flutter kick and DIR modified flutter kick bear no resemblance to the typical flutter kick. If you even move your knees, it's not correct, let alone the entire leg.

 

[Landau]

If you even move your knees, it's not correct, let alone the entire leg.

It was the article's version of the modified flutter I have no idea about when anyone would use it: "Bend your legs up at the knees, keeping your flippers elevated. Use the same primary kick stroke, only make the motion shorter. You’ll move less from the hip and more with your fins."

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

And where is the most commonly used kicking technique? Bicycle kicks!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

It was the article's version of the modified flutter I have no idea about when anyone would use it: "Bend your legs up at the knees, keeping your flippers elevated. Use the same primary kick stroke, only make the motion shorter. You’ll move less from the hip and more with your fins."

I use it when people bump into my fins. Often I just use the fin farthest from them.

 

[Sbiriguda]

In the first dives I used random kicking
Now I use mostly frog kicking and flutter kicking only when necessary. The existence of so many variants in the article was surprising, but from your skeptical answers I guess it’s the article that reports too many of them...

 

[dmaziuk]

How does decades on a swim team change physics?

Same ways e.g. rays change physics: ever wondered how they can flap their wings an inch above the silt and not raise more than a couple of particles?