3 Freestyle Kick Tips to Swim Faster

To help you swim faster freestyle, we will go over three small details of freestyle kicks that can make a big difference. FORM. TEMPO. TRANSITION.

FORM

The form of your freestyle kick will determine how fast you can move. To have a very effective kick you need to have amazing ankle flexibility. The more you have the less drag you will create.

And the opposite is true. Also, the knees need to be a little bent while going down and straight while going up. To do this you need to relax your hamstrings and activate your quads while the leg goes down and while it is going up activate your glutes, hamstrings, and calves.

TEMPO

After you learn to have a good form when kicking you need to perfect the tempo of your kick. This can vary depending on the distance you are swimming but the most common tempo is 6 kicks for every 2 strokes.

That is 3 kicks with one leg while one arm does one stroke cycle. The timing of the kicks is very important too.

Because of the rotation and the movement of the muscles in your core, it is better if the right leg goes down when the left arm enters the water. While gliding you do another kick and use that momentum to start the pull while the leg comes down again.

TRANSITION

When you swim freestyle, the most effective thing you can do after the turn is to do several butterfly or dolphin underwater kicks.

This carries the speed of your push. But the problem most people have is they lose that speed in the transition from underwater kicks to freestyle kicks.

The first few freestyle kicks are extremely important. They need to be fast and they need to start before the arms start moving. This also relates to the breakout technique.

By Mauricio and Raul Uranga, Last updated Jan. 15, 2025