If You Swim With A 2-Beat Kick (Or Trying To)... Do This

8 Week Faster Freestyle Program:

[jackrayburn]

In my mid 70s and added the two beat kick a few years ago. Almost immediately I knew it was what was missing in my swimming. Get the proper rotation and catch, as in this video, and it is a natural.

[beckyb]

I can never ever figure out how many kicks per stroke I’m doing.

[evanswisconsin]

Thanks! Very helpful. 60 years old, learned swimming 10 years ago. 2 beat kicker. Will focus on this. Had wondered about this long ago and didn’t have a good reference source. You’re awesome!!

[ioannisaliazis]

This is super important! I’m doing the 8 week faster freestyle course and have got great tips from Brenton, it’s totally worth it!

[killab]

learning this technique has made the biggest improvement in my crawl swimming technique.

[PeachPhillips]

This is the exact video I was looking for!. When & how to time the kick. I appreciate this straight forward video so much!.

[hoegge]

I think the most important reason for the correct time is, that the kick provides the propulsion to make it possible for the arm to move down 'passively' instead of having to force it down, which you will have to if there is no forward motion through the water, in which case you would spend energy on moving the arm down, and also create a momentum / torque that will push the legs down and create drag. So the kick just before and when moving the arm down (the catch) it will not only make the catch "free" but also counteract the tendency for a too powerful catch forcing legs down.

[erwinsaputra]

in my opinion 2 beat kick is the best, it makes me feel like I'm the best swimmer in the world 🤣because I could swim so effortless compared to the others that they tried so hard but swim slower than me

[stephenbetley]

Another way to think of it is that you're timing with the push of the glide. Same thing really, just the other arm. The way I learned it with TiSwim. Very efficient for an IM length swim.

[dg]

I use 4 beat most of the time. 6 for sprints. I had just started doing some 2 beat right before covid hit and we had unlimited pool access, but stopped when we had to get our workouts in quick. From what I remember, it felt like I was accelerating & decelerating too much and felt more tiring than an easy 4 beat for me. I like the idea of using it to get the kick timing dialed in, though. With my 4 beat kick, my timing is great on the right side (the 1 kick side), but a bit late on the left (3 kick side). My 6 beat timing seems good at a dead sprint and a bit haphazard at lower speeds.

[StevenPhan]

Last month I can't control how many beat kicks I use in freestyle. But when I use the T.I techniques (i watched it on Youtube) in training. IT WORKS !!!! Now my PACE is improve from PACE 3 to PACE 2 😀

[jc]

What about the other option: hand entry at same time as opposite foot downbeat. This helps the swimmer rotate solidly, from hips to shoulders, by driving the hip up during the foot downbeat, thereby snapping into an excellent glide position.

As well the opposite downbeat with entry are two “touch points”: entry is full extension…a hard end point that the swimmer definitely can feel exactly, and the forceful downbeat has nearly the same type of feel…as opposed to the more dynamic catch position that’s much harder to find for exact coordination.

Or maybe the swimmer is doing both: hard opposite foot downbeat with entry + soft same foot downbeat with catch (EVF) position?

Or maybe the coordination is determined by body type: long and thin = same side; bigger shoulders or tight scapula or twisting = opposite side.

Bottom line: much more is needed on this coordination aspect. Better, slower video, with more swimmers, with multiple lines to show coordination.

[pakngah]

I want to share my swimming learning experience. It was mostly learnt through checking out brilliant youtubes videos like this one. Also, advice from swimmer friends helps. Thanks.

(1)Learn to time breath. Gain confidence in water. (2) Once mastered first step, focus on learning arm strokes and gliding in water without bothering about the kicks too much. Learn the glide and arm strokes by breathing ( taking in breath) only on one side first. When mastered, learn to breathe on the other side. Then, learn to breathe on both sides during the swim. Most propulsion from arm strokes. If you get the breathing, arm strokes, and glide right, your speed will pull your legs closer to the surface. (3) Once step two is mastered, focus on learning the two beat kicking stroke. First, learn to kick on one side only. Take in breaths only on the same side. When you mastered one side, learn to master the kicking for the other side. Then, learn to kick using both sides. Once the two beat kicking stroke is mastered, learn the four beat and finally the six beat .

It works well for me. Maybe it will work for others who want to learn how to swim.

[LarsRyeJeppesen]

I'm really trying to only use 2-beat kick, as I'm not swimming competitively, but want to swim as efficient and relaxed as I can. Breathing is my biggest enemy, as well as frequent shoulder impingements, probably due to horrible catch technique :) cheers

[olwfbwx]

Great explanation, visual, and no annoying music. Thank-you!

[MM-bgin]

Great video. Appreciate all of your content as a new swimmer that feels clueless. I have a swimming coach but watch videos like these to help. I thought two beat kick was arm stroke arm stroke pause kick kick arm stroke arm stroke pause kick kick. Ugh, swimming is so unintuitive to me. 😂

[fedegoeswoods]

Always use a 2 beat.. never seen myself swimming, so i have no idea is the timing right though!
I think a gear video showing how to take a good video of someone swimming would be very useful!

[dbo]

The way he does it looks slow. There’s a pause before each kick and his hips drop quite a lot. Massive dead spot yeh.?

[edwarding]

I suspect there isn't really a 4 beat kick-- not a symmetrical one at least. It is likelya 3-1-3-1 or a 6 beat with slight 2 making it like a 3-1-3-1

[gianpaolonoschese]

left hand produce resistence to movement because it goes to high, while the movement of right hand is perfect: point of fingers a little bit toward down.