One among swimming’s most recognizable flotation units, the standard kickboard, evokes fond reminiscences of studying how one can swim. However, these easy but efficient coaching aids go manner past being utilized in swimming classes and are simply as related to aggressive swimmers as they’re to freshmen. If you’re out there for a software to enhance your kicking approach otherwise you simply wish to make your swim exercises extra dynamic, studying how one can use a kickboard is a step in the correct course.
By giving your swim coaching an additional dose of buoyancy, you may enhance confidence in your weaker swim strokes. Utilizing a kickboard to your freestyle swimming looks as if the apparent selection, however they’ll additionally come in useful to realize a stronger breaststroke and even backstroke. The kickboard is a basic software that has stood the take a look at of time, and it could possibly nonetheless assist along with your swimming approach at the moment.
On this article, we’ll be exploring the explanations to make use of a kickboard, lesser-known kickboard workouts, and how one can use one appropriately.
Why Use a Kickboard?
There’s a sea of pluses to utilizing kickboards in your coaching periods, from higher physique place to snorkel-like respiratory. Listed here are a few of the benefits from utilizing a kickboard as a coaching assist.
Deal with Your Decrease Physique
Any iron-addicted gym-goer who’s price their salt is aware of that skipping leg day is a large no-no. Issues are not any totally different with regards to swim coaching. Swimming is a full-body exercise and, due to this fact, requires good energy and approach from each muscle.
By giving the higher physique a little bit of a break via using a kickboard, you might be isolating your legs. This implies they’re doing much more work to propel you ahead within the water, which is able to promote muscle progress and will help you hone in on the nuances of the flutter kick or your breaststroke kick.
Take pleasure in Constant Respiration
A kickboard is just like a swim snorkel in that it lets you take pleasure in uninterrupted respiratory. This implies you may apply much more focus to the flutter kick.
Extra constant and controlled respiratory permits your muscle to get much more of the oxygenated blood that they crave. This implies you may actually put your legs via some gnarly coaching periods, which will help with muscle progress and even weight reduction.
You possibly can even complement this respiratory with a swim snorkel, which is able to can help you maintain your head down for a extra pure stroke.
Practice By means of Higher-Physique Accidents
Getting injured is a horrible however virtually inevitable a part of coaching in any sport. An upper-body harm might be supplemented with a kickboard to maintain you within the pool and from going stir loopy.
The pull part of your freestyle places plenty of pressure in your shoulder. Utilizing a kickboard to maintain your higher physique buoyant can enable your harm to get well whereas conserving you within the swimming pool. Plus, the endorphins launched from train can enhance to your psychological wellbeing, so abruptly ending your coaching generally is a blow to each your psychological and bodily well being. Adjusting your coaching to be executed with a kickboard will help you keep away from disruptions to your coaching schedule.
Attempt Some Recent Drills
When your coaching begins feeling stagnant, it’s time to combine it up. In sport, it’s pure to get bored and crave new actions, and swimming is not any totally different. Utilizing a kickboard opens up a brand new realm of drills you’ll by no means have tried when you haven’t used one earlier than.
Utilizing coaching aids within the swimming pool or in open-water adventures is a surefire option to blow off the cobwebs and might even educate you new expertise.
Lesser-Identified Kickboard Workouts
You possibly can add a kickboard ingredient to simply about any drill on the market, outdated and new. There’s extra to simply utilizing a kickboard than including some brutal leg-only laps to a drill although. Deliver out your inventive facet with a few of these kickboard workouts, which require you to suppose just a little outdoors the field.
Seize the Backside
That is the right train for enhancing your entrance crawl physique place. Merely absolutely prolong the kickboard in entrance of you whereas grabbing the underside of the board.
Due to the total extension, this train would require you to have your head within the water, so you’ll have to rotate your head to take breaths. Or you may complement this train with a swim snorkel so you may focus much more on that straight physique place.
Hug Your Kickboard
The lesser-known stroke to make use of your kickboard with is the backstroke. This easy train can actually assist your backstroke flutter kick.
Hug your kickboard towards your chest in order that it’s flush along with your physique. Barely arch your again, and also you’re good to go. You’re now placing all of the work of the backstroke in your legs. This will help to enhance energy and approach.
Push for the Burn
Who wants a fitness center if you’ve bought the resistance of the water and your trusty kickboard? Kickboards are made from various materials sorts, however all of them have one factor in widespread: buoyancy.
It received’t take you lengthy to discover ways to use a kickboard’s pure inclination to depart the water so as to add resistance. It’s similar to energy coaching within the fitness center utilizing free weights or dumbbells.
You possibly can practice the identical muscular tissues {that a} pushup works by performing a kickboard pushdown. Merely stand waist deep within the pool, and push your kickboard down along with your arms spaced shoulder-width aside. Push till your arms are straight. Begin with a set of 10 reps. You possibly can add a further board for extra resistance or up your units.
Tips on how to Use a Kickboard Safely
Getting within the water with a brand new coaching assist, recent train concepts, and new drills might be a good way to carry life again to your swim exercises. However, like something new on this planet of train there is a component of threat if the right precautions aren’t taken.
Keep away from Neck Pressure
When utilizing your kickboard to offer your arms a relaxation throughout breaststroke or freestyle, you may carry your head up, permitting for fixed respiratory. Not having to fret about your respiratory approach is a pleasant luxurious in a swim exercise, simply watch out not to do that for too lengthy because it can lead to neck pressure.
Utilizing a swim snorkel will can help you swim utilizing your kickboard for as lengthy you want by conserving your head down. This protects your neck and offers you a extra streamlined swim stroke.
Be Aware of Your Dolphin Kick
With just a little follow you may nonetheless carry out a top-tier flip flip whereas conserving maintain of your kickboard. This after all means there’s nonetheless a chance to carry out a dolphin kick.
Throughout the dolphin kick, some swimmers maintain the higher physique very stationary whereas others make use of just a little motion to inspire the dolphin kick. If you’re a part of the second camp, remember that that is very tough to emulate whereas utilizing a kickboard and might result in decrease again ache.
Are Kickboards Nonetheless a Related Coaching Support?
Kickboards are one of many quintessential swim coaching aids. You utilize them like coaching wheels in your developmental years, then as you get extra critical about your swimming they grow to be a software that may assist you to mould the nuances of your stroke and acquire the energy you want. Not solely are kickboards simple to make use of, they’ll enhance energy, make exercises extra dynamic, and most significantly, are comparatively cheap.
If you’re desirous about getting a kickboard for your self, you must take a look at area’s choice, which has a very good combine of favor and performance. In the case of basic flat kickboards, we provide a plain fashion and a printed kickboard.
Alternatively, chances are you’ll wish to get a kickboard that doubles up as a pull buoy. This provides you the choice to work solely the higher physique or solely the decrease physique on the fly with only one piece of kit. Try the Pull Kick Floatation, Swim Keel, and Pullkick Professional.
