Learning the proper kick is simplified with vertical kick. To stay up using only the legs, requires an effective kick.

Your goal is to be able to kick with a slight scull like our swimmer is showing.

However, if you have a difficult time at first, here are a couple options. Grab a pull buoy and use it as floatation to help keep your head above water without working so hard.

If one pull buoy doesn’t do the trick, try to add another. Remember to keep the legs fairly straight, and the toes pointed.

At some point, you may also want to try a pair of fins. This can give you a bit more leverage or propulsion on the water to continue the learning process.

This swimmer shows the kick from the side, legs long and toes pointed. She’s thinking not only of kicking forward, but also kicking backwards.

Once you feel comfortable with your ability to kick, you can challenge yourself a bit more by not using any floatation or sculling, but keep the hands flat on the surface. This will require the kick to be productive to hold you up and in place.

When you’re really ready to try something difficult, move the hands to just above the surface of the water. This added weight will mean a much faster and effective kick will be required.


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Vertical Kick.