鐵三們，打腿不是為了推進力
Here at SwimSmooth we have a different viewpoint on kicking for amateur swimmers and triathletes.
對業餘和鐵三的打腿，我們有不同的看法。
This may comeas a surprise, but you’re not looking to get much or any propulsion from yourleg kick. Elite freestyle swimmers with world class kicks only get a smallfraction of their propulsion from their legs (about 10-15%). Most triathletesand amateur swimmers get next to no propulsion from their kick.
你可能會感到奇怪，但是事實上你的打腿不會產生什麼推進力。頂級選手打腿產生的推進力也只佔10-15%。絕大部分鐵三和業餘選手打腿是不產生推力的。
Kick from thehip with a relatively straight leg.
從髖部開始打腿，腿部保持相對較直。
Ourconclusion is that you shouldn’t be looking to get propulsion from your kick.For most triathletes it’s simply not realistic.
我們的結論是，你不應該把關注點放在推進力上，對絕大多數人來說那是不現實的。
so, i ignoremy kick?
No, far from it. You still need to work on yourkick technique. That’s because there’s more to kicking than propulsion, youstill need an ‘effective’ kick. What does ‘effective kick’ mean? :
那麼，我要忽視打腿嗎？
當然不是，你仍然需要提高你的打腿技術。因為除了產生推進力外，有效的打腿有更重要的意義：
– Your kickshould lift your legs up to give you a good body position.
– Your kick should be low drag.
– Your kick timing should drive your rotation,not hinder it.
– Your kick should be low effort so it minimisesenergy use.
-打腿幫助你抬高身體
-打腿讓你阻力減小
-打腿能幫助你轉動身體
-打腿要節省能量
Mosttriathletes don’t have effective kick technique. Making your kick more effectivewill reduce the effort required to swim and boost your speed by reducing yourdrag.
大多數人沒有有效的打腿。讓你的打腿更有效率會讓你減少能量損耗，速度大大提高。
what willgive me an effective kick? there are 4 key technique elements:
1. Kick from the hip
Many swimmers bend their knees too much whilstkicking – we call this kicking from the knee. This creates large amounts ofdrag and is probably the number one reason for a swimmer’s legs to sink low inthe water. Instead of kicking from the knee you should kick from the hip with arelatively straight leg. See the animated clips:
怎樣才能有有效的打腿，有4個要素
1、從髖部開始打腿
很多人在打腿時膝蓋彎曲太大，我們叫這從膝蓋開始打水。這會產生很大的阻力，而且是導致你腿部下沉的重要原因。你應該從髖部開始打水，保持較直的腿部。
Triathletes can have a real problem here.Cycling and running involve developing power from the knee and it’s easy tocarry this habit across into the water. As soon as you bend your knee youpresent your thigh as a blunt object to the water and you push the wateragainst the flow.
鐵三們在打腿上有很大的困難，自行車和跑步需要很多膝蓋的運動，因此他們也會把這個習慣帶到水裡。但只要你一彎曲膝蓋，就會在水裡產生很大的阻力。
With good kicking technique, you can bendyour knee a little on the down stroke but this shouldn’t be a 『driven’movement, it’s just a slight movement from a relaxed knee. As described in thetips below it’s best not to think about bending your knee at all, instead thinkabout kicking from the hip with a straight leg – a very slight knee bend willhappen naturally.
好的打腿技術，在你下壓的時候膝蓋稍微有些彎曲，但是並不大，那只是膝蓋放鬆的後果。最好的方法是根本不去考慮彎曲膝蓋，而是想像從髖部發力，保持腿部直線，膝蓋很小的彎曲會自然發生。
2. Plantar flexed feet (Pointing Your Toes)
Plantar flexion is technical jargon for pointing your toes. When you swim youshould always have your toes pointed, this presents a much lower profile to thewater. Not pointing your toes will push water forwards when you kick, slowingyou dramatically.
2.保持腳趾朝後
當你游泳的時候，你要時刻保持腳趾朝後，這會大大減少阻力。不然，在打腿的時候，你的腳掌就會朝前推水，讓你速度大大下降。
3. AnkleFlexibility
A flexible foot that can bend beyond straight.Great for kicking with. Mmmmm.
Many triathletes have poor ankle flexibilitylimiting how much they can point their toes. In an ideal world you want to beable to flex your feet beyond straight.
3.腳踝的柔韌性
一個柔韌的腳踝能讓你伸直超過180度，對打腿來說是好消息。但是很多人腳踝柔韌性都很差，最多只能勉強伸直。
If you have a background in cycling orrunning (especially running) then you’re likely to have stiff ankles such thatyou can’t achieve a straight foot. This will be hurting your kick technique andslowing you down when you swim. See our tips below to develop a bit moreflexibility in your feet.
如果你經常騎自行車或者跑步，你的腳踝就會比較堅硬。這會傷害你的打腿，讓你速度下降，看看我們的建議。
Becoming as flexible as Charles is notadvisable for triathletes as it reduces ankle stability which can lead torunning injuries. However, improving your ankle flexibility a little so you canpoint your foot straight is achievable. It’s very desirable because it willreduce your drag and you’ll slip through the water much faster.
腳踝變得如此柔軟對跑步來說是危險的，但是，稍微提高腳踝的柔韌性是可行的，它可以減少你的阻力，讓你在水裡更快地穿過。
4. Timing
The timing of the kick is something that we don’t normally think about much asswimmers. We have a variety of kicking speeds open to us as we’ll describebelow – 2, 4 or 6 beats. The key to good timing is that when the hand entersthe water at the front of the stroke, the opposite leg should kick. In 2 beatkick this is the only kick, in 4 and 6 beats there are other kicks in betweenbut the kick on opposite hand entry is the important one for timing.
4.時機
一般人游泳時不會考慮打腿的時機。打腿分為2 4 6 次，好的打腿時機是你的手入水的時候，另一側腿打水。在二次腿時這是唯一的一次打腿，但4 6次時中間還有其它的打腿，但是手入水時打異側腿是很重要的時機。
If your timing is wrong you won’t behelping your body rotation with your kick – you could even be counteracting it.For more information on this important swimming technique, see the AdvancedLevel Mr Smooth Presentation.
如果你的打腿時機不對的話，那不會幫助你身體的轉動，相反是幫倒忙。
Most swimmers kick with the correct timingnaturally, unless you know you have a problem don’t be too concerned abouttiming – focus instead on pointing your toes and kicking from the hip, this ismuch more likely to be holding you back.
大多數人自然就有正確的打腿時機，因此不用把注意力太多放在打腿時機上，除非你確實有著方面的問題。要把注意力放在腳趾朝後，從髖部開始打腿，這可能是你的問題所在。
more about kicking – 2, 4 or 6 beats?
In 2-beat, you kick twice for every cycle (a cycle is 2 arms strokes countingboth arms). This is a slow kick speed that many distance swimmers and skilledtriathletes use.
2 4 6次腿？
二次腿你每個周期打兩次腿。這是很多鐵三選手和長距離選手採用的方式。
A 6-beat kick is 6 kicks per cycle. This isa traditional flutter kick technique that most swimmers use. The power in thekick can be varied dramatically, you can use a very light flutter to distanceswim economically or increase the power dramatically to sprint.
6次腿是每個周期打腿6次，這是大多數選手使用的傳統打腿。你可以根據不同的情況來採用不同的力度，長距離時放鬆，短距離時用力。
The 4 beatkick is a hybrid that some swimmers employ. It tends to happen naturally forsome swimmers doing ‘just what feels right for them’.
4次腿是一種混合的方式，對有些人來說這種方式比較自然。
Which kick technique should you use? Fornovices and most intermediates we suggest you do whatever comes naturally andnot be too concerned with the kick speed. For you it’s more productive to focuson kicking from the hip and pointing your toes than worrying about timing andhow many beats you are using. Don’t try and change your natural kick speeduntil you are sure you a kicking from the hip and pointing your toes.
你該用什麼樣的打腿方式呢？對初學者來說，我建議哪種自然就用哪種，不要關注打腿的速度。更應該關注的是從髖部開始打腿和腳趾朝後。
For strong intermediates and advanced swimmersyou can experiment with different timing to see what suits you best. Fordistance swimming and triathlon a 2 beat kick is the most energy efficient oncethe frantic swim start has died down. However, a 2 beat kick is not foreveryone, many women and shorter men find it hard to make a 2 beat kicktechnique work for them – it just feels too slow. If a 2 beat kick doesn’t feelright for you, don’t try and change to one.
對中高級選手來說，你可以多嘗試，看哪種最適合你。對長距離來說二次腿最節省能量。但是二次腿並不適合於任何人，很多女選手和個子矮的男人會覺得二次腿很難掌握，感覺速度太慢。如果二次腿不適合你，應該嘗試其它的方法。
scissor kicks
Scissor kicks, cut them out and you’ll go a *hole* lot faster. (Taxi for SS!)
A scissor kick is a very large opening of the legs, normally when a swimmergoes to take a breath.
剪刀腿
改掉剪刀腿，你將飛速前進。剪刀腿是兩腿分開很大，通常是在呼吸的時候。
They hurt you because of the enormousamount of drag they generate – it’s a bit like opening up a parachute behindyou.
它會產生非常大的阻力，就像在你身後打開了降落傘一樣。
Scissor kicks normally come about in your stroke technique due to a problemwith your balance in the water. We’re land mammals and it’s instinctive for usto move our legs and feet to keep our balance. We do the same thing in thewater – scissor kicks are a natural unconscious reaction to keep your balancein the water, most of the time swimmers don’t even know they’re doing it.
剪刀腿通常是由於你平衡不好產生的。我們是陸地動物，因此當失去平衡時就本能地靠腿部來調整，很多時候人們自己並沒有意識到這一點。
Note. Some Scissor Kicks come about when a swimmer is trying to develop anoverly long stroke.
注意：有些剪刀腿是由於過度拉長滑行距離產生的
An overly long stroke is one that’s too long and slow. Because the swimmer’sstroke rate is so slow there’s a long time between strokes which makes it hardto balance in the water.
過度的滑行是指滑行距離太長頻率太慢，導致你很難在水裡保持平衡。
This balancing act often causes scissor kicks. For these swimmers, increasingtheir stroke rate (ideally with a Wetronome) often removes the scissor kick –even if they didn’t know they had one!
對這類選手來說，需要提高划水的頻率，就可以解決剪刀腿的問題。
our 4 top tips to develop an effective kicktechnique
提高打腿的4條建議
1. Stretch Your Ankles
If you feel you have stiff ankles, you can perform some gentle ankle stretchesto improve your flexibility. Do not force these. Do them little and often andgradually your flexibility will increase.
1 伸展你的腳踝
如果你的腳踝很堅硬，你可以通過一些練習來提高柔韌性。但是別硬來，慢慢地提高。
Perhaps the best way to stretch your anklesis to use fins (flippers) regularly. They force you into using a plantar flexed(pointed toes) position and provide some stretching force to your ankles. Overa period of time they will develop and maintain your ankle flexibility.
也許最好的方式是經常地使用腳蹼。它迫使你伸展你的腳踝。經過一段時間你就可以提高你腳踝的柔韌性了。
You can use fins for kick sets, drills andthe occasional fast swimming set. You don’t want to use them too much butwearing them little and often will improve your kick by stretching your ankles.
你可以靠腳蹼來完成不同的打水練習。你不需要老使用它，只要時不時地用一用就可以了。
If you are buying fins, we recommend youget something mid-length and floppy, e.g. USA, UK, Australia.
我推薦你們購買中等長度的柔軟的腳蹼。伸展你的腳踝是個長期的任務，慢慢提高
4. Use the Kick Off The Wall Drill
Use the kick off the wall drill to develop your kick technique.
Use this technique to re-program your kicking action:
Simply perform a torpedo push off from the wall but keep your arms out in frontof you and your face in the water, kicking vigorously for about 15m or untilyou run out of air. Then stop and swim gently back to the wall.
4、蹬壁打腿練習
用蹬壁打腿來練習：
像魚雷一樣蹬壁出發，保持手臂在前面，頭埋在水裡，用力地打水直到需要吸氣為止。然後慢慢地游回來。
When you are kicking off the wall you needto focus on the following things:
1) Point your toes as in tip 2.
2) Kick from the hip as in tip 3. Focus onyour imaginary coin and keep your knees relaxed.
3) Point your toes slightly inwards sothat your big toes almost brush together.
在做這個練習的時候要注意：
1）保持腳趾朝後
2）從髖部開始打腿
3）想像屁股夾著硬幣
4）兩腳內八字，兩個大腳拇指幾乎碰到一起
Perform this drill 3 or 4 times in a row,kicking vigorously off the wall focusing on those three things. Then try a lapof steady freestyle swimming – not thinking too much about your kickingtechnique except just tapping your big toes lightly together. You should findthat the kicking action you’ve just tried sticks for a while. Remember, you’renot looking to feel extra propulsion, you’re looking to feel higher in thewater with less drag – a sensation of slipping through the water with lesseffort. If you’re used to kicking hard this will feel very easy.
做這個練習3到4次，用力打水注意剛才說的注意事項。然後試著游一圈，不特別考慮打水，只是注意讓大腳拇指靠緊。你會發現會保持住剛才練習的打腿方式一段時間。注意你打腿不是追求推力，而是追求在水中的高位，減少阻力，不費力地在水裡穿行的感覺。如果你習慣了用力打腿，這會感覺很容易。
