Scissor kick

[Josefish]

I have always heard that I should avoid the scissor kick, that it's not good for stability, balance and had to work in order to avoid it completely.
Now accordinding to Shinji ( comments on facebook) doing it is great , as it stabilize your body and so on...And he is working on it
Now I am really confused about it..
Any advice ???

Thanks

Confused Josefish

[tiswimjapan]

Hi Josefish,

If you post your comment on my Facebook page, I would be happy to answer your question.

[Richardsk]

I believe that Shinji is using the term scissor kick to describe a variant of the two-beat with a wider separation of the legs or perhaps a kind of kick in which the legs move in opposite directions simultaneously,and not to describe the scissor kick as used in side stroke, which is regarded as a serious fault in freestyle.

[Talvi]

Really interesting!! I've been having thoughts about this myself. Watching videos of elite swimmers and the power they get from their legs I was struk by this scissor movement where one leg is recovering (rising) as the other is kicking (descending). But is that possible with a 2bk? Seems to me a great way to tame the splayed legs but via a 6bk?

[Richardsk]

It's just a hunch really, but I think Shinji may mean a kick like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG9e81gjbAA

It seems to me that the kick Manaudou is using is mainly a reaction to the very powerful movement of the shoulders and trunk. I think it is a variation of the shoulder driven style. The legs seem to be in constant motion, one rising while other drives down. The turnover seems rapid, although I haven't counted strokes per length.

Very beautiful in any case.

[trysixty]

Experimenting with Sun Yang's kick-glide pattern with TI....easy to learn and feels fast especially in OW.