some of the best Ironman athletes, depending on the, on the pace they're going. Some of them do have a light six-peak kick. Um, some of them are doing less than that. So it just depends on the person. But if you can get yourself to the point where you can change gears by changing your kick type, then you'll find that it gives you a lot more options going forwards. Welcome to the Effortless Swimming podcast, the show that helps swimmers and triathletes love the water, become a better swimmer and live a better life. Here's your host, Brenton Ford.

If you are confused between the different types of kicking, two-beat, four-beat and six-beat, I'm going to explain what each of those things mean, how you can do them and when to use them in your own freestyle. What the beach refers to is how many kicks you do per stroke cycle. And a stroke cycle is a right arm and a left arm. That is one stroke cycle. A two-beat kick is when you do one kick per arm stroke. So it's kick on the right arm, kick on the left arm. That would be a two-beat kick. And this is a really good way to start as a beginner. It's the most efficient kick because you're kicking the least and it's a really good way to help with the timing of your stroke as well. And you'll often find a lot of longer distance swimmers will use a two-beat kick because it can save energy. And when you've got the buoyancy of saltwater or a wetsuit, you find that you don't need to kick much at all. And so a two-beat can be the preferred style for a lot of people. Now with a two-beat kick, the way we want to think about it is with the upper part of your legs, so your, where your thigh bones are, that's not going to move a whole lot, but the lower part of our legs are going to go from one side onto the next. So we're going side to side like this. What we're not doing is staying flat and just moving our legs up and down. We're going to be on our side and our legs will be slightly apart and then we'll kick and that'll switch us to the other side.

So we go from one to the next. Now, if you think about timing your kick with a two-beat as when your left hand enters, your right foot's going to press down and that's going to help you switch onto the other side. And then as your right hand comes in, your left leg is going to kick down as you switch. So you can think about kicking yourself or pressing yourself into that streamlined position. So we're not trying to do this big massive kick where we're trying to really propel ourselves forwards, but it's this switch from side to side that gives us this grounding point, this sort of point in the stroke where it gives us a bit of propulsion because it feels like we've got something to almost anchor against. So that's the importance of the kick. So that's a, that's a two-beat kick. Now we often find in this, this type of kick that some people will actually need to bend their knee a little bit more than what they would for the others. Just to help them get that switch happening, which is okay. As long as they don't kick too big where the legs are coming way outside the body line and creating a lot of drag. So that's a two-beat kick, very efficient, great for open water. Great for people who aren't too concerned about the speed that they're going, but they want to conserve energy and they want to time their stroke really well. At Effortless Swimming, our mission is simple. Make swimming more enjoyable. Whether you're training for your next race, swimming for fitness, or just love being in the water. We're here to help you swim faster, smoother, and with more confidence.

And one thing that can make or break a swim is your goggles. If you've ever struggled with foggy lenses mid-session, you know how frustrating it can be. That's why we created the Effortless Swimming HydroClear Anti-Fog Goggles for long lasting crystal clear vision. I've been using them myself and the difference is night and day. And I'm not the only one. Deborah swam 36 kilometers down the Derwent River and the entire time her vision stayed crystal clear. No fog, no frustration, just an uninterrupted swim. So what makes a HydroClear Goggles different? It's all in the technology. Unlike ordinary anti-fog coatings that wear off over time, HydroClear super hydrophilic technology is built into the lens material itself. Here's how it works. Instead of fog forming as tiny droplets, water spreads evenly across the lens, creating a thin film that prevents fog from even starting. And the result? Consistently clear vision, swim after swim. And the durability? Our lenses are CNAS certified. Tests show that even after 2000 rubs with a wet cloth, under a 200 gram load, the lens stays fog free. No gimmicks, just serious performance that lasts. Using them as simple. Just wet the lenses before putting them on and you're set for a fog free swim. Ready to see the difference yourself? Get 15% off your first pair of HydroClear anti-fog goggles with the code podcast at shop.effortlessswimming.com. That's 15% off your first pair of goggles with the code

podcast at shop.effortlessswimming.com. We also have a 30 day money back guarantee. So if you're not happy with the goggles for any reason, you can simply return them for a refund. Don't let foggy goggles ruin another swim. Try HydroClear today and experience clear vision from start to finish.

Now a four beat kick is when we do four kicks for each arm stroke, for each arm cycle. Except what I find a lot of swimmers tend to do with the four beat is they go one, two, three, four. But the way we want to time our four beat kick is actually different. It's one kick on one stroke and three kicks on the other stroke. So it's one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, not one, two, one, two. I see a lot of swimmers doing this two, two, when they come for video analysis, but I find it often limits their ability to get faster with that two, two. So the way we generally want to work on this two, this four beat kick is one kick on one stroke, three on the next. Now that means you'll have this little bit of a pause or a delay after that one, and that's kind of where you'll get the glide and the distance in your stroke, as you can see in this video here, takes a little bit to get the timing, but what I like to think in my mind is it's one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. So having that tempo in the back of your mind. Another way you can kind of think of that timing is you can go one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, same thing, just different way of thinking about it, but those two types of ways of thinking about it can actually help you get that sort of tempo and timing, but that does take a little bit

of practice for most swimmers I've worked with it, it's taking them two or three sessions of dedicated practice to get that sort of timing. And that's kind of an in-between level of kick. It's still very efficient, but it does allow you to start to increase the pace. And if you look at some of the best distance swimmers in the world, many of them will do a two-beat kick for their 1500, but as they start to ramp it up in the last three, 400 meters, that'll introduce more of a four-beat kick when they want to pick up the pace that little bit. So it can often use a little bit more energy, but it can come along with increased speed. A six-beat kick is three kicks per arm stroke. And that is more of a continuous kick. You'll see this all the time with sprinters, with even people doing 400 and 800 meters who are used to that sort of kick level of kick. But, and you'll also see in the 1500, sometimes where they're finishing off the last 50 or 100 with a strong six-beat kick, it can use a little bit more energy, but it can also be efficient and easy to do if you keep the kicks light enough of, but more times than not, we will see this with your average adults when they're looking to increase the pace. So it's good to develop these different gears in your swimming so that you can change speeds. But a six-beat kick, you will feel like it is just a constant kick that doesn't have any pauses or interruptions to it, but that can come with a higher heart rate. But it's not to say that you can't maintain that for an entire Ironman swim.

If you look at some of the best Ironman athletes, depending on the pace they're going, some of them do have a light six-beat kick. And some of them are doing less than that. So it just depends on the person. But if you can get yourself to the point where you can change gears by changing your kick type, then you'll find that it gives you a lot more options going forwards. And it's probably not something for beginners, but if you are around that 145 per hundred for one kilometer or faster, it's something that you may want to consider developing as part of your stroke and you're going to be doing so many laps in training anyway, you're going to be doing some variances in speed that it's a good thing to at least attempt and see what works best for you. And it may be that you don't actually need to go to a six-beat kick. It might be that for whatever you're doing, two beat is absolutely fine. And that's all you need. And so you might want to stick with it, but at least give yourself the option to be able to change gears by changing your kick type and something that does take time to develop if you are new to the sport, if you're looking to develop your swimming, you can work directly with myself and our other coaches in our coaching membership. So if you can get footage of your swimming, I'll put the link below to join our coaching membership. And that's the best way to work directly with me to help make yourself faster and improve your own technique. Thanks for watching. If you want to see another video on freestyle, check out this one here. Thanks for listening to the effortless swimming podcast.

If you'd like us to help you become a faster, more efficient swimmer, go to www.effortlessswimming.com