Flutter Kick

The flutter kick is a basic skill in swimming, used to stabilize and propel your body forward in the water with your legs. Learn how to do the flutter kick correctly to swim efficiently and to lay the foundation for other swimming strokes.

Steps

Trying the Flutter Kick in a Stationary Position

1. Hold onto a pool wall or lane marker. Grasp a wall of the pool, a lane marker, or another stationary object that allows you to extend your body in the water behind it. Hold your arms out straight from the wall, with the rest of your body as horizontal as possible in the water.
   • Ideally, have your face submerged in the water so that your head is in the same line as your body. Obtain a snorkeling mask to make it easier to maintain this position without having to bring your face up for air.
   • You can have your head out of the water to breathe, but it may be more difficult to remain horizontal and stable in the water this way.
2. Push one leg down in the water. Flex the hip of one leg slightly to push the leg down, and continue the motion down the leg by slightly bending the knee and powerfully pushing down with the top of the foot.
   • Make sure your toes are pointed and turned slightly inward. Imagine that the widest part of the top of your foot is as parallel as possible to the pool floor.
   • Avoid bending your knee too much as you kick the leg down, as if you were pedaling a bike rather than kicking. Keep the leg mostly straight; the power driven by the hip will naturally move the knee slightly.
3. Repeat with the opposite leg. Let the first leg float up in the water while you repeat the same kick with the opposite leg, remembering to drive the downward motion from the hip and push with a pointed toe.
   • Make sure that while you’re alternating kicking legs, neither foot breaks the surface of the water. Your feet should also not be moving too far below the line of your body.
4. Continue alternating legs to kick. Keep kicking one leg down while the other floats up, and increasing the speed until you are alternating quickly.
   • Observe how the force of the kick propels your hips and legs upward. You can adjust the strength of the kick to the point where your whole body is floating in an even, horizontal line in the water.
   • If you have trouble with your legs sinking down too low, try pushing your chest slightly further down in the water. If your legs are rising up too much, do the opposite, or kick at a lower strength and speed.
   • See if you can maintain the kick and your balanced, horizontal position in the water while barely holding onto or relying on the wall or lane marker anymore for support. This will prepare you to start moving in the water with the kick.

Moving with the Flutter Kick

1. Try a kickboard. Obtain a kickboard for the pool and use it to support your hands out in front of you. Assume the same horizontal position with your body in the water, then perform the flutter kick as you did holding onto the wall.
   • Notice how the kick feels as it works to propel you forward in the water as well as hold you up. Adjust the strength and speed of your kick accordingly.
   • You can hold your head out of the water so you don’t have to pause to breathe, but you may not find the right horizontal balance as you will when you submerge your face into the water and come up for breath when you need it.
2. Push off from a pool wall. Push yourself off of a pool wall using your legs, and straighten your body out horizontally underwater. Glide through the water until you feel you are losing momentum, then begin to do the flutter kick.
   • Try to make your body as streamlined as possible when you glide away from the wall. Place arms in a torpedo position out in front of you, one hand on top of the other, and point your toes.
   • If you like, you can just push off from the wall and glide a few times without kicking at all to get a feel for the right streamlined position of your body through the water. When you add on the kick, it should only be to maintain this same streamlined, balanced position.
3. Try adding arm strokes at the same time. Move your arms in sync with the flutter kick for a simple freestyle stroke. Your right arm comes out of the water and above your head to reenter the water in front of you at the same time as your left leg kicks down. Repeat on the opposite side.
   • Try a 2-beat kick by kicking twice (once with each leg) for each cycle (one stroke on each arm). This timing is often used by long-distance swimmers and triathletes.
   • Do a 4-beat kick by kicking four times (twice per leg) for each cycle (one stroke on each arm). This timing is often considered the most natural speed, and can be used by short-, middle-, and long-distance swimmers.
   • Try the 6-beat kick by kicking six times (three times per leg) for each cycle (one stroke on each arm). This speed is considered traditional for the flutter kick, and is used by short-distance and other swimmers.

Using the Flutter Kick for Swimming Strokes

1. Try a freestyle stroke. Do a freestyle stroke, also called a front crawl, by using the flutter kick simultaneously with a windmill motion of the arms. Each arm comes up out of the water to come down and “scoop” the water in front of you, propelling you forward.
   • Reach your arm as far as possible ahead of you on each stroke, and remember to maintain the same balanced horizontal body position to complete your flutter kick. You’ll notice that the kick helps stabilize you in the water to support the movement of your arms.
2. Try a backstroke. Execute a backstroke by positioning yourself face-up in the water and finding a balanced horizontal position in the water. Alternate rotating your arms in the same way as a freestyle stroke.
   • You’ll notice a slightly different feeling and movement of your legs when you do the flutter kick on your back, as your legs are now pushing up on the water instead of down. However, the movement is the same: drive the motion from your hips, point your toes, and don’t bend your knees too much.
3. Do a dog paddle. Though it’s not an official swim stroke, try the dog paddle as an intuitive way to stay afloat and swim short distances. Use the flutter kick while your head is above water and your arms make small circular motions under the water to propel you up and forward.
   • Note that this stroke is not ideal for swimming a significant distance, as you are not in a horizontal position and the arms and legs thus have to work harder to keep you afloat.

Tips

• Try wearing swimming fins if you lack the ankle flexibility to be able to easily point your toes.
• Wearing goggles may allow you to see your own shadow on the bottom of the pool, which may help to observe and correct your form.

Warnings

• Learning to swim is best done with a swimming instructor. Always swim in a pool or other designated swimming area with a lifeguard on duty.

Related Articles

• Teach the Dolphin Kick Effectively
• Swim a 50 Yard Freestyle
• Swim the Butterfly Stroke
• Swim the Breaststroke
• Swim Backstroke Perfectly
• Use a Kick Board

Sources and Citations

• Videos provided by SwimTechnique TV

See also

• Protect Your Skin While Swimming
• Swim
• Swim Faster
• Prepare for Your First Adult Swim Lessons
• Get Faster at Swimming Freestyle
• Exercise to Become a Better Swimmer
• Make Your Eyes Stop Hurting after Swimming
• Tread Water
• Tread Water Eggbeater Style
• Do the Dolphin Stroke Underwater

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