The myth of flexibility!

Some sports demand extreme flexibility. A 110m high hurdler needs it. A gymnast needs it. But triathlon? Not even close.

Trisutto coaching philosophy is simple: we fit the swim stroke to the athlete, not the athlete to the stroke. If someone doesn’t have the flexibility of an elite pool swimmer, we don’t spend months trying to change that. We coach them to swim effectively with the body they have.

This includes kicking - the kick in triathlon swimming exists for one purpose - balance. And a 2 beat kick achieves that in the most economical, energy-efficient way possible. A 6 beat kick does nothing productive for the age group triathlete (and most pros). It doesn’t meaningfully propel them forward. It doesn’t make them significantly faster. What it does do is fatigue the legs - not just in the swim, but in ways that directly compromise the bike and run that follow. You’re burning matches before the race has even really begun.

Here’s the reality: even if you found the age group triathlete with the most

beautifully flexible ankles in the world, they would still be deriving only a tiny fraction of their forward propulsion from the kick. The return on investment simply isn’t there.

It kills their race if they don't train kicking sets in the pool, and if they do then they can't complete run and bike workouts to the required level as their legs are too tired from kick sets and attempting to train like a swimmer and not a triathlete!

Many elite distance swimmers race on a 2 beat kick, only switching to a 6 beat kick in the final 150 metres. That’s a weapon reserved for the very sharpest athletes in the world at the end of the longest pool races. It has no place as a strategy for 1500m of open water in a triathlon, let alone 3800m.

Ask yourself: is this actually making me a better triathlete? Or is that time better spent getting fitter?

Robbie

Trisutto Director of Coaching at Trisutto

Coaching enquiries

All other enquiries robbie@trisutto.com