The following stroke sequencing is based on experience and results of two significant learning events:

Long time intellectual relation with Dr. Tim Wei, Department Head of Mechanical, Nuclear and Aerospace Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic in Albany, NY (now Dean at University of Nebraska Lincoln).  The primary study resulted in actual (vs. theoretical) evidence of when world class swimmers ‘catch’ the water.  The knowledge gain offered practical decision-making for which techniques would be the most effective in fast and efficient swimming.  These truths allow us to choose the most appropriate strokes.

Note:  Even though the main studies above, which were highlighted in both Omni Magazine and the USA Today, were completed in 2006 and 2007, the studies themselves and its findings are beyond anything which has been done, before or since, in regards to the practical science of how to swim as fast as possible under current stroke rules.

Invention of Ikkos technology and intellectual property in the spring of 2008.  Ikkos resulted from years of research in the areas of neurological training, coordination, teaching and the theories of neuralplasticity.  The two driving intentions which led to the invention of Ikkos:

Trying to move swim training from an aerobic model to a neurological one.  The end goal was to train the nervous system to repeat the exact same stroke pattern over and over again.  In a race scenario, that means the last stroke would be as good as the first stroke.  More recently, USA Swimming data has showed a strong correlation between ‘end of length’ speed with ‘best in the world’ caliber performance.

A strong desire to find the most efficient and effective way to teach flawless stroke technique.  Great technique wins.  Giving that opportunity to the athletes empowers both coach and swimmer to get closer to their best practice and race performances.  The ‘eureka’ moment in invention of Ikkos technology literally came from asking the question, “Through all we’ve learned, how can we teach our athletes better?”

Which is better?  Stroke length or tempo?   Is there a difference for short course and long course?

Success in short course and long course swimming have potentially different trends.  At first glance, short course success is driven by tempo.  Long course success is driven by stroke length.   In actuality, these trends seem accurate, up until you reach the highest levels.  At the top, swimmers who have longer strokes, and the fastest long course times, have also posted the fastest times in short course yard swimming.

There is the tendency to think, “Of course they’re faster, they’re better.”  The better question is, “Why are they better?”  The laws of physics do not work in their favor more than for other swimmers.  The way they swim is mathematically better.  That is why they are faster.

Number of stroke cycles X tempo = swimming speed

Yes, it is that simple.  The stroke cycle side of the equation is mathematically more powerful than the tempo side.

The follow up comment is often, “Well, they can swim like that, they’re better.  Normal people can’t do that.”  Normal people may not become best in the world (although we think they can).  They can acquire the same strategy as the world’s best and significantly elevate their performance level.

If a ‘normal’ person learns to use their body (which can be taught) like a world class athlete and swims with ‘best in the world’ technique, they can be best in the world.

Lastly, since we are in the business of developing athletes to their greatest potential, the longer (years) athletes swim like world class swimmers, the more likely they can achieve their own potential.

Our job is to teach them both:  1. World class technique in every aspect of the sport and 2. The ability to use their body as a world class athlete does.

Ikkos is patent pending protected by the US Government.  All patent laws apply. Ikkos name and logo are Trademarked and protected by the US Government.

The three kicking techniques in swimming are all very sequential.  In other words, not only the technique, but also the timing of when everything happens is integral to being a world class kicker.

This sequential nature is easiest to see in butterfly.  The chain reaction of movements results in a ‘wave-like’ pattern which moves down the body culminating in a ‘snap’ of the ankles at the end of the kick.  Just like with a whip, the snap carries a lot of speed and power which allows a great kicker to kick a lot faster than an average or poor kicker.

Correct kick timing is critical.  Using the whip example again, within reasonable use, a whip which is six feet long is more powerful (and painful) than a whip that is one foot long.  In fly kick, if the kick is sequenced correctly, the athlete is using a whip that is a few feet long.  If it is incorrectly sequenced, the athlete is working with a much shorter whip.  To further visualize the point, imagine taking a six foot long whip and use it but holding it a foot from the tip.  Doing so takes a device with very high speed and energy potential and turns it into a very low potential device.   Interrupting the flow of energy by poorly timing the kick yields a similar loss of potential.

Fly kick.  As suggested, it is easiest to see the whip motion in fly kick.  It is also easiest to learn fly kick.  There are two styles of fly kick to observe.

• Swimming fly kick.  This kick works within the stroke.  The timing of the bigger kick enables the stroke to work powerfully and efficiently.  Many athletes do not follow through at the most critical point.
• Underwater fly kick.  There are several schools of thought on the most effective underwater fly kick.  These best seem to combine efficiency and speed.
• One uses the hips in a ‘rocking’ motion
• The other is much larger and uses a whole body undulation

Flutter kick.  Although flutter kick is often confusing to look at, it is essentially an alternating, one-legged fly kick which starts at the hip.  Although the amplitude may be different due to the place of origin within the body, the whip acts in exactly the same manner as fly kick.  Note:  Because the ‘whip’ is longer in fly kick as it should originate higher in the body, the amplitude of the kick will naturally be bigger.

• Flutter kick.  With board.

Breaststroke kick.  As stated in the breaststroke section, setting the feet perpendicular to the body as ‘high’ as possible will offer the most potential for a breaststroker.  After the feet set, whether at the ‘top’ or, in most cases, the ‘middle’ of the back kick, the feet should stay perpendicular (toes pointed to the side of the pool) for as long as possible.  As the knees and legs straighten, the ankles ‘snap’ and follow through.  This timing, although seemingly different from fly and flutter kick, solicits a powerful transfer of energy into the water.  As in the other two kicks, if the timing is interrupted, the loss of potential speed and efficiency is compounded.

• Breaststroke kick.  Catch of feet.

• Breaststroke kick.  Snap.

Ikkos is patent pending protected by the US Government.  All patent laws apply. Ikkos name and logo are Trademarked and protected by the US Government.

Although much less common, getting a high elbow catch in butterfly is as important as it is in freestyle.  The same physics apply to butterfly as freestyle.

Generally, the butterfly stroke we are looking to develop has the following components:

• High elbow catch (proper hand entry placement is required)
• Correct breath timing
• Correct timing of ‘big’ kick matched with finish of pull

The stroke will be centered around developing an efficient, long stroke which can be maneuvered in and out of 100yd-200m (and subsequently, the beginning of IMs).  In managing stroke length and efficiency, the ability to vary tempo comes through varying how long the hands stay in front of the shoulders before they move backwards.  Subsequently, for most, this changes the amplitude of the stroke, adding another facet to tempo change.

The swimmer who specializes in the 100yd/m butterfly (as opposed to swimming both fly events) often has a much flatter stroke with smaller amplitude than the 200yd/m butterfly swimmer.

With that, it is worth noticing, if done properly, increasing amplitude, although theoretically slower, teaches swimmers to produce power from their body, relieving strain from the arms.   The balance of amplitude and tempo/speed should be regularly evaluated in determining event structure for the swimmer.

The stroke we are looking to develop affords the athlete the ability to control their butterfly swimming.

The perfect butterfly stroke.

• Great kick.  Fortunately for fly swimmers, it is relatively easy, with Ikkos, to learn world class butterfly kicking technique.  Of course, there are advantages to having hyperextension in the knees, but great technique, despite not having that benefit, can overcome almost any competitor.
• Hand entry at or slightly inside the line of the shoulder.  The more flexible the shoulder, the more narrow they can enter and still be effective.
• High elbow catch.  As stated above, it is much less common in butterfly swimming, but physics doesn’t lie. Two examples of world class technique:

• Proper breath timing.
• Finish of pull and snap of kick.  For most swimmers, the term ‘recovery’ is not appropriate in butterfly.  Athletes who time the finish of pull and snap of kick correctly can relax their arms and shoulders on the recovery part of the stroke.

Consider shoulder flexibility and leg strength when determining fly swimming technique and event choice.  As noted, fly kicking technique can be learned relatively quickly through Ikkos training.

Underwater kicking for butterfly will be addressed in the ‘Kicking’ section

Ikkos is patent pending protected by the US Government.  All patent laws apply. Ikkos name and logo are Trademarked and protected by the US Government.

Breaststroke is different from the other four strokes for many reasons.  The most obvious being the arm recovery is underwater.  This leads to the main technical difference.  In the other three strokes, the arm pull is the main propulsive component.  In breaststroke, the legs drive the stroke.

Interestingly, considering the importance of the perpendicular relationship of limbs and body from a physics perspective, unlike the other three strokes, the legs take the perpendicular role.  Technically, this is the ‘why’ behind why the legs drive the stroke.

Regarding the pull and perpendicularity, with varying popularity, some coaches teach a high elbow pull, much like the start of freestyle (or a world class butterfly).  Theoretically, there is merit to this, especially if the swimmer is an average or poor kicker.  (This probably makes the athlete bring their head up ‘early’ which affects the direction, and thereby, effectiveness of the kick.)

Although there are many different styles of breaststroke, the goal is to develop a great kick with the ability to change from 100yd/m to 200yd/m tempo.   In looking at the knowledge to make that differentiation, many athletes do not understand where the ability to ‘speed up’ most effectively originates.  Many breaststrokers speed their hands up when they want to go faster.  This results in very inefficient swimming.  Great breaststrokers keep their hand speed the same.  Instead, they bring their kick up sooner and/or make their feet move faster to speed up.  This ‘rear wheel drive’ thinking in breaststroke can win or lose many IM and breaststroke races.

As example, the best breaststrokers over the past decade or so who have been best in the world at both the 100 and 200 breaststroke (L.Jones, Soni, Kitajima, Hansen) all keep the tempo of their arms at the same speed for the different distances. To go faster, they simply kick earlier and faster.

The basic tenets of great breaststroke swimming:

• Keep head down on outsweep.  This sets up the kick and breath.  It also keeps the hands from pulling back too far.

• ‘Late’ breath.  Athletes who bring their head up too soon often pull back too far, miss the insweep and kick in a non-optimal direction.
• Setting feet perpendicular to body.  The higher (closer to the torso from front to back) the feet can ‘set up’ perpendicular to the body, the longer they will push the water in the correct direction.  A great breaststroke kicker does this well enough where it appears they are pushing on solid ground when they move their feet backwards after the feet are set. See more in kick section.
• Kicking into tight body line.  Whether the swimmer is gliding for a short or long time, kicking into a tight body line is imperative for carrying momentum from the kick.

Great breaststroke swimming is both complex and simple.   The tenets above are a simple version.  Differences in flexibility, limb and torso length, and buoyancy all play parts in choosing the best stroke for each swimmer.

The main allowance for this difference in Ikkos training, assuming the task of improving the breaststroke kick is part of the plan of improvement, is choosing different pull technique based on limb length.   In other words, really long armed swimmers need to pull differently than short forearmed swimmers.

Ikkos is patent pending protected by the US Government.  All patent laws apply. Ikkos name and logo are Trademarked and protected by the US Government.

Generally, the backstroke we are looking to develop has the following components:

• High elbow catch (perpendicular)
• Consistent kick, which is a little smaller than the freestyle kick
• Fluid and correctly timed rotation

Like the other strokes, stroke length is key in world class backstroke swimming.  With that, as in the other strokes, relative to the specific norms of world class swimming, tempo is important.  With that, fast backstroke swimming, in many cases, looks like it is tempo oriented because it simply looks fast.  In comparison, picture how much faster a backstroke athlete moves their arms in a ‘spin drill’.

Looking from another perspective, because the arms are straight during recovery, the hand is moving faster than, say, freestyle, as it’s further away from the shoulder. This results in a much faster looking tempo compared to other strokes.  Despite that appearance, excellent backstroke swimming is still, in most cases, done through effective stroke length.

The perfect backstroke stroke is difficult to define.  Event though many successful backstrokers have a similarly ‘traditional’ tempo, many of the current best are much slower than average (Coughlin, Lochte, Hoelzer, Irie).  Their very distance per stroke dominant swimming has enormous potential, as revealed by their results.  It is centered around ‘connecting’ the hand to the core of the body immediately at entry.  This enables those very strong athletes to lock onto the water and push through as if they were lifting weights.

Regardless of desired or appropriate tempo for each athlete, the following components are somewhat universal:

• Great legs.  Steady small kick.
• High catch.  More flexible swimmers can achieve this even above their head.  Swimmers with average flexibility should enter their hand above the shoulder.

• Wide pull.  The stronger the swimmer is, the wider their hand can travel and still lock into the ‘core’.  Depth of pull varies by opinion (slower tempo is usually deeper).  Due to strength considerations, we use the more shallow pull.
• Hip rotation/timing.  In order to keep the arm perpendicular to the body for as long as possible, the hip rotation should be timed with the finish of the pull.
• Finish.  A strong finish aids in hip rotation, enables the shoulder to roll into/over the water to encourage an excellent strong catch for the beginning of the next stroke cycle.

In attempting to lengthen their stroke, many swimmers ‘over reach’ because they feel like they pull more water.  This is akin to riding a skateboard uphill.  Just because it feels more powerful doesn’t mean you are being more effective.

Conversely, many times when swimmers, especially backstrokers, improve their entry, it ‘feels’ weaker because, using the skateboard analogy (this time on flat ground), they are maintaining speed instead of inefficiently speeding up and slowing down.

Lastly, due to the ability for many athletes to ‘tie’ their hand to their core while swimming backstroke, many can generate more power in backstroke than in the other three strokes.   This is evidenced by how much weight they can lift in backstroke compared to other strokes using equipment like the ‘power tower’.

Underwater kicking will be addressed in the kicking section.

Ikkos is patent pending protected by the US Government.  All patent laws apply. Ikkos name and logo are Trademarked and protected by the US Government.

In the most basic physics terms, for all four strokes, the goal is to have the main propulsive limb(s) perpendicular to the body for as long as possible.  While that is an oversimplification, it is an ever-present recurring theme in world class swimming technique.

Generally, the freestyle stroke we are looking to develop has the following components:

• Strong, effective kick
• Great catch in front
• Perfect breath timing

The 100-800m stroke (100/200yd-1000yd) is where we are looking to center the stroke.  There will always be variations, mainly arising from:

• Less effective leg use resulting in necessary higher arm tempo
• Short course vs. long course orientation (the 100yd and 100m freestyle are potentially different technical events)
• The outer events (50fr and 1500/1650 free)

The ‘perfect’ centered stroke.  This is effective from 100yd/m to 400m/500yd.  Athletes with a high VO2 Max can carry this stroke into the 1500m/1650yd range often resulting in elite world results.

• Great legs.  Perfectly sequenced kick timing (The kick acts like a whip.  More on this in the ‘Kick’ section.)
• High elbow catch centering in front of shoulder (not in front of face)
• Having a stronger kick, and thus, a slightly slower tempo, allows for the arm opposite the breathing side to catch the water fully.
• This full engagement allows for complete ‘connectivity’ of the stroke during the weakest part of the stroke of many competitors.
• To do this optimal breath timing, the head must ‘come in’ after the breath just as the opposite arm begins to push backwards.
• These will be the ‘basic’ tenets as a starting point for building the strokes.

50fr/ 100yd freestyle variations.  The main variations entail having a higher tempo and often deeper, straighter catch.

• In most cases, the straighter catch is much more powerful and actually faster, but the energy cost is much greater.  For these reasons, the 100m freestyle can be a struggle for the straighter underwater puller (straight arm, here, references underwater pull’ having nothing to do with above water recovery).  Although there are times where straighter arm pullers produce very fast times, in many cases, they have more inconsistent results.
• Having a faster tempo naturally ‘builds in’ efficiency loss ‘post breath’.  The head can’t get around fast enough to engage the whole body in all but the most ‘connected’ athletes and the non-breathing arm slips through some or all of the catch.

Consider athletes’ kick effectiveness and event structure before deciding on final technical direction.

Flutter kicking can be taught through Ikkos training methods.  Due to the very specific sequencing required for an exceptional kick, flutter kick takes longer for most athletes to acquire than any other skill.  This will be covered more in depth in the ‘kicking’ section.

Framework of learning path for freestyle:

Kick assessment and decision

• Always start with the kick
• Decide whether or not teaching the kick is something the coach and athlete will commit to knowing it could take three weeks to much longer (for an unfocused athlete)
• If kicking change is part of the strategy, begin with kick video
• If kicking change is not part of the strategy, move onto next step

Hand entry point and path

• Assess hand extension and location at beginning of pull.  If arm is in a position where the athlete must drop the elbow, then begin with front view video
• Note:  if hand/arm are in a poor position at the beginning of the stroke, they will neither be able to get their elbow in the right angle, nor will they be able to effectively engage their body after the breath.
• If hand/arm location is appropriate for the set up of the pull, then move to side elbow catch video.

Elbow catch

• If the hand is in correct position at entry, the athlete is ready for a getting the arm/elbow/hand in the most effective position for swimming speed and efficiency.
• Two models are given for elbow catch.  One is intended for middle distance to distance swimming.  The other is intended for shorter to middle distance swimming. 
• If a swimmer tries the sharper, more distance oriented pull, and cannot seem to catch or feel the water, have them use the other model, even if they swim longer events.  They may be able to come back and learn the ‘sharper’ model once they’ve acquired the more middle/sprint oriented pull.
• As the swimmer gets more adept at having the proper elbow position, begin to introduce breath timing.
• Note:  As the swimmer learns proper elbow catch and breath timing, there may be a ‘give and take’ where one skill improves and the other suffers for a short period of time.

Breath timing

• Breath timing is often the most overlooked skill in proper freestyle swimming technique.  Most athletes in the US, even at the national level, swim with improper breathing technique.  This error causes, for most, a chain reaction of degrading other skills within the stroke resulting in a significant loss of efficiency, and, as a result, end of lap or end of race speed.
• See above comments for staggering/integrating breath timing instruction in concert with high elbow development.
• Reinforcing breath timing during regular swimming sets by telling them to ‘look at your hand’ (before they pull the non-breathing hand) seems to be very effective.

Ikkos is patent pending protected by the US Government.  All patent laws apply. Ikkos name and logo are Trademarked and protected by the US Government.