KOS Drill 1

Our ambassador swim coach Tim will be providing you with easy practical tools to get you feeling confident about your triahtlon swim and able to exit the water ready and energised for the bike leg.

After having the pleasure of watching 1000’s of swimmers plough up and down and helped 100’s refine and correct their strokes, I have began to see a pattern of common faults. These are performed to varying degrees from world champions to age group beginners.

AWARENESS IS KEY

One of the biggest challenges you face is that you probably have never seen yourself swim. Therefore it’s unlikely you will have any visual idea of what your main issues are.

Don’t worry, once you have become competent at performing the drills correctly I will get you to perform them incorrectly and continuously swap between the two. This allows you to feel the difference between the two and translates to better proprioception of your full stroke.

There will be a lot of discussion on where is the right place to start with correcting a stroke as each individual has different needs.

I like to describe it like building a house, you have to get the foundation right before adding the walls and windows.

This diagram show’s a hierarchy of drills that work well and is where we are going to start.

The key is to have a strong understanding of HOW to perform them properly and to know WHY you are performing them.

98% Of the time If I ask someone why they are doing a drill they won’t know and they won’t realise that they are just ingraining unhelpful patterns.

Looking at the stroke cycle I have decided to start at the very front end, the catch setup. Where should the hand be in relation to the rest of the body prior to catching the water. We can then build on to this working our way up the pyramid.

KICKING ON THE SIDE (KOS) - THE FOUNDATION DRILL

Ask a swimmer to perform KOS without any instruction and you will often see some of the errors that they perform in their full stroke.

 

Here we can see Paul Newsome performing KOS. His body is at 90 degrees to the waters surface. Finger tips slightly below the wrist. Wrist below the elbow and elbow below the shoulder.

We can see the arm is directly out in front of the shoulder and crucially it must stay there as he takes a breath. The knuckle of the elbow needs to be pointing to the side of the pool in order for the arm to bend when taking a stroke.

To perform this drill put on pair of long fins, these allow you to focus on the drill without worrying about having to over kick.

Push off from the wall and get your arm into the correct position described. Keep the opposite arm relaxed by your side. Keep your head looking towards the armpit but I recommend regularly checking the position of the hand in relation to the arm.Breathe to the side as and when required BUT the arm must stay firm in the set position it must not move. 

Each time we take a stroke we want the hand to start off at the front of this drill. i.e at full extension the fingers are below the wrist ready to initiate the catch. Wrist below the elbow with the knuckle pointing outwards ready for the arm to bend and roll over the barrel. Elbow below the shoulder.

Whilst performing the drill I can’t emphasize enough that the arm must stay there when you take your breath.

WHY IS THIS DRILL SO IMPORTANT? 

It's important to practice this drill until it's correct to prevent going into the wrong position when performing full stroke. As you can see it is demonstrated beautifully below. Ensuring you try your best to get the right form and position early on can also prevent additional problems in speed and efficiency. 

Perform this as lengths of 25m drill then 25m full stroke, alternate sides every 50 m. When performing the full stroke try to get into that position straight away.

Take your time and focus on the drill not on how fast you are going.

Keep On Swimming!

Tim Tandy

Head Coach, Swim Smooth Mallorca, On Form Swim & Tri Coaching

Special thanks to Paul Newsome Swim In Common!