The Swim Kick Drill is a intermediate-friendly bodyweight strength exercise that targets the quadriceps and glutes, with the hamstrings, abdominals and calves working alongside. Here's how to do it right — and what to stop doing.
Primary musclesQuads, Glutes
Secondary musclesHamstrings, Abs, Calves
EquipmentBodyweight
LevelIntermediate
TypeStrength
3D demo in the EGON app
01 Execution
How to do the Swim Kick Drill
Push off into a streamlined position on your front with the body long and the head neutral.
Hold your hands extended ahead of you, or on a board, so the arms take no part in propulsion.
Point the toes and keep the ankles loose so the feet can whip through the water.
Start each down-kick from the hip, letting the knee bend follow and the ankle finish the movement.
Bring the leg back up with almost no knee bend, keeping the feet just under the surface.
Kick at a quick rate over a small range for the length of the drill, then reset and repeat.
02 The payoff
Why it earns its spot
Isolates the legs so kick timing and amplitude can be corrected without the arms compensating.
Trains the body position that keeps the hips high and reduces drag during full stroke swimming.
Loads the hip extensors and flexors continuously with no impact through the joints.
03 Don't do this
Common mistakes
Starting the kick from the knee, which turns it into a bicycle motion and kills the whip action.
Kicking too big, which creates far more drag than the extra propulsion is worth.
Bringing the feet above the surface, where they move air instead of water and produce nothing.
Kicking with rigid ankles, which stops the foot acting as a surface and wastes the down-kick.
EGON Put it on record
Track it in EGON.
Log every set of the Swim Kick Drill, get your PRs detected automatically, earn aura for the work — and climb five leagues of statues, from Stone to Ego.
