02/25/2026
Knees is the answer – full stop.
Why?
It starts with the phrase every coach on earth has said, but never explained, leaving us thinking “you didnt explain sh*t” lol
We remember those talks.
The core isn’t just your abs.
It’s your glutes, your low back, and your hamstrings. When you “engage your core” you pull your body into a “hips forward” feeling-alignment using your posterior chain.
You cant keep your core engaged ANDDDDDDD…. Disengage your hips to move forward and backward to generate propulsion.
Instead, the down kick driven from the knees creates a slight counter movement from the hips, to keep the down kick momentum from spreading the legs like scissors – this LOOKS like kicking from the hips.
The counter movement keeps the kick tight, and garuntees that the kick forces push through the engaged core and push the body forward instead of a hip kick simply pushing water backward.
If you want to learn to push yourself forward down the pool instead of pushing water backward, comment “knees”.
