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Swim toys

Douglas SutherlandDouglas Sutherland
in General Training Discussions

Received a set of swim toys as a gift: fins, pull buoy, swim straight hand paddles. Curious how to work with these things inside the EN work-outs?

Comments

  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    The pull buoy and hand paddles will be useful any time the EN workout says "pull". Otherwise, I use most of my toys during the warmup set while doing drills.
  • novaavantnovaavant
    What Nemo said. Pull buoy for the pull sets and other toys usually during either warm-up or if I do 4 swims for the week instead of three I'll use the 4th swim as a shorter swim but do nothing but drills using toys (usually from swim smooth site specific to my issues).
  • jimmy augustinejimmy augustine
    I am doing a regular set of pull bouy and paddle 30x100(10) with the first few as warm up and then shooting for a max sustainable pace for the next 20 or so and then the last few as cool down. I think that they help to build strength without jacking my heart rate up which I need on Wednesdays as I do my long run on Wednesday mornings.
  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    Nothing wrong with using the toys to put some variation in your workouts. They can really help you not get in a rut where you're just repeating the same old bad habits. I use them in part to extend the time that I swim in good form. But they can also be a crutch...and I don't think they are the best thing for classic 10-20 x 100 or 20 x 50 sets or anything like that if you are trying to do those at your threshold.

    I am a pretty average swimmer racing, but my kids swim(med) competitively, and I've been around some good coaching, so here are my thoughts.

    Do not. REPEAT — DO NOT. Get to the point where you use your paddles as a crutch. Use them fairly minimally, or at least in alternation with no-paddle intervals so you maintain the "feel for the water". Make sure you are using paddles that are NOT too big for you. Think of paddles as like biking in a higher gear. If you use a paddle that is too big, you will be at a "muscular limit" and you will not be able to get strong aerobic work in. You will also have a higher risk for shoulder problems. Like high gear biking, "dinner plate" paddles have their place, but it's a very small one. When you are using them regularly, use the smallest ones that make a difference for you. If you use the biggest ones you can handle ok, you will stop caring about your forearms and get sloppy because you can get away with just doing all the work with your "hands". You'll also be so impressed with how fast you're going that you won't work as hard as you would otherwise. :-)

    In my mind, using a pull buoy is very, very much like swimming with a wet suit on. It raises your butt and it helps mediocre swimmers more than good ones. If you are very confident that your swim will be wetsuit legal, then you can do a lot of work with the pull buoy and you will probably find that your arm stroke feels better. Some people do almost all their swimming with a pull buoy, and that's probably ok if they really know they are going to be using a wetsuit and don't care how good their "real" swimming is. However, if your race may or may not be wetsuit legal, you should avoid overdoing it with the buoy because you may find your "regular stroke" deteriorates if you use it as a crutch.

    You can use pull buoys with or without paddles and vice versa.

    I have two other toys that I use - one is a swimmers snorkel (goes up the center of your face, not to the side like a diving one). I am not so flexible, and this allows me to kick in a streamline (face in the water) or to do skulling drills. Also, swimming with a snorkel (no other toys) can help you focus on being symmetric with your arms if that is a difficulty for you (as it is for many of us).

    The other is a lot less commonly seen, but it's a small swimmer's parachute. They attach using a belt at your waist and trail just behind your feet. I am a big believer that most people (myself included) are better off using a parachute than they are using paddles. It forces you to really use your arms well to get going at a decent pace. By far the best "race simulation" conditions for me for a wetsuit swim is to use a pull buoy and a parachute in combination at a long course pool. It's very easy to get up to that "race pace effort" with the parachute for me...and of course I'm not relying on an artiificial device like a paddle to propel me.
  • Stephanie HartmannStephanie Hartmann

    Some friends got me a parachute for my birthday last year. I hyperventilate a little just thinking about it. If you really think it will help, I'll try it tomorrow. Also, I do think my paddles are too big. Thanks for the info!!

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