One of the funniest moment for me to see young swimmers going to the pool with their swimming bags which contains a lots of tools.Many times the bag is way more bigger than its owner and it makes me think how hard work is needed to be a competitive swimmer.Noodles, snorkel, pull buoy, rubber band, paddles, fins, kickboard, tempo trainer… The variaty of these tools and gadgets are endless and the sport-tool manufacturers are always launching some additional with a new feature.
But what are the most popular swimming tools what all of us can use for our swimming trainings?
1. PULL BUOYS
It is a certain floating device which you keep in between your thighs and it keeps you in a better elevated body position in the water as your legs will not be able to sink. Available in different sizes and materials.It helps you to focus on upper body and arms movement as you do not need to kick.You can use it as a part of warm-up or cool down and as a part of recovery swimming as well.Combination of using pull buoy and hand paddles gives you a chance for a good strenghtening workout in the pool.Other way of usage of a pull buoy is to keep it in your hand, very good to practice sideways movement holding it in your lead arm or carry it while you are swimming to practice catch-up swimming.2. PADDLES
Hand paddles are helping you to strenghten your strokes. Available in different sizes from finger paddles till the large ones which can easily be two times bigger size than your palm.Technical paddles are designed to one finger entry only to initiate you for the best catch and pull technique otherwise the technical paddles will fly away from your palms.You can also balance your stroke if one of your arms is less strong than the other to use paddle on that one and swim without paddle with the stronger one.Combination of using hand paddles and pull buoy gives you a chance for a good strenghtening workout in the pool.3. FINS
Fins or flippers we recommend to use especially for beginners. It gives you more propulsion and more confidence in the water so you can focus on your relaxation and breathing technique more and improve your swimming skills.For advance swimmers fins are very good to improve ankle flexibility and improve kicking rhythm and build up strenght.Using fins for underwater swims can improve your lung capacity. Also essential to learn proper dolphin kick and butterfly.4. KICKBOARDS
Kickboards we can use for kids swimming, especially at learn to swim stage. It gives them more confidence to work on their technique and improve their swimming skills.Advance swimmers can use kickboard to fully focus on their kicking technique while breathing freely. One good and ’killing strenghtening drill’ is to hold the kickboard in an upright position as an extra resistance and kick against it.If you are not sure which tools do you need to buy or to use feel free to contact any of the swimming coaches from I Love Supersport.