Swimming faster w/ bouy?

And the whole time I thought I was the only one.  The same thing happens to me.  It's nice to know what I am doing wrong so now I can go to the pool and try and correct it.

That's why people like pull buoys

I don't think it necessarily means you have poor form just cuz you go faster, as I know very good swimmers that swim faster with them as well.  Just like a wetsuit will. But a buoy will hide poor form if you have it.. make sense?

Slight highjack here ---

Soooo how can you get your hips up? Is the only way to push head down? I feel soooo slow when I kick...and its as if I"m out of sync when I kick too. Do drill with just kicking/board help? Any drill suggestions?????

highjack off.

So what does it mean when you are slower with a pull bouy?

I find I swim flat and feel like my legs are fish tailing behind me with a PB so I don't use one. 

It likely means that you do not have a problem with your legs sinking when you swim, and that your kick may be a significant part of your motion.

I have trouble with the fishtailing feeling at times as well.  I have a very weak kick, but I do use it to control body roll.  Without the kick to induce roll I have to concentrate to avoid the fishtail effect.  But, you can roll your body properly without using your legs, it just takes practice. 

Without seeing you swim, my best guess would be that you are not pulling straight and your kick is used to even out your stroke.  When you swim with the PB, focus on pulling so that you are not fishtailing - if you start fishtailing, stop, try to identify what was different between when you were not fishtailing and when you started, and start again.  This can be frustrating but can be worth it to straighten out your stroke and allow you to use more of each pull for forward propulsion.

More than likely, this is a result of insufficient roll with the PB.  (edited to add - which I see someone else just mentioned )

Shane

Good advice on pressing down with the chest it shold feel like you're swimming downhill.

Pull buoys make just about everyone I swim with a little faster because they raise your hips & get you streamlined in the water. You need to work on that form w/o the buoy but keep in mind the buoy is a good training tool itself aside from making you faster...Using a pull buoy is great for practicing bilateral breathing and also working on stroke or other drills like taking multiple strokes between breaths, not to mention a great pairing with swim paddles on various sets...