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Train with flippers????
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 2008-07-10 10:43 AM |
Pro  5761     Bartlett, TN |  Subject: Train with flippers????So I am swimming about 4-5 days a week now, and it has really made me comfortable in the water. Here is the thing though, I do workouts as I get to the pool. I do some sprints of different lengths and some distance swims, but what I do not do is ever use flippers or kick boards or any type of contraption in these workouts. It's freestyle all the way. So riddle me this, Do you use flippers or kickboards while working out, and if so, what does it do for you? My mindset has always been to train like a race... |
| 2008-07-10 10:53 AM in reply to: #1520174 |
Expert 934 FL | Subject: RE: Train with flippers???? I used flippers and a board this morning (just for 100 yrd total on a light workout day). On days were I am focusing on drills, I will use them and that was today. I am not a good kicker and the board and flippers help with my form and help improve my kick strength. I use the flippers when doing side swimming so that I can actually move a little bit. For the last few months I have not done many drills or used any aids such as pull bouy, boards or flippers, etc and my swimming has suffered. I am still not a good swimmer and these help me improve my efficiency and concentrace on parts of the stroke. Also, doing some drills helps with the bordom that I fight in the pool. |
| 2008-07-10 10:54 AM in reply to: #1520174 |
Master 1728 portland, or | Subject: RE: Train with flippers???? Fins/flippers serve a number of purposes: increase ankle flexibility; allow you to swim easily while focusing on your stroke; provide resistance on kick sets to load the hip flexors, glutes, hamstrings; raise your HR and allow you to swim longer at a higher HR without breaking down your stroke. A kickboards main purpose is to keep your head out of the water when doing kick sets. It gives you a break from wearing goggles and if in a squad setting gives you a chance to be more social. There are also drills that can be done with a kickboard such as catch-up and single-arm swimming. For some real fun, put on some flippers, grab a kickboard and do some "Tombstone Kick Sets". Hold the board so it's perpendicular to the water surface and submerge it half way. Then kick as hard as you can to the other length of the pool. The board will create resistance, lots of it. Personally I incorporate fins into my workouts regularly during the off-season, but very little once race season starts. I use kickboards year round. scott |
| 2008-07-10 4:55 PM in reply to: #1520174 |
| SC | Subject: RE: Train with flippers???? I like to use pull buoys as it really helps me to focus on my stroke and pull without clouding my mind with kicking and balance. I can really just concentrate on stroke mechanics w/o needing to go fast at all. Extend and pull as slow as I want b/c between my lungs being full of air and a piece of styrofoam between my legs I can stay pretty well balanced. I use kickboards and fins for all the above mentioned reasons but for me the primary reason for using all these things is to really break up the monotony of a freestyle/front crawl workout. Truth be told it just gets old after awhile swimming up and down the pool and I need to do things a little different sometimes. Especially if I went 4-5 times/week. If I can use these things and get in a good resistance workout for strength & flexibility then great. It's going to improve my mechanics? Good. It'll keep me from going crazy and keep me coming back to the pool on a regular basis? Then that's awesome and I'm all over it!! |
| 2008-07-10 4:58 PM in reply to: #1520174 |
| Subject: RE: Train with flippers???? I use kickboards only when the plan tells me to - if I'm gonna do a kick drill, I usually flip over and do it on my back. I haven't used flippers really, and I use the pull buoy, again, when the plan calls for it - it's good for concentrating on stroke and seems to help me with upper body strength, since I have none. Edited by wurkit_gurl 2008-07-10 4:58 PM |
| 2008-07-10 5:00 PM in reply to: #1521451 |
Champion 8540 the colony texas | Subject: RE: Train with flippers???? we will about once a month use fins to basically go faster.. so that your arms have a harder time keeping up, when you are going faster your body position is pretty important, as it will raise up more so you get the feeling of what it's like... |
| 2008-07-10 10:24 PM in reply to: #1521465 |
Extreme Veteran 478 Houston, Texas | Subject: RE: Train with flippers???? Gaarryy - 2008-07-10 5:00 PM we will about once a month use fins to basically go faster.. so that your arms have a harder time keeping up, when you are going faster your body position is pretty important, as it will raise up more so you get the feeling of what it's like... X 2 I'll use fins for the same reason. At the faster speed your body encounters more resistance to the water and any errors in positioning are magnified. You can typically self correct just by the feel of the water before the coach even says something. I don't use them just to keep up with faster lanes. They are used for a specific training purpose. Fins also allow a more natural swimming rotation than when you use kickboards or a pull bouy. The fins that I use are not the big ones supplied by the pool, though; they are the short Zoomer type fins. Another use for me is on pull sets. I'll forgo the pull bouy and slip on the fins. Without kicking the fins act like trim tabs on a boat motor - no extra propulsion but it keeps my legs up without the ackward bouyancy of the pull bouy. |
| 2008-07-11 8:06 AM in reply to: #1520174 |
Elite 3067 Cheesehead, WI | Subject: RE: Train with flippers???? Another Zoomer fan. They have a 'clipped down' fin so it makes you use your leg/hip more as in regular kicking. Regular full sized 'diving' fins need less propulsion to go and they also add a lot more resistance and seem to speed up any cramping issues for me. Zoomers help me to work on kicking from the hip vs my knees to get a better feel of how I need to use my legs.
Edited by BbMoozer 2008-07-11 8:06 AM |
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