Pull Buoys-useful or not?

I use them all the time as I work on my technique with various drills. I also use them as I try to make the difficult adjustment to bilateral breathing--but I'm no expert!

Basically they help me be able to focus on what my arms are doing and how I'm breathing. It's not about strengthening my arms so much. They just take away the need to kick and the effect of drag.

Dana

I'm a big fan of pull buoys. They help me focus on a loonnggg stronnnggg pulllll! I have also found, in retrospect, that my wetsuit simulates pull buoys by making me so buoyant. Therefore, I don't us my legs nearly as much and find myself with much more leg power saved up for the bike and run. As anything, moderation is the key. To much pulling, especially w/ paddles, can injure your shoulders. Pay attention to how your shoulders feel. Sore is ok, pain is not.

TI does not favor the use of pull buoys. There are a couple of reasons that they give. 1) It inhibits the rolling motion which is critical to propulsion in the TI stroke. With the buoy stcuk between your legs, it is harder to drive each hip down during the stroke. 2) TI states that you should learn balance on your own, without the aid of the buoy. The buoy artificially raises your hips, and you must learn to do that yourself.

However, the exception is that if you want to use the buoy for a short period, like a lap here or there, to help your body feel the right position. You should not use it to focus on arm pull. Again, TI feels that "core body rotation" is more critical to reducing drag and therefore swimming easier and faster than developing arm strength. The only tools that TI recommends are "fist-gloves".

I never use a pull buoy in my swimming training.

I love them, but after reading about not using them in the TI book, I might have to use them less. I think I was using them too much anyways. But I do like the fact that it keeps my legs still. I dont want to kick to begin with

I would incorporate them into your training but I personally never use them for more than 500 yds. And exercise you can do to work on your arms is to swim a 50 or 100 yd. freestyle, climb out of the pool and do 10 pushups on the deck, then do another easy 50 or 100 yd. free and another 10 pushups. You will definitely know that you have tricep muscles when you get back into the pool and swim.

Mike

I've never used a pull buoy and I'm in line with the adage "Train how you'll race." Won't be any pull buoys in my triathlon I know that's true. I'm not a big fan of "extras," call me a purist but I just like it to be me and against the world. But I just started this new Masters Swim Team and they use all kinds of aids including buoys, paddles, kickboards (ok, so I've used kickboards) in intreval training so that you can work on a particular weakness in your stroke. So my 2 cents is: use aids for intervals but not for long-time use. Ovetta.

How about "useless"! The only thing pull buoys do is help you achieve balance in the water that you should be focused on doing without the help of a little float between your knees! Same goes for paddles! Swimming is the most "technical" of the 3 tri events; it is not a power deal! If you want to see how efficient you are or are not; swim some 50s with your hands in fists!
The bottom line is that swimming is about being efficient not necessarily powerful. Would it be nice to be both,,,of course. But focus on efficiency and balance first. Achieve these on you own, not with the help of a "floaty".

My biased .02
Paul

Edited by Tri-Wog StL 2004-05-05 5:42 PM