Marion Freijsen A blog about Sports, Fitness & Health

Swim Equipment

Swimming is a great activity and obviously for us on the Western Hemisphere, a very attractive one, now that summer has more or less arrived! For serious swimming, i.e. doing laps or swimming in open water at a reasonable pace, you can use a number of things that will be useful in your training.

Funnily enough I was reading a blog on another site recently about swimming where they started out with reminding people that you needed a swimsuit… that is going one too far I think, I would hope you all consider that an essential item. At least in most locations

If you are going to practice freestyle, or even butterfly if you wish to go that far – Goggles make a useful investment. When practicing or finessing your stroke, you will be spending quite a bit of time with your eyes below the surface and it would be good if you could keep them open to see that wall heading your way. Invest in a decent pair that fits your eye socket. There are goggles with rounder shapes for sockets of a rounder shape, and more elongated shaped ones fit other eye sockets better so do ask for advise in the store where you buy them. If you wear lenses or glasses, you may want to get a prescription pair so you can still identify the wall as being a wall instead of something big and blurry (which may be your swim buddy instead!).

Then there are tools that help you in other ways then finding the bottom or ends of a pool:

Fins. Whilst you may consider wearing fins to make it “easier” and therefore a bit of a cheat, you can do some great training with these on. They will work your legs and add power to your swimming. You will find a fairly large variety and should first of all opt for some that are a good fit, snug but not tight. Getting some shorter then average fins will allow you to train with them, without getting too much power just from the fins or overexerting your legs. Use fins to do series of just kicking – it’ll be great for both improving your kick technique and increasing your speed in the water.

Pull-Buoy. A pull-byoy is a foam piece in the shape of a sand-timer that you can put between your legs. It’ll keep your legs stay afloat allowing you to work specifically on your arms. Working on swimming only with your arms both increases your strength and musculature and technique. Alternating with fins and buoy’s and then putting the two together without any equipment is a great work-out right there.

This piece of equipment is usually made of foam and comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. It is placed between your legs above the knees and allows your lower body to float more while isolating your swimming to the upper body. If your legs tend to sink, or if they’re just tired, a pull buoy can often help.

Kickboard. If you would like to work your legs exclusively, you can use a kickboard. Add fins to your liking.  The board is usually made of foam comes in different sizes. You hold it out in front of you, arms stretched, allowing your upper body to float along whilst you work your legs. Or you can use it to float with one hand, whilst you do drills with the other arm. Really good way to practice and make sure both arms develop equally. If you always use both arms in the water, you may find that one arm actually does more work then the other. Learning to use both equally strongly will again give your speed and endurance a boost.

Hand paddles. If you’re looking to work your pull a little more, hand paddles can sometimes help. Hand paddles are usually made of hard plastic and are held in place on the hands with short lengths of rubber tubing that are attached to the top of the paddle. There are other types of paddles that look more like gloves, made of lycra and rubber. Be careful when considering using hand paddles. They can sometimes put too much stress on the shoulders.

Wet-Suit. If you are going to do triathlons or participate in open water swimming (which I strongly recommend, it is superb!!!) then you will need a wetsuit…unless you live in the Caribean (in which case I want to come and give you a personal work-out make-over!). Wet-suits should fit very snugly but not cut off your circulation. So don’t buy it too small just because it looks so good on. Nobody is going to see you once you are in the water! For swimming, you need a special type of wetsuit with different thicknesses of rubber for the arms and legs. The body is a higher thickness to keep you warm, whilst the limbs should be only a few millimeters to allow you freedom of movement. Get one that you can easily get out of again, so test it in the store if you can. Triathletes use vaseline on their ankles and wrists sometimes to help slip out of the wetsuit easily during a race…. in the store, when you are dry it’ll be a little harder, but it’s mostly about easily reaching for the zipper pull then anything else as to how quick you will be able to get out and that you can test on dry land as easily as when it is wet.