The Uses Of Aquatic Training Equipment

Tools like swim fins, hand paddles, and ankle floats may seem unnecessary at first but they offer athletes the chance to isolate portions of their swimming stroke and form that need improvement. Let’s say you’re a fast cyclist but you get stuck in transition because you’re sluggish out of the water and can’t get ahead of the packs. What could you do for your swim aside from the same swim practices? You could invest in some training equipment and then integrate drills into your training regimen that make optimize different parts of your stroke. For instance, use a kickboard for repeats of 50s or 100s (yards or meters depending on the pool) over time, you will learn how to use your legs to move more smoothly through the water. Conversely, one could isolate the arms by using a pull-buoy or ankle float along with hand paddles. This would give you a potent upper body workout due to the increased surface area of your “hand” in the water. Another benefit of hand paddles is that they will teach proper hand and finger position in and above the water during the stroke. The strength and learned form will improve efficiency.

These pieces of equipment come in many forms but they will all help your training. TYR makes a kickboard and a pull-buoy that are inflatable to save space in your gear bag. One of Aqua Sphere’s kickboards is called the Ergo Board, it features numerous options for hand positioning and comfort. Speedo offers a kickboard called the Double Barrel that has two resistance channels that create 6.5x the resistance of a standard board. Use that one or attach TYR’s Riptide Kickboard Drag Chute to your standard kickboard to get a boost in your kick training. Pull buoys are a very simple tool and they all have a similar design but we carry a number of bands.

Hand paddles are made quite a few different ways. Aqua Sphere, TYR, and Speedo offer gloves that feature material between the fingers to increase resistance and improve hand position without having something attached to your palm. They also make a few types of the traditional plastic paddle that goes over the palm. The Aqua Sphere Michael Phelps Technique Hand Paddle is very interesting because it focuses on the often-neglected wrist, forearm, and elbow position in the freestyle stroke. The Strength Hand Paddle goes over the palm and has a design that supports the palm and mimics the bone structure of the hand. As the name implies, this paddle improves the force and effectiveness of your pull. The Ergo Flex and Aqua X paddles, also from Aqua Sphere are designed for comfort and water aerobics with wider straps in the Ergo Flex and a wide glove-like construction in the Aqua X.

TYR offers four different models of hand paddles to cater to a variety of swimmers’ needs. The Catalyst Connect has a shape that contours to the swimmers palm and forearm that over time will help with muscle memory and positioning. The Catalyst Contour is of a similar design but without the forearm portion. Their Catalyst 2 Hand Paddle is a new design that removes a portion of plastic from the areas of the index and middle fingers while maintaining the natural-feeling contour design. TYR claims that removing that portion reduces strain on the shoulders. Shoulder problems are common in swimmers. Finally, the TYR Mentor 2 is TYR’s version of a strength paddle that is meant to coach pull form. This model is made of more flexible plastic to allow for better feel of the water.

Outside of training and racing, there are other pieces of equipment that can help with injury recovery and can help those looking to build strength and cardiovascular fitness without the impact. There are swim fins, flotation belts, and resistance dumbbells that can be used in a variety of gentle but effective exercises. Swim fins are great for not only improving kick form but also engaging the core muscles that are so crucial to efficiency in the water and on land. They are made in a few different styles ranging from the Aqua Sphere Michael Phelps Alpha Pro Fin that features a very light but rigid asymmetrical construction that is said to promote a neutral kicking motion. There are also the more traditional fins that resemble a shorter version of the ones seen on divers.

A factor to consider when choosing a fin is the length of the fin. A longer fin will generate more resistance which will give you a very effective workout and more propulsion but might feel bulky. The other option is a shorter more nimble fin that will still offer a workout but without feeling unwieldy. TYR offers three lengths of fin that all will increase leg and core strength. The shortest of which is called the Burner EPB Swim Fin. EPB stands for elevated body position and keeping the hips and legs higher in the water is key for proper form. This fin is designed to be used with a faster kick that will train fast-twitch muscle fibers. The next longest fin is the TYR Crossblade Training Fin. This is an intermediate length fin that is suitable for faster or slower cadence and will build good leg strength. The longest of the TYR fins is the Flexfin. The Flexfin is great for building leg and core strength above all else due to the greater resistance offered by the surface area of the fin. Aqua Sphere manufactures a fin called the Zip VX that features a "vortex channel" in the front that reduces ankle strain and streamlines propulsion. 

Floatation belts are very popular for aquatic fitness because they allow a person to be able to focus on specific exercises instead of expending energy treading water. Triathlete Sports carries belts from Speedo, Aqua Sphere, and TYR. Most belts have a very similar design that secures at the waist with foam around the back to assist in floatation. However, Aqua Sphere offers the Ergo Belt which, like the matching hand paddles, is designed for comfort. They also offer the Aqua X Belt that matches the Aqua X Hand Paddles for the aquatic fitness enthusiast. The belts from TYR and Speedo are of a simple and comfortable design that will offer consistent performance. These belts are fantastic for injured runners because it will allow them to “aqua-jog” this activity boots cardiovascular health and uses nearly the same muscle groups as running but without the harshness of impact. The last piece of equipment we will cover is the selection of resistance dumbbells. These look like the dumbbells that you would see at the gym except that they are made of very light, very buoyant foam. Once these dumbbells are submerged they can generate quite a lot of resistance! Aqua Sphere’s Ergo Bells are versatile as they can be held in different positions to alter the amount of resistance. TYR offers a stylish black and blue dumbbell with a unique shape that will offer good resistance. The last offering is from Speedo and they make a well-cushioned dumbbell that offers forty-five pounds of resistance. That would give anyone a workout! I hope this post has given you some ideas for ways to add variety to your regimen!