I saw a swim team swimming with these resistance devices the other day, kind of like parachutes. I figure they are probably good to help with strength, but it seems that they might also force you to improve technique to move at a reasonable pace. Anyone have experience with these things?
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Former Member
I have used small swim training resistant parachutes a few times before when I was in highschool/college. (often coupled with paddles and/or fins/zoomers). It basically feels like you have a big belt on with a rope attached anchored to a dead body or something, anything that's very heavy but floats. I suppose it is used for 'real-scenario' strength training. Be careful if you do choose to use a parachute, you could injure yourself (especially shoulders). I think a parachute is only appropriate for older(16+?) seasoned swimmers with a developed technique that could use strengthening.
Then again, this is just my personal take on it. My coaches never really had us use them, we occasionally would strap them on just for some fun. We also would use the same belt, but attach a thick-gauge resistance cord to it, anchor it to the starting block and see who could make it to the other side (25yrds) in every stroke.
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Former Member
I have used small swim training resistant parachutes a few times before when I was in highschool/college. (often coupled with paddles and/or fins/zoomers). It basically feels like you have a big belt on with a rope attached anchored to a dead body or something, anything that's very heavy but floats. I suppose it is used for 'real-scenario' strength training. Be careful if you do choose to use a parachute, you could injure yourself (especially shoulders). I think a parachute is only appropriate for older(16+?) seasoned swimmers with a developed technique that could use strengthening.
Then again, this is just my personal take on it. My coaches never really had us use them, we occasionally would strap them on just for some fun. We also would use the same belt, but attach a thick-gauge resistance cord to it, anchor it to the starting block and see who could make it to the other side (25yrds) in every stroke.
