I like to swim with fins some days, I have the zoomers and some regular fins. I notice when I swim finless that I feel slow as a snail.If I have been using the fins for a couple of days. I know some swimmers that only use fins as thats the only way they have been able to learn, to them I say great what ever works for exercise but have noted to them that they should at least be able to swim finless to get out of the pool for safety if they fell into water anywhere.
Sorry I'm late to the game, but I like this topic!
Fins are helpful AND a crutch, and as many have previously posted, it depends on how you are using them.
Some great applications for using fins include: help develop kick muscles, achieve better body position, get a feel for race pace speed in practice and enhance SDK ability. I have a few frog-oriented little kids who have spent full practices working on flutter kick with fins to orient their legs with the up and down motion of a straight-leg flutter kick, rather than the "one frog leg at a time in sort of a flutter motion" approach.
If you are using fins to keep up in a lane, I wonder, are you really getting the most out of your workout? If it takes 10% less effort to keep up with the faster people, are you really getting a better workout than if you moved down a lane? Sure you may swim a few more yards, but there is a difference between quality and quantity.
For those who swim while others use fins (or won't do stroke during IM sets), I feel your pain. We used to swim with a swimmer who wore fins for the whole workout, and it can get annoying (especially when the swimmer can't keep up even with fins and doesn't move down).
It is easier said than done to tell yourself (and your lanemates) to swim your own swim, ignore them and use them as motivation. However, if you pushing yourself to work harder helps make the rest of your lane faster, is this all bad?
Sorry I'm late to the game, but I like this topic!
Fins are helpful AND a crutch, and as many have previously posted, it depends on how you are using them.
Some great applications for using fins include: help develop kick muscles, achieve better body position, get a feel for race pace speed in practice and enhance SDK ability. I have a few frog-oriented little kids who have spent full practices working on flutter kick with fins to orient their legs with the up and down motion of a straight-leg flutter kick, rather than the "one frog leg at a time in sort of a flutter motion" approach.
If you are using fins to keep up in a lane, I wonder, are you really getting the most out of your workout? If it takes 10% less effort to keep up with the faster people, are you really getting a better workout than if you moved down a lane? Sure you may swim a few more yards, but there is a difference between quality and quantity.
For those who swim while others use fins (or won't do stroke during IM sets), I feel your pain. We used to swim with a swimmer who wore fins for the whole workout, and it can get annoying (especially when the swimmer can't keep up even with fins and doesn't move down).
It is easier said than done to tell yourself (and your lanemates) to swim your own swim, ignore them and use them as motivation. However, if you pushing yourself to work harder helps make the rest of your lane faster, is this all bad?
