What is the current thinking on flippers / fins? (ie, professional coaching recommendations). It seems like their use is very pervasive these days but when I was a swimmer growing up (US Swimming) we did not use them...and I swam with some kids that went to Olympic trials...so it was a good team.
My masters team uses them ALL the time. They don't do kick sets without them. They even use the flippers for main sets at times, and some swimmers sneak them on to keep up with their lane, which messes up the lane order (and in fact they should swim in a slower lane if they cannot make the workout in the faster lane without flippers - IMO). And they use them when they are slow in other strokes (ie, IM's, back, butterfly). Some of these swimmers have mastered kicking with fins (esp those that use huge scuba fins), but they can't kick worth beans without the fins.
Is there any research/articles on fin usage? What do the top swimmers do?
Thanks!
I would recommend to use fins in certain sets and in certain instances within the practices. I have used both Zoomers and Split fins (ones by both TYR and Kiefer) and a swimmer can benefit and work there legs harder if they consentrate on doing that when swimming hard. I use zoomers in hard sprints during my taper because I really want to work the legs and feel the power of my kick. When I take off the zoomers I still want to use the same power intensity of the kick that I had using the zoomers. I always encourage swimmers to use fins in fly sets because it will help them stay level on the water when fatigue sets in if they start to break down when swimming fly.
Now I am not an advocate of someone using fins all off the time for every set, be it for kicking, stroke sets, free sets, long sets, etc. I think a lot of masters have FDS, which is Fin Dependency Syndrome. They will get used to using fins and feel they have progressed with them to the point that they are swimming faster in workout and this will help them swim faster in meets without them. I believe this is wrong and swimmers like this should be weened off the fins.
I would recommend fins in some instances for verticle kicking. If you do the verticle kicking right, which is to be as straight as possible, extend arms and begin kicking hard to keep head above the surface, you will really feel the benefits of this not just in the legs but aerobically as well.
I would recommend to use fins in certain sets and in certain instances within the practices. I have used both Zoomers and Split fins (ones by both TYR and Kiefer) and a swimmer can benefit and work there legs harder if they consentrate on doing that when swimming hard. I use zoomers in hard sprints during my taper because I really want to work the legs and feel the power of my kick. When I take off the zoomers I still want to use the same power intensity of the kick that I had using the zoomers. I always encourage swimmers to use fins in fly sets because it will help them stay level on the water when fatigue sets in if they start to break down when swimming fly.
Now I am not an advocate of someone using fins all off the time for every set, be it for kicking, stroke sets, free sets, long sets, etc. I think a lot of masters have FDS, which is Fin Dependency Syndrome. They will get used to using fins and feel they have progressed with them to the point that they are swimming faster in workout and this will help them swim faster in meets without them. I believe this is wrong and swimmers like this should be weened off the fins.
I would recommend fins in some instances for verticle kicking. If you do the verticle kicking right, which is to be as straight as possible, extend arms and begin kicking hard to keep head above the surface, you will really feel the benefits of this not just in the legs but aerobically as well.
