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!
In my group, no one seems to wear them, although I was in a masters' group previously where a woman wore them frequently. Being a newbie at the time, and having no clue about whether they had any performance enhancing benefits, it didn't especially bother me, plus she was in a faster lane (tho I don't remember anyone saying much of anything, including the coach, not that I'd know if anyone had).
But while practicing on my own, I'll notice various people with fins on--and no masters swim experience at all--swimming faster than I do w/out fins, and oddly it bothers me more in that context. I expected the woman using them in practice to be faster than I was b/c she had more experience, and I had no particular expectations for myself, so it felt fine about it.
But being beaten by people who motor along and have not been doing the workouts I've been doing... that I'd find irritating--until I figured, so what? in the open lap swimming period, everyone does her/his own thing, and the main rule is to give others room, share lanes when needed, swim in a speed-appropriate lane, no rules against fins. And I got to talking with one of the "fin-using" swimmers who aside from that is a pretty nice person, very considerate of my space when we share or use adjoining lanes... and lent me a swim cap one day when mine broke.
I'm actually afraid of trying fins... I might get to like them too much once I beat my fin-using friend and then I'd be hooked. ;) I'm getting to close to where I can stay even with her even w/out fins, so I think she's helping my swimming! :)
In my group, no one seems to wear them, although I was in a masters' group previously where a woman wore them frequently. Being a newbie at the time, and having no clue about whether they had any performance enhancing benefits, it didn't especially bother me, plus she was in a faster lane (tho I don't remember anyone saying much of anything, including the coach, not that I'd know if anyone had).
But while practicing on my own, I'll notice various people with fins on--and no masters swim experience at all--swimming faster than I do w/out fins, and oddly it bothers me more in that context. I expected the woman using them in practice to be faster than I was b/c she had more experience, and I had no particular expectations for myself, so it felt fine about it.
But being beaten by people who motor along and have not been doing the workouts I've been doing... that I'd find irritating--until I figured, so what? in the open lap swimming period, everyone does her/his own thing, and the main rule is to give others room, share lanes when needed, swim in a speed-appropriate lane, no rules against fins. And I got to talking with one of the "fin-using" swimmers who aside from that is a pretty nice person, very considerate of my space when we share or use adjoining lanes... and lent me a swim cap one day when mine broke.
I'm actually afraid of trying fins... I might get to like them too much once I beat my fin-using friend and then I'd be hooked. ;) I'm getting to close to where I can stay even with her even w/out fins, so I think she's helping my swimming! :)
