Favorite pull buoy?

I have one that is no longer made which I love. It is soft styrofoam but doesn't absorb water at all. In fact it is made from the same material as the Tyr. Mine is just a different shape. I personally wouldn't want hard stryfoam between my legs while I'm trying to pull. Alison

I have one of the Tyr floats (although I only use it infrequently) which I've had for a few years. I rinse it and dry it off and don't have any issues with sogginess at all (I backpack my gear back and forth to the pool). As far as floatation, I've never been a fan of too much floatation of the legs during pull sets, as it throws off body alignment and can cause compensation in the pull which messes up my stroke and sometimes my shoulders as well. For me, styrofoam is way to much floatation and irritates the skin.

Your mileage may vary. I find the Tyr buoy TOO buoyant. I use that at one facility and the two-piece polyfoam at another, and both jack me up and change arm alignment. Occasionally it is exactly that change that my coach wants to see. I use them now in mixed sets (swim with, then without) or to unweight the lower body completely, but now we mostly use fins to look at arm technique. :blah: (Oh dear, I am boring myself!) Regards, VB

(Oh dear, I am boring myself!) VB - Not boring at all, instructional, actually. I only use my Tyr infrequently because I'm not a big fan of leg floatation. Like you said, no sense jacking up my body position. My comment was mostly in response to the sogginess question.

i too got addicted to the dang things when I first started swimming i hate pull buoys when I do pull sets w/paddles I just drag my legs and foucs on balanced body position

I use my styrofoam pull bouy, a lot! I'm new to swimming and have relied on it because my legs sink so badly. Without it, I swim "uphill". Should I quit using it and switch to fins? I tried just dragging my legs and I wen down like the Titantic. :drown: I'm not a coach, but I would say, continue using what you need to use! When I was 10, I sank like a stone -- skinny kid -- and could not for the life of me understand how people were able to float. Body position comes first, and if a pull buoy helps you find and neurally imprint the correct body position, that's all good. Later, some one-on-one sessions with a coach might help you find that position without a buoy or fins. (Any coaches want to weigh in here?) Regards, VB

I use my styrofoam pull bouy, a lot! I'm new to swimming and have relied on it because my legs sink so badly. Without it, I swim "uphill". Should I quit using it and switch to fins? I tried just dragging my legs and I wen down like the Titantic. :drown: (EDIT: lest you think you can't do this, I also have "heavy" legs. It's not terribly easy at first, but it's doable.) Maybe try some balance drills. Our coach had us do this a couple weeks ago, 6x75 as follows: Gently push off from the wall & hold the streamline. Balance yourself. Use your core muscles and/or head/arm/leg position to make yourself float level. When you need to breathe, lift your head to take a breath then return to the streamline position. Adjust as necessary. After six breathe/streamline cycles scull to the end of the pool. That completes the first 25. Swim the next 50 focusing on the streamline and balance. When I'm on my own and impatient I've dropped it to three breaths and just swim a 25 after the streamline/scull 25. (I can't really do 75's at the club where I work out because they lack a pace clock and I can't see the wall clock from the far end of the pool.) Skip Montanaro

Can someone please explain to me the benefits of using a pull buoy during a pull set (with paddles)? I've only been swimming for 2 years and the one time I tried using a pull buoy, it threw off my balance so badly that I gave up after one lap. I have pretty good balance in the water and am able to keep up with or pass my lane mates on drills, but I swim freestyle sets slowly compared to them. Today during our pull set (300 x2, 200 x2, 100 x2) they all lapped me. But they were all using pull buoys, as well as paddles. I was using paddles but just kicking with bare feet. My coach came down on me after the set about not having/using enough power to swim. I honestly feel that I'm giving it everything I have and my arms have been aching all day from the pull set (total yardage for this morning's workout was about 3,800 yards). I don't have a swimming background and all my sports and activities as a youth were leg-based (soccer, running, cycling) so it seems like now at age 44 I just don't have the muscle-base. Would adding a pull buoy to the paddle workout help me develop a more powerful catch/stroke overall, or would it just make me a faster puller and be able to keep up with the group? Does pulling without fins or a pull buoy work the muscles harder and thus build them up? Somehow I need to develop those upper body muscles, and four days a week of swimming 1.5 hours (plus 2 weighlifting sessions a week) doesn't seem to be doing it.

Your mileage may vary. I find the Tyr buoy TOO buoyant. I use that at one facility and the two-piece polyfoam at another, and both jack me up and change arm alignment. Occasionally it is exactly that change that my coach wants to see. I use them now in mixed sets (swim with, then without) or to unweight the lower body completely, but now we mostly use fins to look at arm technique. :blah: (Oh dear, I am boring myself!) Regards, VB I use my styrofoam pull bouy, a lot! I'm new to swimming and have relied on it because my legs sink so badly. Without it, I swim "uphill". Should I quit using it and switch to fins? I tried just dragging my legs and I wen down like the Titantic. :drown:

I use my styrofoam pull bouy, a lot! I'm new to swimming and have relied on it because my legs sink so badly. Without it, I swim "uphill". Should I quit using it and switch to fins? I tried just dragging my legs and I wen down like the Titantic. :drown: Slowswim You remind me of me three months ago. I had grown dependent on the buoy for about 2 years. Same feeling of uphill swimming without it. So much that I would NEVER swim without one. Well on Labor Day weekend I started some lessons and went cold turkey on the buoy. Have not used one since. First 6 weeks were very painful but with lots of drilling, sculling and attention to detail as directed by a top notch coach I can now say I love the feeling of swimming without a buoy. Developing my kick has helped a great deal as well. My body rotates more effectively and my times are beginning to drop as well. Heart rates are coming down as well. All in all a great feeling. Do the drills and it will happen. I will never use a buoy again! Regards Spudfin