Favorite pull buoy?

(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. Thanx, I'll give it a try next workout.

I've seen the words "relied" and "dependent" used to describe people's relationship with this accessory in this thread. The first time I ever used one was when someone was trying to show me how to achieve proper body position. Thats really all it should be used for - as a learning tool. The moment it becomes a crutch, it should raise a red flag. Back to the original topic of this thread... the solid white styrofoam pull buoys that everyone seems to like and not find anymore I believe are made by Competitor, the same people that make a lot of the lane ropes and pace clocks. I have one, and their brand name is barely visible. Any venture capitalists out there? Perhaps I should find out if Competitor will license the patent and design and I can re-launch these buoys under a new company.

I realized at the pool yesterday that pull buoys are for old men and old men only. hey now, puppy, some of us younger old men have knee injuries too! :toohurt:

My favorite pull bouy is a blue two peice styrofoam, mostly because no one else has one like mine so it is less likely to magically disappear from the deck like my old white two peice styrofoam bouy did. Actually my coach has us use a kickboard between the legs more often than the pull bouy. ROTATION, ROTATION, ROTATION.

The purpose of the pull buoy is to isolate your arms. The purpose of paddles is to put more of a load on your muscles. To get stronger, pull with a buoy and use paddles. Don't use fins during a pull set. Don't choose paddles which are too large such that your stroke cadence is thrown off. If in doubt about which size to choose, go with the smaller ones. The yellow Catalysts are good for me, and I'd consider myself a strong swimmer. I can't remember which size yellow is though. I feel that some paddles, such as the Tyr Catalysts, encourage good stroke technique. I find it easy to attain a high elbow catch when using those paddles. Strokemaker is another good brand. If you swim uphill without a pull buoy, perhaps your head position is incorrect. Try looking straight down at the bottom of the pool. This should bring your hips and legs up. If your head is pointed up and you're facing the end of the pool, your hips will be forced down and if you have a weak kick your legs will sink. Happy laps.

I realized at the pool yesterday that pull buoys are for old men and old men only.

(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 Skip: This was a great drill! A couple of times, I was in a perfect streamline except my arms from my elbows up were out of the water and my toes were dragging the bottom; once I just rolled over in to a streamline back stroke!:doh: I'll working on this for a while, thanx.

I have had the same pul buoy for the past 20 years and I love it. It is a yellow bouy made in sweden which was given to me from one of my friends in Sweden. It is actually a childrens float reconfigured as a pull bouy. I've tried to bring them over to the US to sale, but I can't get them shipped here. They are strong (plastic), don't slip, float well, and never wear out. I will not use any other pulling device, they just don't compare.