I don't use these often, and I wonder if one can become a good swimmer without them? I think of folks who grew up near water and are "natural" good swimmers; I'm sure they didn't need these tools to learn swimming? Nothing wrong with using them, but I don't seem to have the patience to use them. Today I just kicked across the pool without kickboard and it felt fine.:agree: Can't we improving the kicks without using the kickboard? Samethoughts about the fins and pull buoys... Am I missing something?
Parents
Former Member
I rationalize my use of toys on two grounds, one, they help me to concentrate on and learn skills that would be difficult to get right in whole stroke swimming, and two, they allow me to practice things more times than I could manage without them.
For example, I can do a lot more fly with fins than I could hope to do without so I can practice doing the right movements and get the components and timing correct and do many repetitions of correct movements until they become automatic.
Fins also allow me to practice more lengths swimming at a faster pace than I could without them.
In theory, if you have difficulty making a good catch and breathing at the same time, if you practice the catch with the snorkel until a good catch is completely automatic then you can add breathing without losing your catch. Sort of like learning to ride a unicycle and learning to juggle before you learn to juggle while riding a unicycle.
That's my theory anyway.
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Former Member
I rationalize my use of toys on two grounds, one, they help me to concentrate on and learn skills that would be difficult to get right in whole stroke swimming, and two, they allow me to practice things more times than I could manage without them.
For example, I can do a lot more fly with fins than I could hope to do without so I can practice doing the right movements and get the components and timing correct and do many repetitions of correct movements until they become automatic.
Fins also allow me to practice more lengths swimming at a faster pace than I could without them.
In theory, if you have difficulty making a good catch and breathing at the same time, if you practice the catch with the snorkel until a good catch is completely automatic then you can add breathing without losing your catch. Sort of like learning to ride a unicycle and learning to juggle before you learn to juggle while riding a unicycle.
That's my theory anyway.
