Back when I was swimming competitively, we never used fins. No one I knew even owned a pair.
Now, they seem to be popular. The local masters team uses them. Today I was in the gym pool and a young fellow -- looked to be maybe a high school team swimmer -- got in and started doing kick sets with fins.
Seems to me, if you want to get good at kicking with your bare legs, you practice kicking with your bare legs. In many sports, training is done with added weights, but since the fins make kicking easier, I don't see the benefit.
But then again, why would a training method be popular if it didn't work?
So what's the rationale?
Seems to me, if you want to get good at kicking with your bare legs, you practice kicking with your bare legs. In many sports, training is done with added weights, but since the fins make kicking easier, I don't see the benefit.
That's pretty old school.
Here's an excerpt from Salo's book on the importance of kicking and kicking with fins: books.google.com/books
Fins are especially great for lactate kicking sets; kicking slow with fins is worthless. You should also kick without fins, of course.
Apart from kicking, I swim a lot with fins. They build leg strength, are great for speed work and streamlining, and save my shoulders. Since I spend much of my fly-back races dolphin kicking, fins are quite invaluable to me.
Seems to me, if you want to get good at kicking with your bare legs, you practice kicking with your bare legs. In many sports, training is done with added weights, but since the fins make kicking easier, I don't see the benefit.
That's pretty old school.
Here's an excerpt from Salo's book on the importance of kicking and kicking with fins: books.google.com/books
Fins are especially great for lactate kicking sets; kicking slow with fins is worthless. You should also kick without fins, of course.
Apart from kicking, I swim a lot with fins. They build leg strength, are great for speed work and streamlining, and save my shoulders. Since I spend much of my fly-back races dolphin kicking, fins are quite invaluable to me.
