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?
Interesting. I might have to get that book. I'd have to adapt it to my purposes, of course, but it looks like it could be very useful in coordinating my strength training with swimming.
My goal is to see if I can get competitive again. It may never happen, but it's something to shoot for, and I do better when I have goals -- preferably extremely difficult ones.
I just purchased the book myself. It appears to have loads of excellent advice for workouts, drylands, stretching and RC work as well. (BTW, I took 24 years off myself -- old dogs can learn new tricks!)
I use fins the following ways:
-- lactate kicking sets (example: 5 x 100 @ 4:00)
-- some endurance/tempo/fartlek kicking (I like doing Chris Stevenson's kick mountain with my monofin.)
-- underwater dolphin kicking (especially 25s or 50s, which I call "shooters," though I do this without fins as well)
-- speed work (fast 25s, 50s)
-- cardio sets -- I use fins to save my shoulders on long cardio sets. However, as noted above, I bust my ass on these sets and don't just cruise along. The cardio/strengthening effect is magnified. As Geek notes, you should be blasted after this.
-- fly -- I swim fly w/fins to save my shoulders. Fly is a leg driven stroke, and fins help builds leg strength. It doesn't seem to make a huge difference when I get in and race without fins either.
-- dolphin kicking with my monofin.
I rarely do any easy aerobic or social or recovery kicking with or without fins.
I use long blade fins and dislike zoomers. I don't have any recs on fins for wide toes ... Go to a specialty swim store and try some on. If you want ideas for specific sets with fins, you can glance through my blog.
Good luck!
Interesting. I might have to get that book. I'd have to adapt it to my purposes, of course, but it looks like it could be very useful in coordinating my strength training with swimming.
My goal is to see if I can get competitive again. It may never happen, but it's something to shoot for, and I do better when I have goals -- preferably extremely difficult ones.
I just purchased the book myself. It appears to have loads of excellent advice for workouts, drylands, stretching and RC work as well. (BTW, I took 24 years off myself -- old dogs can learn new tricks!)
I use fins the following ways:
-- lactate kicking sets (example: 5 x 100 @ 4:00)
-- some endurance/tempo/fartlek kicking (I like doing Chris Stevenson's kick mountain with my monofin.)
-- underwater dolphin kicking (especially 25s or 50s, which I call "shooters," though I do this without fins as well)
-- speed work (fast 25s, 50s)
-- cardio sets -- I use fins to save my shoulders on long cardio sets. However, as noted above, I bust my ass on these sets and don't just cruise along. The cardio/strengthening effect is magnified. As Geek notes, you should be blasted after this.
-- fly -- I swim fly w/fins to save my shoulders. Fly is a leg driven stroke, and fins help builds leg strength. It doesn't seem to make a huge difference when I get in and race without fins either.
-- dolphin kicking with my monofin.
I rarely do any easy aerobic or social or recovery kicking with or without fins.
I use long blade fins and dislike zoomers. I don't have any recs on fins for wide toes ... Go to a specialty swim store and try some on. If you want ideas for specific sets with fins, you can glance through my blog.
Good luck!
