Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

jgale — Tue, 25 May 2010 10:18:10 GMT

Definitely faster with a pull buoy than without. As an ex-runner without much of a kick, it puts me in a better body position. I have the same experience swimming in a wetsuit in open water.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Former Member — Sat, 22 May 2010 06:47:00 GMT

I chose "somewhat faster with pull buoy", but that's only true when I'm swimming all-out. At low to medium effort level I am much faster with a pull buoy. With paddles, even more so.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Former Member — Fri, 21 May 2010 10:24:02 GMT

I almost always use paddles+pull-buoy when doing pull sets, much faster than full stroke swimming. Paddles without pull-buoy dragging legs are faster than swimming. Paddles and kicking are faster than swimming. Bare hands and pull-buoy are a little slower than swimming. Bare hands and no pull-buoy dragging legs are same as swimming. I really dislike pulling ***/butterfly with a pull-buoy. Hips are too high and it hurts my back especially when trying to recover/breathe. The best combo is paddles+pull-buoy+fins for free + back. The fins help plane your feet and act like a rudder, plus a little sneaky propulsion.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

tjrpatt — Fri, 21 May 2010 09:13:03 GMT

I am much faster pulling with the paddles since I have a little meager kick on full stroke swimming.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Tim L — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:20:13 GMT

As I add equipment (buoy, paddles), I get slower. I'm way faster just swimming. Why do I think this happens? Buoy: it seems to inhibit my body roll and I swim flatter Paddles: I am not a "power-driven" swimmer and paddles slow my stroke down too much (as I'm too damn weak to manage the extra resistance!) Same results and generally the same reasons except I think I also get a lot of my speed from my kick. Tim

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

coffeegirl — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:22:56 GMT

Definitely faster with a pull buoy! It's the only time I can lead the lane. When I start to get really tired during some of our heavy timed sets I'll grab the pull buoy to stay up with everyone. It gives me a chance to catch my breath too. I do feel like I am cheating/taking the easy way out but I still make the send-off so I am definitely keeping up on the speed. Swimming a 500 feels like death, pulling it, one of my favorite swims.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

philoswimmer — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:44:33 GMT

I started originally with my speed being faster with a pull bouy (significantly). Now as I've been focusing on my kick speed, I'm actually closing that gap rather rapidly. See -> (Help my Flutter Kick is Horrible!) Help My Flutter Kick is Horrible! - U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums I need, "Help, My Pull Buoy Speed is Horrible!" :-)

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

philoswimmer — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:43:59 GMT

If you need a pull-buoy to go faster, then you likely are: a. Underutilizing your kick b. Not using your core to maintain proper body alignment c. Both a & b Don't worry, you are better off working to go faster without the buoy, since you can't use it in competition, anyway! :) I'd like to think that I can infer from this that since I go slower with a pull-buoy, I have a good kick and use my core for proper body alignment. I suspect that is a faulty inference, though!

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

bzaks1424 — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:40:20 GMT

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Redbird Alum — Thu, 20 May 2010 04:35:08 GMT

... Anyway, thanks to everyone who responded. It's good to know I'm not the only one out there who goes (much) slower with a buoy, but I'm still not sure if it's something I should be worried about. If you need a pull-buoy to go faster, then you likely are: a. Underutilizing your kick b. Not using your core to maintain proper body alignment c. Both a & b Don't worry, you are better off working to go faster without the buoy, since you can't use it in competition, anyway! :)

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

swiminny — Thu, 20 May 2010 03:43:31 GMT

I am much slower with a pull buoy. My body position is normally pretty good so I think the pull buoy just puts me in a worse body position and I can't kick as well. My unscientific theory is that on the whole *well for our team anyway) the men seem to swim a lot faster with a pull buoy and the women a little bit or a lot slower with the pull buoy. Maybe something about body position and having a bit more padding around the hips to keep us floating a bit more??

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Former Member — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:07:38 GMT

Much much faster with a pull buoy. Could go on forever. My legs are extremely heavy. When I float on my back, for example, my feet point at the bottom of the pool.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Rykno — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:38:09 GMT

since I never use a bouy with out paddles I can not say. but I would have to guess slower. but with paddles and bouy much faster.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

pdjang — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:59:44 GMT

The poll results are also very interesting to me... so far, lots of people both slower and faster with buoys (but more who go slower than faster) -- but most people not saying that their speed changes "much." Thanks for posting this poll. The results are interesting (bi-modal) for the small sample. Personally, I've found that my repeat times are much slower with a buoy. I feel that my body position changes substantially and I lose the feel for the water (but I do like paddle pull sets w/o a buoy). Oddly, the soon to be illegal swim skins initially imparted the same feeling of make me more buoyant; and I suffered the subsequent loss of water feel. Practicing in a skin (B70) "reprogrammed" me so that I could get the feel for the water (and benefit of the buoyancy of the swim skin). I understand that some of the latest textile swim suits mimic the paper suits of the 1980's. It will be interesting to learn how these new suits will affect a swimmer's perception of water feel.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

norascats — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:41:47 GMT

I don't like the pull buoy, it keeps my hips way too high and hurts my back. I can do puul sets quite nicely without it.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Former Member — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:43:26 GMT

Don't use a pullbuoy. If I want to do arm pulls, I just do. Legs trailing behind. (not sinking.....). I naturally ride high-ish.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

philoswimmer — Thu, 13 May 2010 06:48:55 GMT

As I add equipment (buoy, paddles), I get slower. I'm way faster just swimming. Why do I think this happens? Buoy: it seems to inhibit my body roll and I swim flatter Paddles: I am not a "power-driven" swimmer and paddles slow my stroke down too much (as I'm too damn weak to manage the extra resistance!) I think both of these may be true for me as well, although I tend to avoid paddles for fear of shoulder injury.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

philoswimmer — Thu, 13 May 2010 06:45:42 GMT

Don't use a pullbuoy. If I want to do arm pulls, I just do. Legs trailing behind. (not sinking.....). I naturally ride high-ish. Yeah, that's the interesting thing... if I don't kick at all, my legs *do* sink. So, I either end up using the pull buoy (and being way behind my lanemates) or blowing off the drill and just swimming. Maybe I need a buoy with very low flotation... does any such thing exist?? The poll results are also very interesting to me... so far, lots of people both slower and faster with buoys (but more who go slower than faster) -- but most people not saying that their speed changes "much." For some reason, I had expected that there would be few if any people in the "speed unchanged" category. Anyway, thanks to everyone who responded. It's good to know I'm not the only one out there who goes (much) slower with a buoy, but I'm still not sure if it's something I should be worried about.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Former Member — Wed, 12 May 2010 10:06:34 GMT

I'm just about as fast if not faster at a normal practice pace with a pull bouy because I rarely kick during sets. At a hard/semi race pace where I actually engage the size 15's, then the pull bouy slows me down a tad, but only by about 3-5 seconds per hundred. I also drop about 2 strokes per length at the same time without the kick, go fig. Me too (except my feet are a lot smaller). I find it puts my legs in the correct position without me actually having to do any work to keep them there......which is why I loved my legsuit for distance free :(

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Former Member — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:06:28 GMT

I'm just about as fast if not faster at a normal practice pace with a pull bouy because I rarely kick during sets. At a hard/semi race pace where I actually engage the size 15's, then the pull bouy slows me down a tad, but only by about 3-5 seconds per hundred. I also drop about 2 strokes per length at the same time without the kick, go fig. I love pull sets, my coaches never believed in them and felt they cause injury so we were really never allowed to use them. Now that I practice on my own I find some days I do some pretty heavy pull sets. The only problem with it is that I start to lose the thing after about 200m and I have to stop and reset it.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Former Member — Wed, 12 May 2010 08:55:08 GMT

I am much slower with a pull bouy. If I wear paddles and in shape, I'm about the same speed, sans toys. I think it is because I can't rotate as I do without. My kick is mostly used for body position or timing, not propulsion. Oh well. I use a pull bouy to focus on my underwater pull, not for interval training.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Former Member — Wed, 12 May 2010 08:52:05 GMT

I am faster with a buoy because my legs sink and I swim up-hill. I have a weak kick. The buoy get me in a proper body position. Hmmm, there's probably a linkage here that I'm missing. :dunno:

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

jethro — Wed, 12 May 2010 08:06:49 GMT

Slightly faster with a buoy, but I can be pretty lazy with my kick and the buoy gives me better body position.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

aztimm — Wed, 12 May 2010 07:53:33 GMT

With just a pull bouy, I'm a little slower. With paddles + buoy, I'm noticeably faster, roughly 3-5 sec per 100 than without toys.

RE: Speed with pull buoy compared to speed without?

Patrick W. Brundage — Wed, 12 May 2010 07:49:45 GMT