A question about fins

Hi Lucky-- welcome back to swimming! And good question about the fins. Our members often have questions about the different products out there, so we have dedicated a section of SWIMMER magazine to product testing and review. Be sure to check out the Swim Bag department in your September - October issue for a review of many different types of fins.

Our team use them for drill sets & some long distance sets. I like the ones made from silicone, much softer on the feet than hard rubber zoomers. Like snow skiing, there is some new toy every year!

Our team use them for drill sets & some long distance sets. I like the ones made from silicone, much softer on the feet than hard rubber zoomers. Like snow skiing, there is some new toy every year! Any particular brand? Sometimes my feet get a bit torn up and I wouldn't mind investing in some fins that would be gentler.

Thanks for all the suggestions! After getting back into the pool I've discovered that I have NO leg strength for kicking. I was thinking of using the fins just for (some) kick sets and maybe the occasional sprint set, just to get the feeling of swimming fast back again. I'm also going to try the 100 IM set Robert suggested just to do something different in my workout. I tend to get a bit unfocused during lap swim and just go through the motions. That will for sure mix things up a bit!

Any particular brand? Sometimes my feet get a bit torn up and I wouldn't mind investing in some fins that would be gentler. I have found the Aquasphere fins are the most comfortable and least likely to scrape up my feet, in fact they are the only fins I've used that didn't scrape my feet when used extensively. They are made out of a soft material that seems to mold itself to your feet. I have four other types of fins and only ever use the Aquasphere fins. As someone else noted they weigh very which is a nice bonus.

If you read the "help my flutter kick is horrible" thread Ande pretty much says to stop using Fins all together. U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Help My Flutter Kick is Horrible!

Not everyone agrees with this, including some pretty fast swimmers & kickers. (I don't use fins very much either, btw.) Increasing angle flexibility and leg strength are two fine reasons to use fins. All I would say is, don't come to rely on them. Do some sets without them. And I recommend tracking improvement in your kick by using your times without the fins; you don't get to use them in a race, after all. If your times with fins are improving but not your times without them, all you are doing is learning to use fins more effectively. As far as what kinds of fins to get, I'm going to defer to an avid user. Yes, I'm one of those that don't agree with Ande. Bob Strand's suggestions are solid. Most of my fin work for kicking is hypoxic and/or very fast. Fins are awesome for breaststroke as well (dolphin kicking or flutter kick drills). Leg strength is an absolute payoff. I can leg press almost 3x my body weight.

If you read the "help my flutter kick is horrible" thread Ande pretty much says to stop using Fins all together Not everyone agrees with this, including some pretty fast swimmers & kickers. (I don't use fins very much either, btw.) Increasing angle flexibility and leg strength are two fine reasons to use fins. All I would say is, don't come to rely on them. Do some sets without them. And I recommend tracking improvement in your kick by using your times without the fins; you don't get to use them in a race, after all. If your times with fins are improving but not your times without them, all you are doing is learning to use fins more effectively. As far as what kinds of fins to get, I'm going to defer to an avid user.

I've starting swimming again after about 8 years off. I'm trying to get back into shape to lose a little weight and hopefully start competing again! Anyway, when I was swimming I'm pretty sure we all just used big fins. Now it seems there's about 100 different types (long, medium, short, really short, some have holes, etc). I have been thinking about buying some, but I'm lost. Maybe I shouldn't even use fins? Any suggestions? Our coach tends to have us use the long fins and the short fins (zoomers) for different things. We use the long fins for some of our kicking sets, but the zoomers for some of our sprint sets. I think the long fins are supposed to help with leg strength and foot flexibility, whereas the zoomers allow you to get more propulsion (also working legs harder) with a faster tempo than the long fins allow. I have no idea about the medium fins or the different shapes. :-)

Last fall I swam with fins in every work-out and everything I did was super up tempo. It really drained the oxygen out of me. Example of fin work would be (in 50 meter pool we have a nice 1/2 line to switch strokes in) do 8 100 IM's (2 sets of 4) on 2:00 minutes. For me that would be about a 1:15, 1:12, 1:09 and all out 1:05 or 6 2 minute break then repeat. Do 100 meter all-out sets of kicking on 1:30 I would average around 1:10 to 12. A drop dead 100 LC meters kick would be about 1:06. Do lots of hypoxic work, with fins, trying to go the length of the 50 meter pool. I guess, for me, I just needed a change so I started this fin stuff. Bottom line message was to really swim all-out when I used them. Went to Long Beach last December and lowered my world records in breastroke (SCM) 1/2 second in the 50, 1 1/2 seonds in the 100 and 2 1/2 seconds in the 200. Did the the fin work help me do that? I am not sure. Maybe the fins just got me interested in training a little harder then I was, regardless, the results were there.