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?
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.
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.
