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?
Former Member
Don't rely on fins for swimming...use them for a purpose
2 purposes for me
1. one leg challenged, I use them for long-course kick sets in order to make the intervals. I work the legs as hard as I can, flutter and dolphin kicks.
2. working the legs hard, to see and feel what it is like to swim fast...always hoping to find tweaks in body position to reduce drag, which is more noticeable the faster you go. quite an experience to actually swim next to the faster folks for a change!
I really like the AquaSphere fins. Soft, nice fit, super light, keep legs up. All the rest feel like heavy buck boards to me. I have plenty of other pains to worry about, so don't need fin-inducing pain added.
Bob Strand's fin endorsement is pretty compelling, I must say. Bob I'm curious, did you use breaststroke fins or regular fins?
My own experience with fins is that when I use fins a lot during intensive, disciplined training, the results are far better than if I do the same type of training without fins. My ankles become more flexible, my leg strength and endurance improves, and my pain/lactic acid/oxygen debt tolerance improves. Even if I do almost all of my hard pool training with fins, my results at meets and open water races improve significantly.
One caveat is that the only type of fins that I've found to be truly beneficial are the stiff ones which have blades 5" or longer. Smaller or softer fins don't help with ankle flexibility, which for me is the primary reason I use fins.
