I bought a Finis snorkel a few years back but I just do not enjoy swimming with it. I find I hold my breath more per 25 than I do in an underwater or hypoxic 25. I haven't even tried doing a flip turn with it yet.
Anyone else go through a similar adjustment phase when they started working with their snorkel? How did you get used to it?
Well, they may be useless to you, but as a "mature" swimmer, I know from experience that each of these "tools" has helped me to be able to swim faster when I'm not using them. I use each item sparingly, and with purpose.
:applaud: Well said, Deb!
Why in the world would anyone want to use a snorkel. Can it be used in a race?? No, but using one in practice can make you faster in a race.
Will it really help you?? Yes, it really will.
It would help if you are looking for fish. I usually look for fish at my local market. The Dorkel would likely not help much with that experience, but would certainly attract attention.
Snorkles are about as useless as swim paddles, kickboards, or fins. A snorkel is a tool. Like any other tool, used wisely it may help you.
I have a tendency, which I understand to be fairly common, to sweep my left arm across and under my body while I breathe to the right. I lose a lot of pull that way, and dump a lot of the purchase I oh-so-carefully EVF'd on the catch. This tendency is exacerbated when I am tired or sprinting hard. While Dorkeling, I can focus on my entry, catch, EVH, and straight pulls, imprinting how this feels on my muscle memory, without having to roll to breathe. I like to do a couple hundred meters with the Dorkel, then a couple hundred without, trying to achieve that same straight Dorkel-aided pull while breathing. I think it helps. I seem to recall a video from back in the glory days of floswim of Brett Hawke having his Auburn sprinters, including Cesar Cielo, use one. YM, however, MV.
Why in the world would anyone want to use a snorkel. Can it be used in a race??
Will it really help you??
Snorkles are about as useless as swim paddles, kickboards, or fins.
Gotta love fuddy-duddy statements. Sure, throw all that stuff in the trash, along with those newfangled "computer" things all the kids are using. Cell phones too; a string and two paper cups was just fine back in the day.
I agree with the last statement but probably not the way you intended. All that equipment can be useful as training tools. (I don't use any of them a ton but sometimes I like them. I probably use kickboards the most and think they get a bad rap.)
You need way more than 400 yards to get used to using a snorkel. I use the "exhale forcefully" method to expel the water after a flipturn, but I've learned that you don't want to expel too forcefully, just a little bit of force works fine.
I would just do a set of, say, 6 x 50 at the end of practice for a few weeks (months?) to get used to the snorkel. Gradually pick up the speed and increase the distance over time.
My two biggest gripes on snorkels: can't push off the walls very hard at all, and it hurts my forehead to wear them for any length of time.
It always made me happy when I saw people that I was going to race using gadgets. The worst thing they could use - a kickboard. Next a Pull Bouy. I also never wore goggles for sprinting. Needed goggles for lake swimming or ocean swimming. I have always said I prefer full stroke over all gadgets.
The worst thing they could use is a kickboard? Hmmm, Geo, it seems to have helped Chris earn his TOP 10 RANKINGS. And, what about Fort? She uses fins and is ranked in the TOP 10, as well. I'm sure there are many other Top 10 swimmers who use all sorts of "gadgets" in their training.
Geo, you may prefer full stroke over all gadgets, but those gadgets have sure helped a lot of Top 10 USMS swimmers and Olympic gold medalists! :cheerleader:
Why in the world would anyone want to use a snorkel. Can it be used in a race??
Will it really help you??
It would help if you are looking for fish.
Snorkles are about as useless as swim paddles, kickboards, or fins.
It always made me happy when I saw people that I was going to race using gadgets. The worst thing they could use - a kickboard. Next a Pull Bouy. I also never wore goggles for sprinting. Needed goggles for lake swimming or ocean swimming. I have always said I prefer full stroke over all gadgets.
That picture is from 1954. The coach of the Canadian British Empire Games team had everybody using kick boards. I think I kicked 2 lengths of the pool.
My favorite workout there was to let a shower run over my body for 2 hours 2X a day.
