Swimming Kit: basic aids

With my return to the pool a couple of months ago I invested in some new essentials, if you haven't seen it yet click here. After getting back into the basic rhythm of some basic training sessions you may feel it is time to step it up a gear so here are a few pieces of kit that can help you.

The first basic aid that is quite possibly one of the most useful tools you can have and you will probably use most sessions is a kick board. After getting used to the water again I really wanted to break down my strokes and improve my overall technique and one of my biggest weaknesses is my kick. Adding in a kick set to most sessions has really helped even though I usually want to cry half way through!

This is where the fins come in, also useful for working on my awful kick and helping to maintain that kick when working on other drills/technique work. I wouldn't recommend using these for an entire session as this will NOT really make you any better. I personally like to start with a fins set then try to hold the technique for the rest of the session without fins. I like to think this has been working pretty well for me so far.

The third basic aid I'd recommend is the pull buoy (not my pull buoy but I want it!). This is not something I have been using a lot lately but every now and again it is a great tool to help you focus on your arms. I would only ever use the pull buoy to work on front crawl or back crawl arms, I don't think its good for breast stroke or fly, but that's my opinion and it's what works for me.