Friday, August 28, 2009

Z2 Zoomer Fins - Reviews


Z2 Zoomer Fins seem to be quiet popular and have great reviews here at Amazon & Swimoutlet.

They seem to be more liked than their predecessors : the regular Blue & Red Zoomers. The good thing about Z2 Zoomers is they dont cause cramps after long usage in the pool.

The benifits of using Fins are in :
• Making legs work harder without overloading the muscles,therefore helping you sustain better form over a longer period of time
• Generating Higher propulsion that helps in maintaining higher body position and better body roll.
• Increasing your ankle flexibility.
•Simulating the body position that should really be when you are actually swimming without fins.
•Help you kick small and fast within the slip stream

Fins are a must for competitive and recreational swimmer for learning 'effective kicking'.

Excerpt on Zoomers from About.com

"Short or small bladed fins, such as Zoomers, allow you to maintain a foot speed closer to your regular kicking speed with no fins. They also add just enough extra surface area to give you more power from the kick. Zoomer-type fins come in two colors, blue and red. The blue fins are made of a softer material for folks new to short fin kicking or those that have a less efficient kick. They are less stressful on the ankle due to a more flexible fin blade, much more comfortable when starting out. The red are stiffer fins, resulting in more force per kick, but that also results in more stress on your joints and muscles."

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Sculling - Sit Scull

All Strokes - The Ins and Outs of Sculling

Thanks to folks at GoSwim !

Finis Swimmer's Snorkel Benifits

Benifits of Snorkel ....

1. Allows athletes of any ability to swim at normal
and much slower speeds with perfect stability and
a full range of motion.
2.Places greater emphasis on proper body alignment
as it is specifically designed to allow athletes to relax
in the water and maintain a completely laid out,
horizontal position

FINNIS SNORKEL seem to be the Best and swimmers
seem to have made solid improvements using this equipment...

See Amazon reviews to find what swimmers think about it...

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

How to swim efficiently with Natalie Coughlin

Great freestyle drills !

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Best Swimming/Trunk/Jammers

Tried many different brands but the best one that is a real comfort fit is (about 23$ at Amazon.com)

Reebok Men's Reflex Tri-Color Reflex Jammer

Crawl Technique from Mark Foster

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Statutory advise on using Paddles

I was surfing the web finding info on paddes and came
across this statutory information on overusage of paddles

"Definitely be careful with them. They are good training tools, but its very easy to overdo, and to give yourself rotator cuff problems. (Believe me, I know about this part of it!)

The paddles are not to be used to "get stronger" through resistance training. They should be used to improve your feel of the water, and to improve your stroke. They will specifically cure you of dropped elbows...espescially if you remove the bands that go around your wrist, and only leave the little band that goes around your middle finger. If you swim with dropped elbows the paddles will fall off.

Basically they provide greater surface area to your hand, and thereby greater resistance to the water. This is not about resistance training like using weights, but rather to exaggerate the feel of the water so that you can more easily appreciate the different resistance you feel when your hands are pitched properly, your arms are in the right place, etc. And also to give you the feeling of moving fast through the water.

Beware of overuse because they can give shoulder injury really really quickly. Read about them on the web or in training books. "

"In all my years of swimming, I NEVER used paddles with anything but the middle finger tubing. (The only kind I ever used were basic, rectangular, medium sized paddles.) That forces you to "finesse" your way through the water, rather than "force" your way. Paddles are best used for improving stroke technique. Your turnover will (and should) be slower with paddles. Focus on your stroke. Notice how your hands leave the water and how they enter and focus on your catch. You'll have fun playing with them. And like folks said - don't overdo it - it will lead to shoulder injuries. "

Remember, paddles are a tool, not a crutch! (I'm having memories of these guys at masters workouts who would CRANK when we were pulling, and then seriously LAG once they took their paddles off.) Don't let that be you! :)"

Hand Paddles/Gloves help a great deal in performing Drills

The best hand paddles/Swimming Gloves might be :

Speedo-Aqua-Training-Swim-Gloves



Which drill helps train hands and improve strokes... ???

Well, one of them which I found most effective was the one arm drill.... Read the description of Drill from Steve Tarpinians - "The Essential Swimmer" book....

but I made a small variation to that drill which is a kind of preping for this drill itself....
the variation can be called handbacked-one-arm-drill (TM) :P .... in this drill what you
do is fold one arm and let it rest on your back and then swim lengths in breath... the technique is exactly similar to one you see in this video in which the non-paddling hand is resting your back
instead of you trying to hold it stiff on your side which I found quiet less comfortable...

With this handbacked-one-arm-drill you can focus on movement of one arm at a time
and experience the entry, catch and push phases of freestyle... once you are done drilling both hands you will be ready to the official.... "One ARM DRILL"... see how easy it gets to do this
drill and how smooth your body rotations happen on performing that entry and how smooth that recovery happens....

One arm drill Video :


On recovery finger-tips should drag the surface of water .... this is the KEY to make sure the next phases of the stroke go right namely the rotation and extention...

Read the "FINGER TIP DRAG DRILL" from Tarpinian's book for more info....

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Front Crawl - Must See tutorial

Front Crawl - Must See tutorial

SwimTherapy - Frontcrawl Catch

Amazing analysis of Front crawl.. a Must see tutorial for doing the right strokes

Monday, August 10, 2009

Hair, Greying, Discolouration, loss from Chlorine. Read this...

Surprisingly my body hair has been discolouring after 4 weeks of swimming
.... was wondering why that was happening if it was the shampoo or the pool ...

Yeah found that chlorine was the culprit... and looks like there is no solution for it...

Following is interesting article on the subject printed by New york Times :
The Claim: Chlorine in Pools Can Cause Hair Loss

And one more article :

Chlorine Turned My Son’s Hair Gray, and Now It’s Thinning


good luck all you haired ppl ;)