Swimator Blog

Last Minute Gift Ideas for Swimmers and Triathletes

2014-12-04T16:46:00.001+02:00

With the busy schedule, we all have, I often do not have much time to do an extensive research online to buy a present, so I look for pre-compiled lists to give me an idea of what to give to the person in question.

Be it Christmas, birthday, anniversary or whatever other holiday or celebration, a good gift should be something useful or unique which will not be sitting in the back of the closet for the rest of its days and should cause a visibly positive reaction on the person's face.

This being a swimming blog, I've put together a list of some ideas for anybody trying to improve their swimming. So, if you have someone in your life who deserves a gift from you and is an avid open water swimmer, just a beginner trying to make a dent into a swimming career, a wannabe triathlete with his/her mind set on the next Ironman competition, or simply someone who loves to swim, this list of swimming gift ideas is for you.

1) Exer-Genie - this is a great compact little gadget which let's you have a full body workout wherever you are.

More importantly though, in terms of swimming, it is very useful for practicing your high elbow catch (early vertical forearm) without the hassle of worrying about other aspects of your stroke.

It works in a similar way like stretch cords, with the difference that you can maintain a constant tension and you can practice the actual freestyle stroke pattern one arm at a time.

In my opinion, every serious swimmer or a triathlete should have one of these and incorporate them into their workouts and off-season training. Exer-Genie falls into the very practical and useful category as far as gifts go.

2) ShinFin Leg fins - these fins have been on the market for a while and I have mentioned them before in one of my Christmas swimming gadget ideas posts, but they don't get the press they should, so here I go again, trying to make a case.

If you struggle with learning the proper flutter (freestyle) kicking technique, by wearing these fins, I guarantee you that you will grasp the concept and change your technique in just a few sessions.

I've used them on many occasion with beginner swimmers and the results were just astonishing. After one or two lessons, the kicking propulsion improved drastically and most of them are able to kick out of the hip rather than the knee. I just love it when products just work :).

With this gift, you are definitely going to relieve some frustration and stress for the person who will use them.

3) Corsuit - having a strong core is a must for a successful swimming advancement. Why not have a little help with this swim gadget.

The Corsuit serves as a sort of a casket for your midsection. It gives you a constant real-time feedback on your body posture in the water and helps you, for example, maintain a flatter back, so your streamline is as smooth as it can be.

The Corsuit will be one of those gifts which will cause a bit of a stir as it is quite unique and not very well known on the market.

keeping the core engaged

4) Palm Paddles - are probably the world's smallest paddles, but also one of the most useful.

Their contour desensitizes your palm, so you do not grab so much water and are more focused on using your forearm, therefore making the front quadrant of your stroke much more effective. Palm Paddles would make a very useful, but also a cute little gift :).

Paddle fits into your palm

5) Aquaviz mask - this multipurpose prescription lens is so universal, you can use the same lens in your swimming goggles, skiing or snowboarding mask, sunglasses, paintball mask, snowmobile mask etc. etc. You name it and you can use it for it.

If you are not into wearing contacts or don't want to buy expensive custom prescription mask/goggles/glasses for every single sports activity you do, Aquaviz is for you.

So, go out there and find out the prescription values of your loved one and get them an Aquaviz, so they can see clearly wherever they go.

The prescription lenses wizard - the Aquaviz

6) Pebble Smartwatch - with its smart capabilities, you will no longer have to connect your watch to a computer to upload your swim data, it does it by itself through syncing with your Android phone on your way home from the pool.

So by the time you get to your cosy destination to sit on the sofa and to check your stats, they are already there. With already ready integration to many exercise platforms such as this Swimming training and workout service from Swim.com, it makes it a perfect gift for any avid swimmer. The modern gift for a modern swimmer.

7) Xmetrics computer - if you want to go a one step further, Xmetrics is the device of the future.

The device has a new take on what a swimming computer should be like.

It can provide an audio feedback in real-time. Apart from the usual stats, it can, for example, tell you how fast your turns are and I am sure that is just the beginning.

If you ever wanted to give a cutting-edge technology gift, this is it. Let's start the "swimming without a watch" revolution together.

8) 360swim SaferSwimmer - I love this product because it has all the things that a good product should have.

Quality and thoughtful design, it is useful and practical, well priced and it helps people stay safer in the open water.

If the person you are buying a gift for swims in open water (be it a lake, sea, pond), with this gift you show them you care about their safety, but you also are thoughtful enough to get them something that they will actually use.

You might just save a life with this gift or open new horizons or someone who is afraid to go the open water swimming route on their own.

360swim SaferSwimmer

Alright, there you have my list of the gift ideas for your fellow swimmers or triathletes.

If you do have some experiences with any of these, please do share them in the comments below, Facebook or on other social channels, so others can also benefit from your experience.

Have a great holiday season, Christmas, birthday, anniversary or whatever special occasion you are going to celebrate. And don't forget, keep on swimming :).

Xmetrics: A New Swimming Wearable Which Will Make You Swim Faster

2014-10-14T11:14:00.000+03:00

"All you have to do is swim." That is a promising bold claim made by a technology company with a new swimming wearable gadget soon to be released to the swimming and triathlon communities. This new swimming computer goes under the name of Xmetrics and with its sleek design and a long list of features looks like a very ambitious and useful addition to the swim tech world.

Slick design meats real-time audio feedback

Why should you care? Do we really need another swimming tracker wearable and an app to go along with it. Isn't there enough? Actually, there are really not that many good options for improving your swimming when you are after getting some real feedback from the computer and not just counting your laps with your Pebble watch or you don't want to wear ankle and hand bracelets. The refreshing part about Xmetrics is that it is not a watch and is able to provide real-time audio feedback while you swim (not even your coach can do that). Like the recently hyped Instabeat it attaches on your goggles, but it hopes to give you much more feedback in terms of your swimming. And if you ask me, in a much better form via headphones rather than your eye. Even though, bone conduction would be even better. The world seems to be crazy about wearable bracelets and computer watches to measure all aspects of every day lives and exercises, but for swimming this is just not the right way to go, so I believe Xmetrics is onto something.

Small enough to fit under the swim cap

Here are a few reasons why watches are mere translation rather than localization when it comes to going from land to water:

Imagine how many strokes you take in a month or a year. If you swim frequently, it will be in 100s of thousands. Now, add a watch to your hand and only keep it on one of them without switching sides. Is swimming still a sport which works both sides of your body the same? The shoulder might suddenly not feel so good, especially if you have a flawed stroke to begin with. If you are a runner or a cyclist, would you weigh one shoe or paddle more than the other? Doubtful.
Checking your watch for real-time data is just stupid as you cannot look at it while you swim and by the time you get to the wall, the moment to make a correction is over ;)
You end up spending more time messing with the settings on your watch than actually swimming
The metrics the standard swimming watches provide make swimmers focus on the wrong data at the wrong time when it comes to efficiency improvements. When you come home to review the historical data, you will hardly remember what has happened during the swim workout and even if you have a good memory, you are less likely to fix the problem as you will not know if you are doing it correctly the next time around.
Watch just adds drag to your streamline
Finally, who still wears a watch in this century. In my opinion, the wearable wristbands are just a quick over-marketed transition before something that will be a more permanent part of you.

Upload your data and analyze at later time on Android, iOS and Windows mobile devices

Since I outlined why a watch might not be the best design to use in the pool, how about elaborating a bit more about which of the basic swimming data is actually interesting to look at in terms of improving your swimming fitness:

how many laps I have swam - this is a totally useless metric - focus on quality and not the quantity of what you do, so when you find yourself bragging I swam 30K this month, stop and think what that actually means. It tells everyone, you have no clue what you are doing and are competing with the wrong data.
how many strokes I took per lap - this one is a bit more useful, but still does not tell you the whole story unless you are able to interpolate it with the time it took you to swim the lap, so don't let this be your only focus (check out SWOLF score - luckily most top watches have this)
how many calories I burned - hmm, useless, no comment
how fast I swim and what is my pace - sure this one is a classic and you can't do it without it, so start learning to read the pace clock around your swimming wall or get yourself your very own simple PaceWatch.
what is my heart rate - this metric has its place, but many swimmers do not use it the right way (for example: it should also be used during recovery purposes to get your heart rate down back to normal level before starting a new set, especially if you are not such a good swimmer). Many triathletes try to monitor their heart rates in the same way they do in running or cycling (just keep it in the greenzone). The problem here is that more than likely you get enough of this type of exercise on the road while you bike or cycle and should focus on your technique instead of where you heart rate is. Of course, the more experienced swimmer you are, the more heart rate monitoring can help you judge how you are doing.
drill logging - how is this helpful, except maybe making sure you at least do some drills in your workouts and can eliminate drill from your workout pace times? I think they just came up with this one to have some more stats to track. If the metric would be how efficient your drills are, then you have a golden ticket. I'd really like to know what a swimmer does with this information.
breathing pattern measure - that's an interesting one, but only if it slaps you on the head when you breathe only to one side and breathe in and out of the walls.

Now to the features of Xmetrics. The Italian creators claim that it is able to give you real-time audio feedback not only on biomechanical data such as the usual stroke count, number of laps, efficiency, metronome stroke frequency etc. but also biological data like heart rate or blood oxygen saturation. It is also able to tell you your turn speed or your acceleration power in real-time, so imagine how huge of a motivator that could be for trying to focus on improving that turn speed or your catch. There is really no excuse not to improve with Xmetrics. The device should be also individually programmable, so you can adjust what you want to hear from your virtual swim coach.

Looks like something from the future. Wait.. IT IS :).

So, bottom line is, if you are into sport wearable gadgets and would like to improve parts of your swimming, Xmetrics might just be the swim computer for you to keep an eye out for and to consider donating to their Indiegogo campaign. Just with the real-time feedback itself, my guess is you will spend a lot less time chasing that historical data during your sleepless nights and maybe spend a bit more time with your kids. I guess, we'll have to wait and see if the guys at Xmetrics can deliver on their promise. I hope they do as I will be lining up to get one for a review as soon as I can. We are still waiting for Instabeat Robocop goggle attachment to hit the market :(.

How Xmetrics is positioned among its competitors

Lastly, some food for thought, what would be very cool is to create sort of a hive of Xmetrics devices inside the pool and have them share the metrics with each other in real-time, so you can for example have a competition with your fellow lap swimmers on who can make the fastest turn or lap etc. How much fun would that be? Welcome to a truly digitized social swimming world.

How to Become a Swimming Superhero

2014-05-12T15:15:00.001+03:00

It is a well known fact that every superhero has to have a special suit, a cape or a mask to be taken seriously. At the same time he or she has to have a certain set of extraordinary skills which often are enhanced by their attire. Think Batman and his winged cape or his belt which never ceases to produce a McGyver like gadget to help him escape from a peculiar situation. What does this all have to do with the sport of swimming though? Well, what if I were to tell you that you can also have your own superhero gadget which will improve your special swimming skills that you probably didn’t even know you had. Meet the amazing "BluCore Corsuit". When you put it on, you will be able to improve your swimming body position and reduce your drag which in turn will make you a faster swimmer with lesser effort. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

corsuit and the blucore bag

Before I dive into this mysterious superhero swimming costume, let’s talk about what it takes to learn to swim. Learning to swim can be broken down into 5 high level parts. Of course, swimming by itself composes of a series of very complex and highly coordinated movements in an environment that humans weren’t meant to be in, so there is much more to it then the list of five I mention below. However, on the way to some sort of swimming ability these basic principles apply. First, before you attempt anything remotely resembling swimming, you will have to learn to be comfortable in the water. Many of us learn this when we are young, so we usually skip this phase during our adult age and take it for granted. Second, you should learn how your body balances and behaves in the water in different positions at the same time you learn to kick, so you can actually go somewhere. Third, you need to learn how to breathe, so your journey is not limited by your ability to hold your breath and you can fully learn how to relax in the water. The breathing step is really accompanying all the steps, but wanted to listed here as it is equally important. Fourth, you will discover how to use your arms as propellers and fifth, the most complicated part is to put it all together. One common theme in all of those phases (maybe not the first one) is the ability to hold your body in a buoyant horizontal position and this is where your superhero corsuit comes into play. In simple terms it allows you to get an instant feedback on your posture and alignment while you perform one exercise from the never ending list of swimming drills.

Who should use the corsuit and how does it work?

If you suffer from sinking legs, the corsuit allows you to have a tangible surface to press your lower back against to help with leveling you out.

If you swim like a snake from side to side, the long axis of the corsuit will give you a sensory feeling on your spine that you are not swimming straight.

If you train for short sprint events, you can use the corsuit for getting a constant feedback about your hip position, so you can keep them nice and flat and eliminate your kick loosing power to the sides.

If you swim butterfly over the water instead of through the water, in other words, you come up too high, the top end of the corsuit will give you a bit of a pressure on your spine to help you move your hole body instead of just raising your upper body from the water.

If you are into breaststroke, it helps to limit the arc in your back and improves your up and over motion to keep you focused on forward motion with your hips high at the surface.

If you swim and are just looking for something new to spice up your workouts, the corsuit is a wonderful tool for that. It keeps you thinking about your body position and it is something different, so all in all a good fun :).

Made out of flexible and comfortable material

How to put it on?

Corsuit - The Underwater Brace :)

All you have to do is slip the suit through your legs onto you mid section of your body with the large cross piece on the back and the flat piece on your stomach. Then snap the buckle, so it is nice and snug and does not move during your swims. On the bottom of the front piece, there is a small half circle shaped opening which should fit exactly where your belly button is, so it serves as a guideline to how high on your back to put it. On the back side, there is a spacious ridge into which your spine will fit, so you don't have to worry about the corsuit hurting your vertebrates. I've been wearing it for the past six months and have to say that have not felt any discomfort at all, so well done to the inventor.

I’ve found that if you have a naturally more curved lower back, you can have it lower on your back to help you with the problem, but as long as you have an initial gap between your lower back and the corsuit, you are good to go and can strive to make your back flat against it. My suggestion would be to not spend too much time with the initial fitting of the coresuit, but adjust it as you see fit during your swims. After a while you will discover the position which brings you the most benefit.

I swim with the suit a few hundred meters at a time, trying to keep my body nicely aligned, then take it off and attempt to mimic the same feeling that I had while wearing it. Of course, you can keep it on for longer, but I would not recommend it as you do not want to start relying on the suit. It should only serve as a check up tool to make sure you are doing the right thing.

Here is the belly button outline + large buckles to attach it

Sample corsuit workouts

Here is a short list of swimming sets you could incorporate into your corsuit training to get the most use out of the tool.

8x100 free (20 sec rest - just enough to get it off and on)
- odd - with corsuit (at your own speed while you maintain good body position)
- even - without (mimic the correct posture)

4x200 free (same as before - you can change the distance as you'd like)

6x25 free sprints with corsuit - focus on the flat hips (long rest - 3-4 mins)
and
6x25 free without

Don't be afraid to dive, the corsuit will not hinder you a bit.

8x25 fly with corsuit (20 sec rest)
cycle between - head under water (no breath stroke), only goggles out (no breath stroke), breath close to surface
+
4x25 fly without corsuit

These are just examples to get you started. Be creative and make your own sets. If you have one in particular that you like, please do share it below in the comments, so others can also benefit from it.

In addition to swimming workout routines, since the corsuit is wore around your waist, it can totally be used in a gym during your core body workouts to keep your posture true even when out of the pool.

Feeling like a superhero with the corsuit

So in summary, I have to give this product big thumbs up. It is unique in its own way and it tries to address one of the biggest challenges of improving in swimming which is the lack of real-time feedback. When you have a coach on the pool deck, you get some initial instruction and then you are left alone to execute it, then after a bit you might get more instruction etc. etc. This is a very slow process. If you have a tool with you that is constantly giving you tactile impulses which tell you if you are doing something right or wrong, it is priceless. Of course, I am not insinuating that the corsuit replaces your coach :), but it is a big plus to have the ability to adjust your stroke while you swim. To learn more about the corsuit, check out this user guide which also has some useful drills to practice your body alignment.

11 Ways To Enjoy Swimming in a Crowded Lane

2014-03-05T14:12:00.001+02:00

It is one of those days. The swimming lane I am about to plunge into is overcrowded and even though it is marked with the clearly distinctive letters "FAST SWIMMERS", the lane is plagued with leisurely swimming head up breaststrokers and wannabe swimmers standing by the wall and discussing the latest political issues (whatever they may be).

Argh, this sucks and my day's mood is just ruined. Or is it?

Calm before the storm :)

I’ve long ago realized that it is a lost battle to try to educate every single person about the etiquette of public pool lane swimming.

Instead of joining the online rants about how people should get a clue about what it means to swim in a fast lane, how lifeguards should enforce certain rules and be angry half the time, I decided to make the pool my playground.

After all, people are people and always going to be people.

Some are ignorant, some don't manage their expectations very well and some just don't know any better or don't realize that they are doing something out of the ordinary when entering the dangerous waters of the fast swimmer lane :).

Read on and I will show you how you can have an effective workout without the added stress of dealing with human nature.

Next time you feel like slapping someone on the back of their head to school them about their invasion of the fast lane, try the following tips instead and I guarantee you will enjoy your swim more.

And as an added bonus, you will actually improve in your swimming, so time is not wasted.

1) Slow Swimming - I've mentioned swimming slowly in a few of my previous posts here and here. A crowded lane is a perfect venue for this.

Slow down, relax and only engage the muscles that need to be engaged (example: are your fingers relaxed when your arm is out of the water or are they tight?).

Believe it or not, you will learn more by swimming faster than you can imagine. And if you have a hard time swimming slow, for example, your legs sink, then you are not doing it right :) and you should click on one of the links at the start of this paragraph.

2) One Arm Drills - if I'd have to pick one drill that should be done every day, it is one arm swimming.

This is the king of kings when it comes to working on your body roll, arm entry, front catch, breathing and maintaining great body position and the list goes on. One arm swimming is the ultimate technique training drill.

You can try it with arms down or bottom arm extended, but most importantly make sure that you roll to both sides equally. Do not just gallop through the water skipping the full rotation to the side where you move your arm.

3) Dive Under - when you approach the annoying obstacle swimmer in your lane, just dive under and take it as a sprint underwater kick exercise. Keep a tight streamline to minimize the drag and just kick along the bottom underneath the swimmer until you get passed them.

While you are passing them from down under, give them a wave or just show them your funny face to keep it fun.

This is great for building your breath control and also for improving your kicking (bread and butter of swimming fast). If you are not a great kicker, grab a pair of fins to help you with the underwaters. It might seem hard at the start, but the more you do it, the more fun it becomes.

Streamlined underwater kick with zoomers

4) Backwards Swimming - now this one is tricky, but if you stick with it, you’ll get better at it and soon you will not feel like you are drowning.

The idea is that you will be quite slow so you won’t have the need to pass anyone, thus fitting right in without problems. Backward swimming is a great way to get more versatile in the water and to learn to better control your body position and movements. Check out the video below to get an idea what I mean.

5) Fists and Finger Drills - the opposite of swimming with paddles is to use your fists or just a few fingers to swim.

The idea here is that you work on catching the water with your forearms or to get a faster cadence into your stroke as you won't require as much power for the arm to move through the water.

Remember keep those fists relaxed, you are not angry and not punching the water, just caress it, feel its contour and enjoy. If fists swimming is not your forte, grab a pair of palm or anti paddles or just a simple tennis ball and have fun.

6) Sculling - if you are not sure what sculling is, you are missing out.

In order to swim fast, you need to find support in water and sculling is a very good way to improve your water perception.

There are many positions you can scull in: arms forward, arms back, one arm forward, arms in scarecrow position (windshield wiper) etc. etc. etc. Remember, it is not a breaststroke movement, it is sculling (from side to side in a very small figure eight like motion).

Try to stay away from kicking while you scull, use a pullbuoy if you cannot resist the kick on your own :).

Butterfly sculling drill

7) Flags to Flags swim - to skip the world's best debaters at the pool wall, just swim from flags to flags doing fast tuck flip turns and fast breakouts from them.

What I mean is, when you approach the flag line, just do a flip keeping your body as small as possible to make it fast and efficient.

Then since you have no wall to push off from, you will have to work extra hard to get back to your original swimming speed, so dig in with the leg kick and the arm stroke to get back to speed.

If you are not up the flag to flag swim, you can do a variation where you will do a 360 somersault in the middle of the pool where your tuck is as small as possible and you do not use your hands. This should slow you down a little to not have to pass anyone (if you are still too fast, just do 2 flips).

8) Open Water Training - why not take the passing of slow people as training for open water races.

You can draft a bit, then closely pass them when the opportunity arises. And at the same time, you can sight if someone is coming in the other direction. It does not get more challenging in the pool than this.

An overcrowded lane is a perfect playground to mimic the mass starts during your triathlon and open water races, so take advantage of it and practice it:).

Don't be afraid of touching or bumping into the other people, they will survive and as a side effect, they might actually get the hint and go to a slower lane. Open water and triathlon swims also have very brisk speed variations and you can fully incorporate those in the crowded lane. Sprint to the next person, pass them as a recovery time and sprint to the next or vice-versa etc.

9) Medley Swimming - maybe if you'd switch to another stroke than freestyle, suddenly the slow swimmers might not be so slow anymore, so explore it. Don't be afraid.

The more strokes you swim, the more enjoyable your workouts will get and you will soon find that you are more comfortable and better aware of your body in the water. For example, backstroke follows very much the same principles as freestyle, so get on your back once in a while.

10) Simply Kick - a lot of power in swimming is from legs, so don't be negligent in this department. A crowded slow pace lane is a good reason to get on with the kick and improve your chances of success.

Of course, you can kick with a kickboard, but I'd suggest to leave your kickboard at home and stick with just your body. You can do variations of head lead side kick (arms at side), arm lead side kicks (bottom arm extended) or 360 streamline kick rotation etc. etc. Let your mind go wild and be creative.

Head lead side kick drill - keep that spine straight

11) Water Floorball - yes, you read it right. Grab a floorball or a wiffle ball (if it has holes, it is a go:)) and have fun. Do one arm swimming with the ball to see if both of your arm pulls feel the same. My bet is that they do not.

Do a catch-up swimming where you switch the ball from hand to hand in the front. Do sculling with it to strengthen those tiniest muscles in your shoulders. The holes in the ball will cause your small muscles to work a bit harder when you try to keep the ball from going too crazy out of your movement's control. It is fun, try it.

There you have it. I am sure you can think of other ways to make the crowded lane workout more interesting (don't be shy about sharing them in comments below - let's keep the list growing:).

The list above will hopefully give you some inspiration when all hope is lost and your anger gets the better of you.

Get creative and let the lane and its occupants be your playground. And if you have a friend who suffers from the crowded lane anger, share this article with him or her so they can be a happier and faster swimmer :).

A Surprising Result of Swimming Flaws Analysis

2014-02-05T21:30:00.000+02:00

One of the basic skills any beginner student of any activity is the ability to recognize if something is not done the right way. Be it the ability to notice spelling mistakes in written texts, the know how to acknowledge that a ski jumper’s form during the jump is not the best or in our case the deep understanding of the ever complex swimming stroke to recognize many times plentiful mistakes in swimmer’s stroke. The recognition of miscellaneous stroke flaws is only the beginning stretch of an efficient swimming style, yet very very important one.

underwater wonders

After spotting issues is a breeze, the next step in the swimming education is to figure out how to improve those issues. Some are easy to fix with common swimming drills, others require a bit more thinking outside the box to help the individual overcome the issue. What they all require though is patience and dedication from the swimmer to repeat the "correct" movements over and over until mastered.

Below you will find a short freestyle swimming video which includes four identified problems with the swimmer’s stroke. These are the biggest problems in the video preventing the swimmer to get to the next level of his swimming success. They are all easily fixed with a persistent and patient training, bringing great speed improvements to you as a swimmer or triathlete. So, please watch the video below and then scroll down for more detailed discussion of the spotted mistakes.

The Kick

If we look at the swimmer’s outline from the front, knowing that the body should be as small as possible, the image is suddenly disturbed with a very deep kick which protrudes behind the swimmer causing unnecessary resistance to the forward motion.

Deep kick causes drag

As you have guessed it, the idea here is that the kick should be small and shallow and the swimmer should not rely on it for balance. To start with, an awareness of the kick needs to be brought to the attention of the swimmer during the swim. We can try using the analogy of rubbing the toes over each other or putting fins on. Then of course, doing a lot of balance drills like kicking on a side or floating at the surface will help with less reliance on the large kick for balance. The knee driven kick is a bit tougher to fix as to this day, there is no tool which could simply put the legs in the right position. Make sure the kick comes out of the hip with the knee only ever slightly bending while it gives into the pressure of the water.

Body and Arm Alignment

Keeping your hands pointing in the direction where you want to go, therefore, keeping them inline with your body when up in front is a must. In this case, the swimmer has a problem with one arm deviating from the long axis, especially when breathing. Remember, your body should roll as one, like a tree log.

Left arm going away from center line

It comes down to awareness again and the ability to roll your body without stiffening the shoulders. To work on the body-shoulder separation, you can for example try the following drill. While flutter kicking without a kickboard, keep your arms extended below the surface of the water and when your head comes up for a breath, do not move your arms up or down, just use your body to lift your head up, but not your arms. When you master this, you are in a good shape. Another drill you can do is to kick on a side with your bottom arm extended forward and take frequent breaths while keeping your front leading arm stationary, again, not helping you with the breath.

The Catch

The front catch is an advanced skill which takes some understanding to master. The swimmer on the video has some signs of an initial catch phase, but then is not able to hold the catch throughout the stroke, therefore, propel himself forward with the forearm like a paddle.

Deep arm without a catch

My suggestion here is to do a lot of one arm swimming while maintaining a very slow speed and arm motion, so you can concentrate on feeling the forearm catch. Get immersed in the motion and slow down as much as you can. Use fins, if the kick is too tiring, so you can have a good horizontal position and most importantly, spend the same amount of time on each side of your body while you do this. Many swimmers tend to just gallop in their stroke when doing a one arm drill and that defeats the purpose. So as you see, we are again at the balancing discussion. The ability to swim from side to side comfortably without using arms/legs as your supports is the key building stone for successful swimming. Without mastering this skill, you will always swim up the hill.

The Lower Body Level

Most beginner triathletes and swimmers struggle with the concept of having their bodies in a horizontal parallel alignment with the surface of the water. This causes them to swim a bit uphill with inflated chests high up and tired legs down. In this swimmer on the video, this issue is quite visible during the breath, when the lower back just falls down below the surface.

Lower back curve - spine not straight

There are two ways, which are really interconnected, to improve this. One is to keep the eyes focused on the bottom of the pool, keeping the neck nice and flat without wrinkles, thus putting more pressure on the chest which will help with the leg lift. However, this alone will not suffice. You will need to learn the ability to push your flat lower back closer to the surface which actually is the biggest trick to raising one's legs. There is one more issue which can cause swimmer’s or triathlete’s legs to sink and that is the flexibility of ankles. If the ankle angle is less than 180 degrees (meaning that if you cannot point your toes, so the top of your foot is flat in the ankle area), then there is a slight resistance. Your feet are like the flaps on the wings of an airplane. If they are horizontal, plane flies nicely, if they go down, plane is landing and is pushed to the ground.

If your misalignment happens during the breathing cycle, then the problem is not really in your lower back, but in the way you rotate your body. Which brings us again, yes you guessed it, to the balancing drills on sides. :). Master the hip rotation and balance with a nice straight spine and you are 80% there. The rest is just finetuning.

I hope you learned something useful in the analysis and have some material to work on in your swim routines. Keep in mind that everyone is unique and we all need different stimuli to help us achieve our goals, but there are basic principles that need to be mastered to get off the ground. In swimming, one of the key principles is the ability to balance your body alone without your legs and arms.

8 Ways to Use your Hand Paddles

2013-11-27T11:13:00.000+02:00

Hand paddles are commonly used in the swimming pools around the world. In fact, you hardly ever see a pool deck or the infamous Lost and Found basket (yes, they do exist) without a pair of them laying around. They are either loved or hated. The main rudimentary idea behind the original hand paddles was to increase the surface of your hand to pull more water, however, apart from the 100s of different paddle types, there are many other ways to utilize this piece of swim equipment. So without further ado, here is a list of top XX ways you can use hand paddles (note: I am not focusing on the different types of paddles, just different ways to use the regular hand paddle):

1) Strappless paddles - Even though they are used on your hands, they serve an additional purpose. By taking the wrist straps off or using the strapless paddles (ex: Agility paddles from Finis) you basically are more inclined to lose them from your hands if your underwater stroke has some unexpected deviations form the straight pull. The paddle only attaches to the tops of your middle finger(s) forcing you to think about what your hands do.

2) Kickboard - You don’t necessarily need to use a kickboard to do your kicking. Just hold onto one paddle with your outstretched arms and voila. Many swimmers press down on the kickboard when they kick which is not good. You need to be gentle and relax in your shoulders, so the water can carry you. The kickboard is there just to guide you, so using hand paddles instead of it, is a great practice to steady those front arms. Keep your face in the water and when you breathe, keep the paddle without going down.

3) Lopsided swim - This one is a lot of fun. For this you don’t need to put your paddles on different appendages as above, but you will only use one paddle on the hand of your choosing. By using a single paddle, you are basically offsetting the balance in your core body, so one side of your core is forced to work that much harder to keep your body from snaking around the swim lane. You can also make it more interesting and add one flipper to the opposite leg :).

Holding with hand to increase forearm power

4) Sculling - Either put the paddles on the normal way or just grab them between your thumb and your fingers and utilize their surface to make your sculling efforts a bit more challenging. Remember, sculling movement is not a breaststroke movement, just do very narrow figure eights from side to side and feel the water pressure on your skin. The pressure is the same the entire time, refrain from putting a lot of pressure pushing out to the sides and easy bringing your hands back together.

5) Hand holding - Since we mentioned earlier removing straps from your paddles, why not just grab the paddle with your fingers in the front, thus allowing the paddle to extend further into your forearm and therefore, forcing you to swim more with your forearm ores rather than just your hands. It will create a very similar effect as the Tech Paddles

6) Catch up swim - There is no need to put on your paddles for this exercise, but you can definitely utilize them in a different matter. As with the kickboard paddle exercise, just hold one or both paddles in front of your body in one hand and every time you bring your moving arm forward, just replace your grip. This catch up drill is great for working on your underwater catch. Keep those paddles submerged below the surface, so you always have your hand below your elbow in terms of how far they are below the surface.

Homemade breaststroke kicking paddles

7) Breaststroke kicking - If you adjust the paddle straps in a bit different way you can slip the paddles onto your inner ankles and use them to increase the surface area of your foot during your breaststroke kick. Thus giving the correct idea of how it should feel when you push off the water with your inner legs. This is a bit more tough to do properly and not all paddle straps are long enough to achieve this foot fit. If you do go after this, I suggest getting a smaller set of paddles which you dedicate specifically for this. NOTE: I don’t recommend you try this while swimming very hard as it puts a lot of pressure on your knees, so you could end up with an injury right after you spend an hour adjusting your paddle straps :). Patiently and slowly to start with.

Paddle only with a finger strap

8) Splashing your fellow swimmers :) - Since paddles have larger surface, it is very easy to throw larger amounts of water at your swimmer friends or even the onlookers outside of the pool. Try it, it is fun :). You can even make huge water bubbles on top of the water, but about that another time.

And there you have it. 8 ways to utilize your hand paddles without having to spend money on additional swim equipment. You can actually just have one entire workout with your hand paddles without putting stress on your shoulders. So, if you were a skeptic about hand paddles, maybe you can re-evaluate your position and be creative. Now it is time to dust off those good old plastic plates and get in the pool to enjoy them once again :).

If you have any other uses that were not mentioned here, please do share. I'll be happy to include them.

How To Do Back to Breast Turns (Open vs. Bucket vs. Cross-Over)

2013-11-08T11:40:00.000+02:00

In the individual medley races, there are a lot of transitions between strokes: fly to back, back to breast, breast to free where each swimmer could either gain or lose time on the opponents.

Usually, the most complex turn is the one from backstroke to breaststroke.

In the history of swimming this turn has evolved into a very fast and sophisticated movement sequence which is quite tricky to master for a lot of us. Even very good swimmers take a bit of coordination and time to learn it.

Here is a rundown of the turn evolution from the time it was required to touch the wall on swimmer's back to execute the turn.

Back to Breast Open turn or Touch turn

The open turn is basically very similar to a one hand touch freestyle open turn with the only difference that you glide to the wall on the back.

The most important part here is to reach for the wall on a side still slightly leaning on the back and then very quickly bring your legs to your chest.

In other words basically, you are pivoting on your butt to make this rotation turn.

This turn is the easiest to master and when done well can be very effective.

Backwards flip turn or Bucket turn or Rolling turn or Suicide turn

The bucket turn requires a bit more skill, but it basically is just a backward flip with the touch on the wall.

The main point to talk about here is that the start of the turn has to be with the palm touch way below the surface of the water. So actually the swimmer has already initiated the turn before the hand touches the wall.

After that again tucking your knees is the common element.

One problem with this turn is that it requires quite a good lung capacity to execute the breaststroke pullout afterwards.

So unless you can hold your breath long enough to not cut the breaststroke pullout short, I would not recommend it. Hence the name "Suicide Turn" I presume :).

Cross-over Turn

This is the newest of the turns.

If executed well, it is much faster, so in shorter individual medley distances such as 100 or 200, it would make more sense to learn it.

However, if you look at it quickly, you will probably feel confused as to which hand touches the wall and on what side to flip your body onto:).

No worries, the below video is very good at describing how it is done. I couldn't have explained it better.

In short, after you touch the wall with your upper arm over your body (keep on your back slightly), you will need to drive your butt in the direction below the hand that touches the wall to complete the turn.

So in a way, it could be performed on a side or as a regular tumble turn depending on how coordinated the swimmer is.

Confused? No problem, the pool is yours and with time you will get it :).

Maybe the below video will help. It has a more detailed explanation with some dryland practice for the open turn and the cross-over turn:

And here is one more. Third time is a charm :).

So, how did you do? Which one is your favorite?

Aquaviz Review: The Swiss Army Knife Among Swimming Prescription Masks

2013-09-26T14:08:00.000+03:00

Swimator BlogSeptember 26, 2013
Final rating: 5/5

I’ve grown up as a full blown chlorinated pool swimmer with lifelong search for the perfect fitting goggles. I swear, I must have tried like 50 different types and always found them inadequate, either they leaked or the suction was too much on the eyes until I found the holy grail, Swedish goggles. Ever since then, for the last 20 years, I’ve been an advocate for these tiny egg shell like contraptions, even in the outdoors during my open water swimming sessions. They are the perfect invention, simple, affordable and they work. However, there is one problem, I need glasses to see well. In the pool it has worked perfectly fine, but outside in the wild it can get a bit tough without a 20/20 vision. And this brings me to my new gadget, the Aquaviz mask with prescription.

Me, SaferSwimmer float, and Aquaviz

This is awesome, I can finally see the beautiful scenery around me when I swim in the Finnish lakes and seas. That was my immediate reaction when I first put on my new prescription goggles from Aquaviz. I no longer need to consider wearing contact lenses and do not have to expose my eyes to potential bacterial infection from the sometimes quite murky waters. I know this sounds like a really corny advertising text, but it is totally true. Let me tell you a bit about this new goggle gadget of mine.

What makes the Aquaviz mask so special?

The outside looks no different than any other ordinary swimming mask, but the secret lies within. Instead of having a prescription glass be part of the goggles, the Aquaviz has it separated and changeable. Inside the mask there is a removable glass layer which can be attached to the inner part of the goggles. Just snap it in at the nose bridge of the mask and voila, you now have full blown prescription goggles. This opens up quite a lot of versatility to yours and your family’s swimming endeavours. Everyone can now use the exact same mask with their own prescription attachment or without. Of course, if you go for a swim together, then you will all have to have your own mask with your own prescription piece. :)

As I mentioned earlier, I am an avid supporter of the minimalist Swedish goggle design, so you can imagine that when I first put on my new Aquaviz mask with its scuba diving mask contour, I had a quite a strange feeling. It felt like I had an alpine ski mask strapped to my face since the goggle profile is so much larger than the one of Swedish goggles. After a few swims it still feels a bit awkward at the start, but shortly into the swim, I don’t even notice it any more. Different types of swim masks are now widely popular among open water swimmers and triathletes, so if you are used to a mask already you probably won’t feel any different. Even if you do have doubts about masks like me, don’t worry, after a while you get used to it and the ability to see clearly just trumps it all anyway :).

Easy to adjust strap

The mask details

As you probably already know, selecting the appropriate goggles/mask for your swimming life is not always easy, but Aquaviz makes the choice quite simple. There are varieties of color types available. Mine is a black prototype, but I’d have to recommend you stick with a clear mask type rather than a black one. With a non-seethrough sides your field of vision to the sides, top and bottom is quite limited and when you for example swim on your back, you will really have to tilt your head to your chest to see who swims in your draft wake. With a transparent material, it is much easier to see around you.

The strap is very easy to put on and has a split at the back for better hold on your head. The strap is also adjustable from sides with just a push of a small button, so quite simple for anybody to master. Yet another reason, I like it. The rubber is quite comfortable on the skin on my face, so even after swimming for a few hours, the goggle ring imprint around my eyes is barely noticeable. I can still come home without scaring my daughter that a bug-eyed monster has emerged from the depths of the deep dark waters. Even though that is always fun to do.:)

How about lenses fogging up?

Well, as with any goggle type there is always a risk of goggles being fogged up inside, however, the newest Aquaviz masks have some sort of a thin layer added to the mask inner glass which keeps the fogging to minimum. This anti-fog layer should not be rubbed away, so you need to be very careful about touching the inside glass of your mask. I made a test and rubbed the anti-fog layer off (with very hard rubbing I might add), but the goggles still stay fairly fog free. Even on the worst day, I only get it fogged up around the edges, but not in the middle. You can always ask the guys at Aquaviz to send you a fog free wax that they send with their older mask versions.

Detachable lenses

Is Aquaviz only for swimming?

To my amazement, the prescription is much more versatile than that of regular swimming masks. The inner prescription piece does not have to be used only in a swimming mask, but also during your scuba diving and it can even be fitted inside a ski mask. The provides both scuba and ski masks into which you can just simply snap your prescription lenses and you are ready to embark on an unbelievable discovery of the tranquil depths of our earth’s waters or have an exactly the same experience as you'd with your GoPro camera whizzing down the piste. I am an avid scuba diver, skier as well as a swimmer, so it is definitely a plus a huge money saver to not have to purchase specially made prescription masks for each of the sports that I love to do every year. I love simple as you can see from my devotion to Swedish goggles and Aquaviz IS simple :).

How does Aquaviz know my prescription?

At the order time, you will have to fill out a very simple form which will have information from your optometrist, so go get your eyes checked or dust off that old prescription from your last visit. At the least, you will need your dioptre measurements for both eyes and your pupil distance number. There is also a possibility to get bifocal or varifocal lenses, so basically the inner lenses of the mask are just like regular glasses which makes it also much more useful.

Summary: Pros and Cons

There you have it, my new Aquaviz. I'd just summarize it like this: simple, versatile and effective. Just a few weekends ago, I went for a 4km swim around Seurasaari island in Helsinki. I have never done it before, so did not know what to expect, however, I was definitely glad I brought my new mask. Besides having an enjoyable swim, which was much warmer this time of the year here in Finland than expected, I was just amazed how splendid the surroundings were. So thank you Aquaviz for making me enjoy swimming in a fully new stunning dimension. I definitely now "see the world the way it should be" :).

Pros:

interchangeable prescription
easy to clean prescription lenses
comfortable on face
good price considering that there is a prescription inside - starting from 80 USD (60 EUR) - more info US, Europe, UK, Australia

Cons:

higher profile on face (not larger than normal mask, but I'd like to see this reduced as much as possible)

Final rating: 5/5

The vision is perfect

Just like your regular glasses

Snap me in or pop me out

Warm down your way to recovery

2013-09-11T14:28:00.000+03:00

Last time I talked about learning to swim slow to improve your swim technique, but how about swimming slow during warm down for recovery (also referred to as cool down). When I compose swim workouts where we swim faster sets which is almost all the time, there is a choice to add a lot of rest to allow for the body to recover or better yet to add some easy swimming to allow for recovery. This is however, where the problem usually arises. Many swimmers, especially masters swimmers do not have the right mind set for these easy recovery swims. One group of swimmers, just don’t get it and no matter what the coach says, they still race up and down the pool like Speedy Gonzalez during the easy swims, another group does not know how to slow down, and some just don’t know because nobody ever properly explained it to them.

Warming down is a skill

So, let me set the record straight on warm down or recovery swims. They are in your swim workouts for a reason. One way to think about them is in terms of napping during the day to gain strength for the next adventure that is going to come in your busy life. Slowing down and relaxing during the cool down swimming is like the mini power nap that we all crave right after tasteful lunch and it is the key to better performance on the harder swim sets. You should not be trying to race the person next to you or catch up with the rest of the group who is 100 meters/yards ahead of you in the practice, you should mainly be concentrating on getting your heart rate down and recover.

Many times, there are recovery swims in between swim sets, but they are also used very often inside them. For example, you can have a sprint set of 4x50 meters/yards with 1 minute rest swam in a way that you sprint first 20 meters/yards from a dive and the rest 30 meters/yards is an easy recovery swim. During the easy swimming, you should loosen up, think about how the fast swim went and what you could improve on the next one.

Take it easy, but don't let your technique suffer

You might have just noticed that I mentioned something else than just recovery, there is also a secondary, not so often talked about, aspect of easy swimming. It is the time to gain composure, check your stroke, see that you are doing the right things and perhaps even play around with your stroke to try new techniques (ex: straight arm recovery on freestyle or backwards swimming). After all, you swim slowly, so take advantage of the slowness to improve something :).

Now, if you have a friend or a training partner on your swim team who is guilty of dismissing the idea of easy swimming, share this post with them to help them understand that they are really only hurting their swim performance.

How to swim slower and improve your freestyle

2013-08-30T10:51:00.001+03:00

Many of us are caught up in our fast paced society often forgetting to just stop and think. This causes us to do things over and over without realizing that there might be a smarter way to help us go forward. As a swim coach or a swimmer you should always be trying to adjust your ways and explore new things. May it be trying to swim in the mornings rather than in the afternoons or venturing out to swim backstroke if you only swim freestyle or working out in your bus ride on the way to work etc. etc. What I want to talk about today is slow swimming which is one of these things that is really outside the norm for most.

Learn to think outside the box

I believe that learning to swim slow is one of the hardest things you will ever learn in swimming. Now you might be wondering, why in the hell would I want to do that. Well, hang on, let me explain a bit more. Let’s go back to your early years when you were learning to write. None of us (well maybe some prodigies :)) started to write in the speed we write now. We started by slowly practicing and perfecting each pencil stroke until we became proficient in each and every letter. Then we started to combine them together to form words, sentences and later on practiced our signatures to be as fast and as efficient as possible, so we don’t waste time with all those documents that require our signature nowadays:). Since swimming is composed of so many small moving parts of your body, it becomes a quite complex form of exercise, so slowing it down makes only sense. Except there is the problem of the water element where we feel like we have to move fast to stay afloat, thus omitting the actual act of learning how to swim slowly. The difference between swimming and writing is that we cannot start swimming slow at the start of our swim learning efforts, because it is so much harder than swimming at a speed which will cause the currents to lift your body up to float. However, we can at least fake it a little :). At the start of your learning, think of it more like doing the motion slowly while maintaining a good speed with your kick (use fins if your kick is not as efficient). Rushing everything will only lead to disasters and frustration. Yes, breaking down the swimming stroke into small parts is great for improvements, but unless you are able to slow down the stroke to practice the small parts and work on every single movement slowly, it will not work very well.

Slooooow dooooown and leeeeaaaaarn

Slowing down your swimming will have an effect on your balance and coordination. If there is something wrong in your stroke, you will feel it right away as you won’t be able to slow down much without losing balance or going under water. As mentioned above, you don’t have to slow down everything at one time and swim like the Tsar of swimming. You can use fins to help you float a bit better, but then move your arms very very slowly to work on the correct movements.

When you have mastered the basics of swimming, one of your ultimate goals should be to increase your time (you heard me right :) for 50-75 meters/yards. The longer it will take you, the better you are off as your balance and coordination have improved and your body control is much better. It is a very similar principle as with learning to swim backwards.

So next time you are in the pool or are deciding what you will swim next, include a slow 75 in there and see if you can improve something. Don’t be sucked down to the need for speed level and learn to slow down. Do it often enough and you will see the improvement, I promise.

4 Swimming Pool Apps to Keep You Afloat

2013-03-16T15:01:00.001+02:00

Even though this blog is mainly about swimming, how to do it better, more effectively and efficiently. Some readers have their own pools where they practice they strokes from wall to wall or vertical kicks in the deep end. If you fall into this category, Adam from Country Leisure pools is here to give you a few tips on mobile apps which can make your life of the pool maintenance easier, so you can spend less time worrying about your pool and more time doing what you like, swimming :).

Enter Adam:

Swimming pools are a fun part of owning a home, enjoying the summer sun, but most importantly very convenient way to improve ones swimming potential. When you own a pool, it is useful to get a few smartphone or tablet apps to help improve the cleanliness, care and management of the pool, otherwise you are going to ever regret getting one as you'll spend more time and money cleaning it. Although the apps are a useful tool for pool owners to download, remember that you do not want to take the phone into the pool with you when you use the apps or it might just drown, unless you have a good waterproof case protection with you.

How’s My Water

How's My Water from iOS App Store

How’s My Water is an iPhone App that allows pool owners to accurately determine the health and balance of pool water. Since the water can become contaminated or require adjustments when it is filled, the app is a useful tool to make appropriate changes.

According to PoolCenter.com, the app uses the iPhone camera to take pictures of the test strips after placing it in the water. The strips are evaluated for color and accurate treatment advice is provided to pool owners for a custom treatment result.

The data is saved for future evaluation and comparison after the next water test. Although the app costs $5.99, it is a useful tool for any pool owner. It helps owners determine the safety of water and make appropriate changes to keep the water as fresh as possible.

Swim University

Swim University Mobile App

Swim University is among the top apps for pool owners because it provides a wide range of useful features. The app is available for free on iPhones and Android phones, so it provides many pool owners with the opportunity to find information that is related to pool care and maintenance.

According to PoolSupplyWorld.com, the app provides how-to videos, guides for buying pool-related supplies and blogs that help with specific needs. The app is organized to help with specific categories, such as a spa or a pool, and offers a wealth of information related to the care of a household pool.

Although the app provides several tools and useful elements, it does not have a high cost. In fact, Swim University is a free app that is available to every pool owner with a smartphone.

Pool Genius

Pool Genius from iOS App Store

Pool Genius is a useful app that was designed around new pool owners who might have several questions and concerns regarding the maintenance and management of a household pool. According to PoolSupplyWorld.com, the app can help pool owners weigh the pros and cons of different filtration systems and options for pool maintenance.

Beyond the basic tools and information, the app is made with simplicity in mind. Pool owners will not need to work around complicated systems to find information that is necessary to maintain or work on a pool. Furthermore, the user-friendly app is aesthetically pleasing for a better experience while using the application. Although it costs $0.99, the app is useful and can help new and experienced pool owners.

Pool Doctor

Pool Doctor from iOS App Store

Adjusting the chemicals in a pool is not always easy, especially for new pool owners. With Pool Doctor, it is easier to make appropriate adjustments and maintain the pool through changes that are suggested.

According to PoolCenter.com, the app will use three test results to determine the next step in adjusting the chemical levels. After the test results are entered, the app provides doctor’s orders for adjustments. By following the suggestions of the app, the pool will have proper chemical balances.

Since the app is useful for saltwater and chlorine pools, it is possible to find the right results with any type of pool. The app works on iPhones and Android phones, so it is useful to many pool owners. It will cost $1.99 and email tech support is provided to pool owners.

Owning a pool requires the right maintenance measures. Although it can seem complicated, pool apps are available to help owners make decisions, find information and make adjustments to chemical levels. It is possible to enjoy maintaining your pool, with a little help and information.

Note from Swimator Blog: There you have it, just a few simple apps to keep your pool in tip top shape. Don't let me stop you there though. With the mobile era exploding, I am sure that if none of the above apps fit your needs, with a little bit of searching through the miscellaneous app stores, you will find the one. Remember, pool maintenance should be simple and easy, so you can enjoy the benefits of having your own pool and perhaps take advantage of private in house swim lesson offers such as this one. Alternatively, if you are more of a self-taught enthusiast, you can check out this swimming tips app to get your swim technique in order.

This is a guest post by Adam Ray, an Oklahoma City based jazz musician, producer, and blogger. In the morning, you’ll find him near a French press and a content marketing blog. On the weekends, you’ll likely find him wielding his tenor saxophone on stage at a jazz club. Ray enjoys swimming pools and spas, and he works with Country Leisure, in Oklahoma City.

Choosing the right Goggles for you

2012-12-31T14:50:00.000+02:00

Are there differences between swimming goggles which I should consider? What swimming goggles should I use for my triathlon swim? I get asked these questions and many more over and over from the beginner swimmers I coach. And no wonder, with the plethora of different shapes, types, lens colors and brands of goggles out there, it is a very confusing world for a non-expert. Usually, what tends to happen is that the first pair of goggles that you come across are the ones in your local supermarket's aquatics aisle not realizing that this is probably the worst pair of goggles you can find :). When you get to the pool, you discover that they do not sit properly on your face, they constantly leak and they fog up after a lap. I did touch upon some tips for buying your first pair of swimming goggles already in one of my previous swimming goggle posts, but it does not hurt to hear an opinion from another expert. This time I asked the actual professional swimming equipment seller WT Sports about what one should consider when buying swimming goggles and here is what came out of our discussion.

Aqua Sphere Vista mask goggles

Enter WT Sports:
Picking the right goggles is a challenge many swimmers face. Despite it being such a vital piece of equipment to any swimmer, some don’t take the time to compare the wide variety of goggle types on offer, and subsequently just buy the first pair they see.

When it comes to choosing which goggles are right for you, there are a few things you should consider: shape, lens color and type, and of course, price. Additionally, when assessing each of these elements it is necessary to think about what function the swimming goggles will be serving; e.g. competitive racing, training, pool swimming, outdoor swimming or snorkeling. Let’s take a quick look at each factor and make the decision process a little bit easier.

Shape

Probably the most obvious factor in choosing goggles, the shape is vital to ensuring that you like how they look, and of course, making sure they comfortably fit your eye socket or face contours. Goggles come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the small competition models to the full sized masks. The smaller pairs are usually designed with competitive racing in mind, and as such are designed to fit closer to your eyes and make you more hydrodynamic. However, this closer fit might cause some eyelash friction with the goggles for the individuals with longer eyelashes. Let's just say, it is a bit annoying to feel your every blink. On the other hand the mask-style goggles are built to serve a different purpose – for recreational use, or even snorkeling in the case of the over-sized models. In this way, they’re a lot larger and provide the benefit of increasing visibility – particularly peripheral vision.

Those that don’t race often and just swim for recreation purposes may be more suited to the mask shaped goggles, as the smaller competition styles may become uncomfortable after prolonged use, and if too tight may create a case of panda eye! Also, the mask is easier to be fitted onto your face, so you are less likely run into trouble with water leakage.

Lens color and type

Depending on where you are going to be swimming, you’ll need to consider what type and color of lens you want on your goggles. Clear lenses offer maximum visibility in dim lit areas and are particularly good for indoor swimming. On the other hand mirrored effect models are great for outdoor use, especially for reflecting light away from your eyes when the sun is bright! There are also lens types that make it easier to see around you when swimming underwater – usually orange tinted to enhance brightness and visibility. Some goggles are equipped with anti-fog lens technology, helping keep vision clear while you swim. You can also buy an anti-fog spray to maintain this and ensure your goggles are always protected from the fog, however, the most common and cheapest solution is to use your own saliva to lick the insides of the goggles right before your swim.

Green Swedish Goggles

Price

The final aspect to consider when choosing the rights goggles for you is the price. Like with all buying experiences, you want to get the best value for money, and it can sometimes be a little confusing knowing how much to spend without risking getting a substandard pair of goggles. How much you should spend really depends on how seriously you take your swimming, and whether you feel a more expensive pair of goggles will benefit your swimming experience enough to warrant paying for them. Prices can range from £10 (15USD) to around £30 (50USD) in most places so even the better quality models won’t cost you a fortune. Having said that, the majority of cheaper goggles will prove to be satisfactory for the casual swimmer.

Note from Swimator Blog: As you already know, it is not easy to choose. Bottom line is, the look of the goggles and the price is not the determining factor you should be focusing on in your choice. More expensive and great looking goggles might not necessarily be better suited for your swim than cheap and simple type. I have tested many goggles in my life, starting from suction cup types, foam type padding, masks and even some very old school Eastern European rubber eye contraptions. And after all those experiences, I have yet to find a better pair of goggles than the cheapest and simplest Swedish goggles. Swim with Swedish goggles. Of course, I come from the competitive background, so I don't suggest you go and buy these Swedish shells, but it at least gives you an idea how everyone is different. Please feel free to share your goggles experiences or disasters in the comments.

Palm Paddle - The world's smallest hand paddle

2012-12-19T21:21:00.001+02:00

This post is long overdue, but finally I kicked myself to introduce you to the wonderful world of the Palm Paddle. I am not kidding when I say it is the world's smallest hand paddle. At first sight, the paddles are so tiny and cute that you just want to cuddle them in your palm :). Don't let the small size fool you into thinking that since they are so small, they have little to no purpose for swimming though. On the contrary, as someone famous once said "one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind", we could say "one small stroke with the Palm Paddle, one giant leap forward in your swim technique". :).

About 10cm small palm paddles

Many swimming technique articles that are out here in the darkest corners of the Internet focus on the early vertical forearm, the early catch or also called the high elbow technique for freestyle. And rightly so, without mastering this technique, it is tough to become competitive in your field of fellow swimmers or triathletes. However, what is often overlooked is what happens after the catch. Let's assume that you have a very good early catch, so you set yourself up for a great underwater stroke, however, after the initial catch your hand still slips through the water as if you are not pulling any water and you do not move forward as fast as you'd expect.

So what happened? You did have a nice starting catch or in other words, you grabbed a hold of water or yet in other words, you found support in water with your hand and forearm, however, this hold or support disappeared as your stroke progressed. Basically, you lost it somewhere along the underwater stroke. Chances are your hand was not moving in a straight line driving back and deviated quickly to one side causing it to cross under your body and lose your grip on water. Don't despair though, this is very common among swimmers and the Palm Paddle is here to help.

Attach to top tip of your middle finger

The Palm Paddle is not designed to be put on as a regular paddle would where you'd slip it on your middle finger(s) all the way to the knuckles and then perhaps use another strap to attach it to your wrist. No no no, it only slips on your middle finger passed the first finger joint, so it only hangs on the tip of your finger. This delicate attachment makes sure that if your hand deviates from the straight underwater pull path, the paddle will slip from your hand. Thus causing you to be extra careful with your hand trajectory and teaching you to follow the path were you retain the initial grip on water which you got from the high elbow catch. Isn't it cool? A paddle which will teach you how to properly run your hand through your stroke. Simply amazing. And don't worry, they float, so you won't lose them if they fall off:).

Of course, this is not the only benefit of the Palm Paddle, but it is in my opinion the main one. After you master the underwater pull without loosing the paddles, then you can start discovering the other benefits which are of the "antipaddle" nature. Basically, it makes your hand feel desensitized for the period of time when you swim with the paddles and when you take them off you are better equipped to feel the water in the palm of your hand.

Along a similar idea, since you swim with them, the conical shape makes you actually pull less water, so if you are in a lane with slow swimmers, just put on the paddles and voila, you no longer need to pass the slow pokes since you swim with the same speed while working on your technique or increased stroke rate tempo. Also, if you are recovering from a shoulder injury or surgery, you can use these paddles to lessen the water pressure since your hand slips through the water easier.

Another benefit is the small size. I no longer carry a huge swimming mesh bag with me to practice, I just stick these world's smallest paddles in my pockets and go :). If you are in open water, they can be easily slipped into your swim suit or wet suit for safe keeping while you swim without them. Or if you have already discovered the benefit of using the Safer Swimmer safety device they don't take much space at all, therefore, leaving you a lot of free room for other necessary items you'd like to take with you for a swim.

So, go out there and improve your underwater pull, so you can enjoy the benefits of fast and easy swimming. On another note, if you are still on a hunt for a great swimming related Christmas present, the Palm Paddle or "trilobites" as my swimmers call them :), could be your lucky Christmas winner :).

Learn to Swim Backwards Freestyle

2012-09-30T13:40:00.000+03:00

There is no doubt in my mind that anyone can learn how to swim and anyone can swim with ease if the right approach to learning is taken. In order to convey a certain feeling or a message to the swimmers and to keep swim workouts interesting, every coach should once in a while think outside the box. Nothing is more boring than doing the same workout routines over and over with only slight variations. So let's spice up your today's swim workout with backwards swimming. I use this technique with my swimmers quite frequently and it always is fun for them to do and definitely fun to watch. Most importantly though, in addition to being only fun, it also serves a specific purpose.

First, let's focus on how to swim freestyle backwards (just to clarify, I am talking about swimming on your stomach feet first). The most important advice I can give you here is to attempt to mimic all the aspects of a good freestyle stroke into the backwards swimming.

Streamline your body means to keep your legs pointed straight forward and keep your toes together like a ballerina. The pitfall to watch out for here is not to be tempted to kick with the feet. Just trust the water and balance yourself in a very similar way as you would when you do your side kicking exercises.

The next thing is to roll your hips as you are supposed to during regular freestyle swimming. Backwards swimming is no exception, you will rotate your body from side to side. So stay away from flat stomach swimming.

Another important tip is to keep your head low as if you are pressing your entire chest and head into the water. This will make sure to keep your legs at the surface while you move backwards. Another way to think about it is to try to utilize your lower back and buttocks to keep your legs afloat.

This next tip is important. Your palms should not be rotated outwards, instead, swim with the top of your hands and forearms. I wasn't kidding when I said it is total backwards freestyle, so even the underwater motion of your arms is just the opposite to what you'd do when swimming regular freestyle. So keep those palms always facing back and use the top of the hands and forearms to propel yourself forward. You may wonder why? Well, to work on different muscle groups in your arms for a change.

Maintain nice and long body line by making sure you extend your arms as far forward as possible during your body roll. By extending forward with your arms you are adding more weight to the front of your body thus allowing your legs to stay closer to the surface.

The last and the most complicated skill to master is the breathing. You need to get a good mental understanding about what supports you in the water and how you balance yourself on a side without spreading your legs apart. Without gaining practice in the support and balance skills, you will have a tough time to breathe.

Breathing is performed in a similar fashion as in freestyle by rotating your head to the side while your top arm is moving back to the entry position by the hip. Restrain from breathing backwards, instead press deeper into the water with your front arm and chest and make sure to be rolled to the side.

If the breathing is too complicated, you can always try to keep it simpler by utilizing the frontal snorkel.

You might think this is a totally useless exercise. However, let's think a bit more about what happens to your body and what you are practicing by swimming backwards.

You are forced to rediscover your balance in the water, your trust in the water support, your head position during breathing, also your early vertical forearm placement and probably many other things.

Finally, you are giving your shoulders a counter force which should make them stronger and healthier in the long run as you exercise both directions (if you don't over do it).

The sets I like to do with backwards freestyle are very short not to stress the shoulders too much. For example 4x25 with 30 seconds rest or 4x50 (25 backwards swim and 25 all out freestyle swim) with 1-minute rest. You will be amazed at how awesome it feels to sprint right after you swam backwards. It's almost as if you had some antipaddles on and then took them off. You should feel very powerful.

You can combine the sets with counting how many strokes you take per 25 and then try to minimize that count by improving your backward pull, your breathing and your body position.

Or if you are really good at it, why not put on a pair of techpaddles with their wrist straps and do a few laps backwards.

Even though I only talk about backward freestyle swimming in this post, a similar principle can be applied to all the other strokes, however, this is a bit more challenging to master and the benefit is not as high as in the backward freestyle swim.

I'd suggest getting accustomed to freestyle backward swimming before going the route to explore other backwards strokes. So go out there, be patient with it and get out of your swimming routines and swim outside the box today.

The Rome was not built in a day and the world was not created in 7 days (even though some crazies still believe this in the 21st century :)), so getting to understand your body in the water while swimming backwards freestyle takes some time as well. Enjoy.

DryCase Review: Mobile Swimming Tips at the Pool (Underwater Angry Birds)

2012-08-11T20:44:00.000+03:00

Swimator Blog August 11, 2012 Final rating: 5/5

Whether we like it or not, we live in a fast paced modern technology world where what happened 5 minutes ago is old news. It is very hard to keep up with new information and even harder to distinguish between good and bad information since everybody and their grandmother is online sharing their life and insights with you. Swimming, even though not as fastly evolving as the technology world, it is no exception to the latter problem. How do you know whether the swimming advice a site gives you will help you out? Well, honestly, you do not until you try it out. However, there is another problem. What if you buy a Learn to Swim DVD, study it at home and then go to the pool to only realize you cannot remember the second step in the series of the swimming drill progression discussed on the DVD. Suddenly, your time spent going down the wrong road in terms of the trial and error scenario is increaing thus putting you that much further from achieving your goal of an improved swimming stroke. So why not make your learn to swim efforts as efficient as possible and bring the technology with you to the pool? Introducing the DryCase water resistant cover for your tablets, readers and smartphones.

DryCase, arm strap, headphones, vacuum pump

What is DryCase?

Nowadays when you read the news, you hear iPhone this, iPad that and Android is awesome. We are truly a mobile society. You can also find many different water resistant cases for your particular phone or tablet type, however, what if you switch tablets or phones? Do you need to buy a new water resistant case? That is just not very scalable solution and quite pricey, I might add. The beauty of the DryCase is that it can fit any type of a smartphone or tablet, so it really does not matter if you are in the Apple cult, the Google worship group or perhaps an unfortunate descendant from the Ericsson or Nokia generations. The DryCase waterproof casing is not bias and is platform, manufacturer and even user independent accessory.

How does DryCase work?

The waterproof case is actually quite intuitive to use. There is a headphone jack molded into the side of the case with the inside male jack being plugged into the device and the outside female jack waiting for your waterproof or regular headphones to be inserted. After you insert your hearing aids, slip your device into the case. Then close the top of the case and rotate the two plastic locks, so the casing is tightly sealed (until you feel a click). If you do not want to have any air inside the waterproof case, use the rubber pump which comes with the case to suck all the air out and create sort of a vaccuum seal around your device. This makes sure your mobile product is nicely snug in the casing and is not moving around.

You can also order waterproof headphones with your DryCase. They have an adjustable ear piece in terms of direction, so you can be sure to maneuver the earpiece to your liking. If you have small or big ear holes you are in luck as you will also get different ear fittings with the DryCase headphones. The headphones fit very nicely underneath the cap, so they stay on even if you do some faster swimming.

How can I use DryCase?

1) Scared of being in the water? - Why not put on some mellow relaxing music to eliminate the loud noises of a swimming hall and to make you more comfortable in the water. Having a familiar tune occupy your brain while being in the water does wonders to your sometimes unreasonable and unrealistic pre-meditated fears. There is no reason to buy any fancy underwater mp3 players for this purpose, just use your already purchased mobile phone or tablet.

My iPhone in the DryCase

2) Working on your technique or other swimming skills? - Even though the DryCase is not the most aerodynamic piece of equipment, it is still possible to swim with it during slower swimming, especially if you perform swimming drills. So, it makes swimming that much more interesting. Same as above, music or a coach's instructions in your ear do wonders for your focus and motivation. At the same time though, you can check the exact movements or exercises you should do next via Youtube or your favorite swimming source. There lies the real power of the DryCase.

3) Don't waste paper and take workouts with you to the pool on your mobile device :). Many swimmers and coaches bring sheets of paper with workouts on them and distrubute them to the swimmers to put on the pool wall. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do this via our mobile devices. Each pool wall would have a tablet where you could select the workout for the day or upload a workout via a web application. Imagine all the trees saved :). There is a product out there similar to this called Swimtag, but I would prefer to take my own mobile device with me.

4) Coaching and need mobile access? - If you are a coach, the DryCase comes with a strap that could be put around your neck, so you can have your mobile device protected from water as well as accessible at any time to record notes, take videos etc. etc. You no longer have to worry about slipping into the water or the swimmers joyfully pushing you in with your unprotected phone or tablet in your pocket :). Enjoy the wetness to the fullest.

5) Underwater video shoot - How about taking your underwater camera down with you in the DryCase and shooting some swimming videos for later analysis by a coach. There is no reason to buy a special underwater camera if you can just get a waterproof case to secure and protect your regular camera. You can even stream them live to your coach or friends.

Bonus:

Angry Birds on Facebook

Another hot topic in the news for the last year or so is the Finnish based game company Rovio with its world famous game Angry Birds. Games in general are a hot mobile endeavor, so for the hard core gamers who cannot stay away, taking the games with them to a hot tub, spa, shower or a bath is priceless. To my ignorant dismay, I just found out that the screen on my iPhone actually does not work under the water as there needs to be some electrical field present which obviously is not in the water. So, let's just say I was disappointed that I couldn't defeat the vicious pigs in the Angry Birds game down under, but when I came to the surface, I showed them what the now really angry birds were made of. This has nothing to do with the DryCase design, it is just a feature of the iPhone screen displays.

Summary: Pros and Cons

The DryCase waterproof casing for your tablet and your smartphone is very good at its job. It protects the device and prevents the water from coming in. It brings the world wide web and entertainment with you to the pool, so your swimming improvements can come faster. It can be used for many purposes in the water during recreational swimming or any recreational water based activity. Since the casing is a bit too large, it is not the most ideal case for competitive swim training in terms of speed as it creates quite a bit of drag. I tried it on the arm, on the waist and under the swimming cap, all of which are not very good locations for faster swimming. If you are after listening to music while you swim, there are better solutions out there. Don't have a tablet or a smartphone? No problem. Take your Kindle to a shower with you or give your child's favorite book a waterproofing solution it deserves. DryCase can literally hold it all.

Pros:

fits most standard size mobile devices
allows for headphone access
easy to use and put on
good price from $39.99 or on Amazon for cheaper

Cons:

not really for fast swimming
headphones should be wireless

Final rating: 5/5

How to Help your Kids Enjoy Summer Swimming

2012-07-06T12:21:00.000+03:00

The northern hemisphere is now experiencing a very hot beginning to what looks like to be a great summer season. With that, millions of kids and adults flock to local swimming pools, lakes, ponds, rivers, or oceans, but unfortunately swimming is not much fun for those unlucky individuals how have not gained a proper water support skill. Amy Carson from Hapari Swimwear will give us a few tips on how we can make sure our kids enjoy their swimming summer to the fullest.

Water fun by lomography.com

Enter Amy:
Kids love the water, especially on a hot day. Whether it’s a lawn sprinkler, water balloon fights, or a neighborhood backyard pool party you want your kids to have fun and stay safe. Take the proper precautions so that everyone will have a great time.

Swimming Lessons

Put your child in a swim class. This will help them learn to swim before the summer comes and also teach them to respect the power of water. Check with your local community center about what kinds of classes are available. Make sure that the instructor is a certified lifeguard as well. A variety of classes may be offered. Determine what kind of class will best help you kids to learn all they can about swimming.

Start early if you can and get your baby familiar with the swimming pool atmosphere. As your children grow up they will be ready to enjoy themselves and better understand swimming techniques. Give them the opportunity to participate in swim meets and competitions for more access to the water.

Safety Is Very Important

Make sure that your children know about swimming pool rules. If they run they could slip and hit their head. If they go into the deep end without training or adult supervision they could drown. A skilled lifeguard is on duty for a reason. Your child needs to obey them or they could be removed from the water and from the pool area altogether. Help you kids understand that there are rules so they can stay safe and have fun at the same time.

Summer lake swims are the best

If you’re taking the kids to the beach or spending a week at an ocean resort set some water rules. Sit down with your kids before they put a toe in the water and discuss the dangers and ways to stay safe. Apply sunscreen liberally, make them wear proper floatation devices, and never let them swim alone. Help your children understand proper hygiene and to never drink sea or pool water.

Pool Parties and Water Games

Summer is a great time of year to get outside and enjoy the warm weather. If it involves water then that adds to the fun. You can invest in water noodles, boogie boards, and inner tubes. For the older kids you could set up a volleyball net for some very active water sports, or even host a best dive or cannonball contest.

If you don’t live near the beach then take the kids to the water parks in your area. These fun places have wading pools and water slides that will keep the kids happy in the hot sun. Be safe and have fun with your kids in the water this summer.

Note from Swimator Blog: Some of the above advice is very obvious to a seasoned water goer, but as simple as it may seem, many do not realize the benefits of such summer preparation for your kids. So let your kids have fun, eliminate their fear and prepare them better to be safe around and in the water. Even though summer is here in the northern world, it is not too late. As they say: "better late then never".

This is a guest post by Amy Carson from Salt Lake City, Utah who loves her job at Hapari Swimwear and lives life to the fullest.

How Can You Perk Up Swim Practice With Garmin 910xt?

2012-06-07T13:48:00.001+03:00

There comes time in everyone's swimming endeavor when you are a bit lost and not sure what to do next. Sometimes, just getting yourself some new technological gadget can help you on your way to further improvements. (note: not all gadgets are helpful though, so beware). There are many statistics that you can track and attempt to improve upon. Some of them include stroke rate, stroke length, tempo etc. Kathrine, an avid user of Garmin 910xt watch computer will tell us more about how it can be used in swimming to help improve your stroke.

Garmin 910xt computer

Enter Kathrine
Ever since I was six years old, my father took me with him each afternoon to the nearby swimming pool. And as I grew, so did my fondness for swimming. When I turned 20, I got a sports gadget as a Christmas Gift from my cousin, and here I would like to share my experience and add to your knowledge of how it can make you more productive at your swim routine.

Garmin 910xt is a Sports Watch that is specifically made for people who love swimming and want to channelize their exercises in different sports domains. For years, it has helped me boost performance at swimming competitions and practice sessions.

Precise measurement for attributes like swim stroke recognition, distance, pool lengths and stroke count matter a lot when you want to improve each day. Beside these, data unit can also compute pace, distance, heart rate and elevation. Swolf (swim golf) score is calculated based on number of strokes taken per lap and the time it takes me to complete a lap. With these parameters on display I can easily analyze my swimming training efficiency.

We are a product of tech generation and we yearn for connectivity in everything. Through real time satellite connectivity, I transfer my swim data to my personal computer and analyze it later to set more targeted and realistic goals, usually when at night, for me. Though I don’t use it, but USB transfer of data is also supported to upload and download user statistics.

I am not really fond of this next feature, but you can use Garmin Connect TM to develop swim plans, upload performance data, analyze it, ask for expert opinion, interact with other users, customize settings and much more. Performance can be viewed in tabular format and comparison can be made with previous swim laps, and also have the option to view it in graphical form by plotting related attributes against one another. The Garmin 910xt claims a battery life of up to 20 hours, but honestly, I usually forget to switch it off and end up having a quite lesser battery life.

What a great display by samwebster

What I absolutely love about Garmin 910xt is that I can switch between sports modes (with separate settings for each) with a single button touch. Usability of the device for me would have been reduced a great deal if it was only useful for swimming. With customizable data fields I can personalize training pages for swimming and other sports activities (but that only happens on weekends for me). There is no other device that combines so many attributes for swimmers, and let them have greater command over their fitness and health stats.

It was quite later in years, when I paired accelerometers with it to count swim strokes. Although the watch is water resistant up to 50 m (164 ft), there is another side of the story. It will not be able to measure your heart rate while it is submerged in water. Comfort counts a lot (at least for me) and thanks to heavens; it has a smooth profile and a comfortable wristband.

Depending on my mood or that day's training need, I adjust it easily for open water and pool setting. Then if I opt for open water, Garmin 910xt produces average stroke distance over a swim or between splits; and in case of pool it divides distance-per-stroke to individual lap and thus generates an ideal measure for pacing.

You can pick from two models, one is the watch only version while the other comes paired with a heart rate monitor; currently I am still using the watch one, but would love to use the HRM one sometime too. There are so many ways in which you can boost your performance in multiple domains like me. Have a happy swim!

This is a guest post by Kathrine Switzer (@KathrineSwitzer) a professional cyclist who in her spare time follows her passion and contributes to numerous health and fitness blogs with her fitness watch insights.

Breaststroker's Knee: 3 Tips to Avoid It

2012-04-24T22:59:00.003+03:00

Do you swim breaststroke every time you have a workout? If you do, perhaps it is time to start learning other strokes and give your knees a bit of a rest. I know quite a few competitive breaststroke swimmers who did not train properly during their younger years and now suffer from knee pains during their favorite stroke, so don't become and statistics :). Jenna, a journalism student at Saint Louis University, will share with you a few tips on how to prevent the breaststroker's knee syndrome, so you don't become like the swimmers I mentioned earlier.

Breaststroke kick on back

Enter Jenna:
While swimming is certainly one of the most physically taxing of all the major sports out there, many non-competitive swimmers don't understand the stress that swimming can put on our bodies. It is by no means a sport void of injury. Quite to the contrary actually, there are a number of common injuries brought on by different swimming strokes. Here we will explore one of the most common of these injuries, and offer potential ways to avoid the annoyance of have to deal with it.

Breaststroker's knee is a common swim injury that many swimmers unfortunately have to deal with at some point in their career. Generally speaking, the injury is a result of two particular phases in the mechanics of the breaststroke. First, the whip kick of the stroke stretches out the medial ligament repeatedly in the knee. Then, when the legs are brought back together after the extension, during the propulsive phase of the kick the knee is subject to extreme external rotation. As our knees were not designed specifically for these motions, over time they can wear on the medial collateral ligament mentioned before. But, there are a few good ways to avoid this injury.

Alternating Strokes

By alternating swimming strokes, swimmers can put less repeated, direct strain on the knees and medial ligaments. This can obviously be beneficial to the knee, and can also help keep up practice with your other strokes.

Lengthy Breaks

If your knee is beginning to bother you, try avoiding the breaststroke for as long a period as possible. With enough time, the ligaments can recuperate and rehabilitate themselves if left alone. If possible, try splitting your strokes up by different months or other lengths of time throughout the year.

Knee hot/cold therapy wrap from betterbraces.com

Out of Pool Support/Stretching

Much like soccer braces used by soccer players for knee injuries, there are different braces designed specifically for swimmers to be worn outside the pool, and sometimes even inside the pool, that can be helpful for problematic knees. Also important to consider is the matter of stretching before and after swimming. This can greatly reduce your risk of injury and keep your body limber and prepared for each swim workout.

No matter what your favorite stroke is, swimmers do deal with various injuries. Maintaining proper stretching and workout techniques is an especially vital part of staying healthy. Consult your doctor if you feel you may have any serious swimming-related injuries before getting back in the pool. Stay safe and enjoy.

From Swimator Blog: Chances are you don't swim far enough and often enough with breaststroke to worry about your knees, however, if you do, it is definitely good idea to break it up a little. Do not swim your entire workout with breaststroke, but instead get creative and compose your workouts accordingly. You will prevent an injury before it is too late and have much more fun while swimming when you incorporate more strokes into it.

This is a guest post by Jenna, a journalism student at Saint Louis University. Upon graduation, she hopes to travel the world while producing compelling content for the masses. When she isn't writing, you can find Jenna with her nose in a book, or her headphones in to block out the rest of the world.

From the Swim Bag: Win a swim cap, design your swim suit and more

2012-04-17T16:07:00.001+03:00

I get a lot of different emails from swimmers, people who'd like to swim, swimming companies and other fitness organizations asking interesting questions, promoting their products and services. Some of them are too good to be lost and forgotten in my inbox, so I decided to start sharing the more useful information on the Swimator Blog. Introducing "From the Swim Bag", a semi-regular round up of curated swimming information.

April's "From the Swim Bag" edition is below:

Swimator Blog custom swim suit

Design your own Swimwear with Finis

It is not an every day thing to buy a swim suit, especially if it is customized to your liking. However, as it is with other clothing and accessories, fashion does not sleep and swimming is no other, so why not create a swim suit based on your desires.

FINIS, a swimming equipment company, just launched a new product: The Custom Swimwear Design Studio! which will let all the swimming enthusiasts out there to design a unique swim suit, drag suit or swimming cap. With easy step by step instruction, it is easy as one to three to have a newly fashioned swim suit designed shipped to you. Check out the quickly put together Swimator Blog suit design. You can let your imagination run wild.

Win a free swimming cap

There is an opportunity to win a free swimming cap on our Facebook page. When the fan count reaches 300 a drawing will be made out of the last 20 Likes and one lucky swimmer will receive a free swimming cap. At the time of this writing, there are only 3 spots left, so hurry up and become a fan.

Sedentary job is a killer

To keep up with the swimming for health trend of this blog, I figured it was very appropriate to post the following statistics about our sedentary job.

This does not apply only to Americans, but most developed countries in the world. Why couldn't swimming be an answer to the problem? Go for a 30 minute swim during a lunch break or jump into your local swimming hole for a quick dip after work. Do not become a statistic and learn to enjoy swimming.

Thanks to Signs, You Can Just Keep Swimming

2012-04-16T10:24:00.003+03:00

No matter if we like it or not, we live in the world of signs. Traffic signs on the street, grocery signs in the supermarket, direction signs at the airports and for us more importantly rule signs at a swimming pool. One wouldn't think much about the signs in the last group, however, believe it or not, they are a key ingredient to a well functional pool facility and to enjoyable swimming experience. Suman, a lifelong aficionado of swimming, is here to bring more awareness and understanding of pool signs.

Pool depth sign (in Finnish, but everyone understands)

Enter Suman:
Consider these situations: you’re learning how to swim at the pool and find yourself in a pocket of water deeper than you wanted. You can’t concentrate on getting your laps in because a pool visitor brought his barking dog, or you slip on a Big Mac wrapper lying on the wet ground. Pool facility regulators must do what they can from preventing new swimmers from going off the deep end. Promoting rules, especially through strategically placed swimming pool signs, can make all the difference.

Like driving, swimming is an activity that requires people to be completely present, so there is no wonder that pool signs are utilized in a supportive and instructional manner. Clearly understandable signs help turn the pool into an amazing fully functional organism. Hundreds of people get in and out of pools and none of them would for example want to use public pools where people don’t shower or rinse off beforehand, which is why the signs require swimmers to shower before entering.

Pool rules signs also help to monitor what people can’t/shouldn't bring into swimming areas. For example, food, beverages, and tobacco products are generally prohibited, and apart from guide animals, pets are usually not allowed as well. Since these are public pools, everyone should do their part to keep swimming pools enjoyable places to be, so please obey the signs :).

When it comes to swimming, every inch or foot makes a difference. Shallow waters about three feet deep (~1 meter) are good for wading, relaxing, or swimming with infants or small children. However, that depth is definitely not ideal for jumping or diving, so it’s important to pay attention to 3ft (~1m) pool depth markers. In-ground pools are usually about five feet (~1,5m) deep, so they are a bit safer when it comes to diving in, but still the depth markers are needed for the new swimmers who should test how they feel at different depths, whether it’s three or six feet (~1-1,5m).

No Diving

It’s also crucial that divers know some ground rules before diving, since it can be a riskier activity than swimming. It’s all too easy for someone to jump into waters that are too shallow and injure themselves, striking their head or their legs on the pool bottom or side. No diving signs and other diving rules signs set the ground rules for swimmers to follow, from alerting others of shallow waters with no diving or urging people not to jump or push people into the water. Caution & warning no diving signs will save lives and stop injuries by commanding people to prevent drowning by watching their children or not to dive in an above-ground pool. Apart from fatalities, a dive that’s too steep can result in a broken neck and paralysis. As some of the signs say, "If in doubt, don’t dive!" (from Swimator Blog: An injury sustained from diving into shallow water is very very common, my brother for example had his shoulder dislocated after hitting the bottom too hard during one of our child games at our pool, so do not take this lightly.)

Since swimming is one of the most fun activities possible, that does not mean it is always safe. People must be on their guard. It is all too easy to get into an accident, slip and fall, or inconvenience others. In addition to our heroic lifeguards, swimming pool signs make sure

If you are a swimming facility manager or owner, please make sure your signs have been installed in your pool area as a support system to enjoy swimming or water play. If you are not sure where to start, why not for example check out an online store such as SwimmingPoolSigns.com which will provide you with a guidance on what type of materials and texture to consider. For example, aluminum signs are great allies because they withstand water spray, rust, weather, and abrasion. Or how about choosing signs which are skid-resistant and adhere to most surfaces instead of slippery. Many online shops also provide custom templates, so you as a swimming pool operator can create rules which fit your specific needs. So as you see, getting the appropriate rules arsenal for your swimming pool is quite simple, so make your pools safe.

From Swimator Blog: You may not even realize it, but more than likely you always check out at least one pool rule sign before beginning a swim to see if you are complying with pool procedures. Be it something you spot in the showers, around the pool or the signs which tell you the speed of swimmers in particular lanes. Next time you are in the pool, just pay attention and you will see that I am right. Better yet, why don't you count how many signs you encounter in your local pool during the next visit and share your count with us. It will be interesting to see how signs rule the pool :).

This guest post is contributed by Suman Sridhar, a lifelong aficionado of swimming. She is a content writer for SwimmingPoolSigns.com, a SmartSign site.

Swimming and Medical Infections (The dangers of dirty water)

2012-04-09T10:22:00.006+03:00

Let's step away from swimming strokes, discussions of equipment and other learn to swim related material for a moment and look at the scarier side of swimming. Not many of us realize this, but apart from drowning, it is possible to catch a disease or infection from you local swimming hole. And I am not talking about a foot fungus from the shower floor or the unwashed sauna. Marina Salisbury, an experienced writer, is here to enlighten us about the dangers that lurk in the dark depths of our swimming pools and open water spots. Ok, that was a bit too dramatic as this article is not meant to scare you and by no means, keep you from pursuing this great sport, but it does not hurt to know what is out there to get you :).

Dirty swimming pools can cause nasty infections

Enter Marina:
Every summer, many people all around the world choose to spend their hot days splashing in the water. The American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that swimming is the third most popular recreational activity in the United States; it is also the most popular recreational activity among children. However, not everything is so hunky dory. All water-goers risk exposure to recreational water illnesses (RWI), which are caused by germs that live in contaminated water. These have been found in both man-made structures (such as swimming pools, hot tubs and water parks) and outdoor areas (such as rivers, lakes and oceans).

Many swimmers assume that pools treated with chlorine and other chemicals are less likely to make them sick. Even though, this is probably true CDC still warns that certain diseases thrive in environments like this. Cryptosporidium (or Crypto), which is considered the leading cause of pool-related diarrheal illness, will survive for days in even a well-maintained pool. From 2004 to 2008, reported cases of this disease in the U.S. increased by 200 percent; some experts theorize the Crypto germs have developed a tolerance to chlorine over the years. Another swimming pool risk is the infectious liver disease, Hepatitis A. This virus can contaminate pools if there is any sudden rise in the local raw sewage level—which can occur anywhere after a heavy rainstorm. Though healthy chlorine levels will drastically reduce the risk of contamination, the CDC reported in 2010 that 1 in 8 public American pools were closed after failed chlorine level inspections.

Swimmer’s ear, also known as otitis externa according to the ICD-9 medical coding platform, is another infection, which can be obtained through swimming. Though a high temperature is known to kill many forms of bacteria in water, hot tubs are no safer than swimming pools; in fact, EHA Consulting Group, Inc. reports that heat may break down chemicals in the water and hamper their ability to disinfect. A common jacuzzi-related disease is Pseudomonas, which can produce swimmer’s ear, as well as a skin rash commonly known as "hot tub folliculitis." Even healthy individuals are vulnerable to the rash, which resembles chicken pox. Another potential threat to spa-goers is Norwalk Virus, which has been recently linked to several cruise ship outbreaks. This disease can be transmitted via human contact in setting such as hot tubs and spas. Naegleriasis and Acanthamoebiasis are free-living organisms that enter the human body through the nasal mucosa—and are known to cause corneal infections in hot tubs (especially for those who wear soft contact lenses).

Many miniature dangers await in open water

Many diseases that have been linked to public pools have also been found in the wild. One of these crossover diseases is Giardiasis, a protozoan infection with a notorious reputation among hikers. The disease is typically transmitted through oral consumption of contaminated water, and infected individuals can experience severe abdominal cramps, frequent diarrhea and weight loss for as long as three weeks. Giardiasis can be found in both stagnant and running water—so physicians warn outdoor enthusiasts to never drink from rivers. What does this mean for swimming? Try to eliminate getting water in your mouth, so take a breath well above the water line. Those who swim in areas adjacent to farms or agricultural facilities risk exposure to Leptospirosis, or Weir Fever. The disease is typically transferred into the water via livestock waste; symptoms include fever, chills, jaundice and skin hemorrhages. Finally, North American swimmers are susceptible to E. Coli, a disease-causing organism that is thought to cause 90 percent of diarrhea-related hemolytic uremic syndrome, which causes renal failure and poses particular risk to children. E. Coli is spread through contaminated drinking and swimming water (many physicians urge people not to drink from fountains at public pools).

Those who travel worldwide are advised to take precautions in regard to swimming, especially in third world nations. Schistosomiasis is a disease caused by parasitic snails, which enter the body either through the anal cavity or the urethra. Though these organisms have not been linked to any serious health problems in North America, they thrive in standing bodies of water located in tropical countries. Serious infection can lead to erosion of the digestive tract and colorectal cancer. Another threat is Dracunculiasis, a worm that enters the human body as a larva, matures parasitically and eventually releases offspring once the infected individual enters the water again. Today, this condition is only reported in 13 sub-Saharan African nations.

As countless number of adults and children flock to the local public pools and swimming holes, they are encouraged to take a second look at their surroundings. If any unsanitary conditions are detected, then the swimming area should probably be avoided. Nobody wants to spend valuable summer days hunched over a toilet—or linked to an IV in the emergency room.

From Swimator Blog: So there you have it. There definitely are some scary things with big names in the waters :). While you think you are stroking your way to better health and condition, you might unknowingly contract one of the infections mentioned above and spend a few days or weeks squeezing it out :). Even though, in my opinion it is probably quite unlikely you will ever catch anything from the water you swim in, it is always good to understand the risks and as Marina pointed out, use your common sense when going out for a swim. If you see a dead rat in your swimming pond, this might probably be a good sign to get it checked out or to hop for a swim into some other body of water.

As they say, what does not kill you only makes you stronger :), so get out there and appreciate every stroke, live life to the fullest and eat your dessert first. You never know what might happen.

This is a guest post by Marina Salsbury who planned on becoming a teacher since high school, but found her way instead into online writing after college. She writes around the web about everything from education to exercise.

Learn to swim without water with HYBAC

2012-04-01T11:45:00.024+03:00

This is quite amazing. Learning to swim without water? Wow, I did not think I'd live to see the day. Russian scientists from the Vladivostok's Institute for Marine Research came up with a groundbreaking invention called the HYBAC ("Hydrobaric chamber"). HYBAC is a machine which mimics the water environment with all of its unique properties. Now that is insane.

HYBAC in its beauty (photo by: AP/Wide World Photos)

The invention is a large circular cube where a normal person comfortably fits into. The chamber has mirrors all over the inner walls, so the subject can have clear view of themselves at all times. Special air vents are placed all around the horizontal and vertical lines on each wall. The air vents continuously pump in special nano particles which if reflected by the mirrors cause the air to gain its water like properties. By all water like properties I mean that it is for example 800 times denser in the cubicle than outside, so a person can easily float as if in the water or in zero gravity field. Of course, the air is not breathable, so a mask has to be wore at all times. The front air vents can be adjusted to pump in stronger currents of the nano particles, so the HYBAC chamber creates sort of a swimming flume like effect.

This HYBAC nano technology was originally created to test different scuba diving materials to allow the human body to be submerged into greater depths without the use of any underwater vehicles/submarines, however, I am sure you can now see the huge potential for swimming far beyond the original intended scuba diving use. Since the inside of the hydrobaric chamber feels like water without water, it is possible for the unfortunate individuals who suffer from fear of water (hydrophobia) to safely practice their body movements without actually being in water or for skilled swimmers perfect their body positions without any other distractions.

HYBAC nano air vent (image by freepatentsonline.com)

Let me explain it a bit differently. Many people struggle in the water because they are not able to fully relax and let go, for whatever reason. If a human is placed inside the HYBAC chamber where the water element is removed, after the initial shock of floating in a very thick air, he/she can relax as it is impossible to fall, to drown, to choke on water or to get water in the nose. All of which usually cause the swimmer to not fully relax and not fully allow the water support. Another huge problem is that many swimmers try to swim over top of the water and not through it. This causes the swimmers upper body being lifted over the surface of the water while the legs are dragging way down below the surface. Not the most aerodynamic of positions, let me tell you. One other problem in swimming is that the swimming movement is so complex it requires a synchrony of many body parts and body motions to make it all work, so it is very hard to focus only on improving one little thing. In the HYBAC hydrobaric chamber, there is no reason to swim on top of anything as everywhere it is the same and there is no reason to focus on all the body movements at one time, so the swimmer can easily position the body in a nice horizontal line and maintain it while stroking away.

Inspection by the Russian officials (image by iwm.org.uk)

Pavel Vladimir Apriliovic (depicted in the image above), one of the Russian scientist responsible for the HYBAC chamber invention says that they have already received bids for purchases from the Russian, Australian, British and American Swimming Federation bodies. However, he mentioned that there is only one hydrobaric chamber for sale at this moment in time and it will take at least another year to produce the next sister HYBAC chamber. So there will be an auction held in Vladivostok at the end of May and the highest bidder will go home with a new tool in their swimming improvement arsenal. This comes at an interesting time with the onset of the 2012 London Olympic swimming fever.

Ok, perhaps you have already started to smell something fishy in the article. Happy April Fools to everyone:). Unfortunately, I am afraid there is no HYBAC and you are stuck with the water and with the tedious learning of the intricacies it brings with it :). Keep up the good work. If you get over the initial learning curve, be consistent and persistent, you will soon learn to appreciate and even enjoy being in the water.

Swimsuit Tips for Leisure Swimming

2012-03-26T12:38:00.003+03:00

Swimming is a great sport in terms of the equipment you need to use. One only needs a swimsuit, perhaps a pair of goggles and a swimming cap. Great simplicity, isn't it? Apart from that, you do not need a thing. When I was very young, I tried out for an ice hockey team and made it as a goalie, however, our financial situation in the deep communist times was not that great (let's just say we didn't sit well with the system:)), so I was put into swimming instead. One dollar swimsuit, no goggles and that was it. Easy decision as one, two, three :). However, in today's consumer driven world, the decision is not as simple. Top competitive swimsuits cost hundreds of dollars, though probably still cheaper than buying all the ice hockey padding, but nevertheless not cheap. Furthermore, there are so many choices of swimsuits to choose from, let me just say I am so glad I am not a fashionable lady or a guy from Sweden :). If you are into fashion as well as into practicality and are contemplating buying a new swimsuit for your workout routines or just for leisurely swims, you are in luck. Susan from In Style Swimwear will share with you some important tips which you should keep in mind when choosing your next swimsuit.

Fashionable, yet practical swim suit

Enter Susan:
Attention ladies! Are you considering taking up swimming? Not only is swimming a great full body workout, but it’s fun too! Whether you’re planning to join a masters swim team or simply looking to spice up your workout routine, the first thing you’ll need is a new swimsuit.

When you’re shopping around, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the wide variety of styles on the market. As a swimwear industry insider, I’ll be the first to admit that many swimsuit styles are not very practical when it comes to active or competitive swimming; a number of swimsuit styles are considered to be "for show" and are more about being fashion-forward than functional. However, there is a way to combine the functionality and also look fashionable. After reading this post, we hope you’ll know what to look for when shopping for your new hobby.

Always look for swimsuits with high Lycra Spandex counts

As a rule of thumb, the higher the Lycra Spandex count, the more the swimsuit will stretch and suck you in, helping to streamline your swimming. You want to find a swimsuit that hugs close to your body so nothing interferes with your swimming, thus keeping your strokes fluid, efficient and graceful.

Great for the swim as well as for the beach

Straps are your best friend

Always look for a swimsuit in a one-piece silhouette. Classic one-piece swimsuits tend to have two shoulder straps and will help give you the support you need. Avoid bandeau or strapless swimsuit styles, as these are more likely to fall down during mid-stroke! While you’re swimming, a blooper is the last thing you want to worry about :).

Support the girls

Finally, if you’re a bit bigger up top, you may need some extra support while swimming. Swimsuit styles that have underwire support, molded cups and/or shelf bras provide the best bust support. Think of these styles as your underwire sports bra. If you’re looking for speed and to beat the competition, skip the molded cups and look for a swimsuit with just an underwire shelf bra.

We’ll leave you with one final tip: Always wash your swimsuit after every wear. Extended chlorine exposure can actually break down the Lycra Spandex and ruin the overall durability of your swimsuits. Happy swimming!

This is a guest post by Susan Bodack who is a blogger for Beauty and the Beach, a swimsuit and fashion blog by InStyleSwimwear.com.

What hand paddles should I use?

2012-03-21T10:19:00.001+02:00

Let me stop you right there, let's ask a better question: what do I need paddles for? If your answer to this question is "I don't know, everyone else is using them" or "I feel more powerful with paddles" or "I swim faster with paddles" or something along those lines, then chances are you should keep wondering what paddles you should use for a bit longer. If you do not, chances are that the current paddles you are using or the paddles you will purchase will do more damage to your stroke and your body than they will do good. You will not have any benefit from them, except maybe thinking you are swimming faster or that you were clever to spice up your swim workouts to be less boring.

The confusing world of swimming hand paddles

Paddles are actually an advanced piece of swimming gear which should only be used by swimmers either with correct technique or by swimmers working on improving specific part of their stroke. So if you find yourself asking a question like "what paddles should I use?", then just save yourself the hassle of going down the cul de sac and of wasting your money. You are better of focusing on improving your stroke through some other means such as body positioning drills, proper kicking etc. However, if you are still wondering what paddles are for and whether you need them, let's explore the idea of what swim paddles to use and for what.

There are literally hundreds of different types of paddles including plain square pieces of plastic with holes in them, more sophisticated palm molded paddles, paddles with vertical protrusions, finger paddles, humongous sprint paddles, backstroke forearm paddles, or antipaddles. There are also many sizes, ranging from small teeny weeny paddles which barely fit into the palm of your hand to crazy looking ores many times bigger than your hand. So no wonder many people out there just blindly follow the trends of what equipment they see the top athletes using, not realizing that the top athletes have mostly different needs in terms of hand paddles as someone that is just starting out with a triathlon or pool swimming.

Majority of the paddles are just simply pieces of plastic which have no other purpose, except to make your palm larger, therefore making you exert more strength throughout your pull. Note: this does not mean that the stronger you pull, the faster you will go. Nowadays, these plastic molds have some sort of holes in them to allow water properly stimulate your palm during the usage, so at least some feeling for water is retained after the swimmer takes the paddles off. In the old days, this was not so, the paddles hand no holes, so the difference between swimming with paddles and without was a bit more radical which was more than likely also causing more shoulder injuries. Personally, I don't recommend extended use of these paddles to anyone unless their stroke is up to par with being efficient and effective, otherwise it is just painful to watch :). A swimmer who has no control over the way arms/hands move under the water should stay away. On the other hand, using these paddles once in a while as a sort of a checkpoint how you are doing might not be a bad idea. Especially, if you follow the competitive swimmer landscape and only use the middle finger strap on the paddles. Usually, these paddles come with a wrist and finger strap. The finger strap is the important part, the wrist strap, just get rid off it ;). By getting rid off the wrist band, you have to make sure that your hand enters the water correctly and that your hand also travels through the water correctly not deviating from almost straight line going backwards. If you have trouble with the stroke technique, chances are the paddles will slip off at the hand entry or during the pull, so this is a good indication whether you are improving or not. If you do for some reason want to power through the water with these types of paddles, be sensible and buy the smaller pairs or your shoulders will regret it later. Furthermore, do not swim with hand paddles your entire workout. Add a set here and there and don't swim with them every day.

What a mess :)

Smaller subset of the paddle family are paddles specifically design to improve your technique. These are the paddles that anybody could benefit from and unfortunately are not considered cool to buy as the simple pieces of plastic. Smart swimmers utilize these types of hand paddles the most. I've already mentioned couple of these technique oriented paddles in my previous posts. The TechPaddle for improving your early vertical forearm motion, in other words, for grabbing more water during your pull. And the Antipaddles to help you with better water perception. I'd definitely recommend the use of these paddles on almost daily basis until your stroke feels right. There is also another set of paddles which I just found online which will do wonders for your underwater pull, but I'll leave that for a next post ;).

In addition to using the regular plastic paddles for all the strokes, there are also paddles specific to individual stroke. Breaststroke paddles are usually tiny triangle like pieces which attach and support only your fingers. They allow you to utilize your hands early, so you can start your catch sooner. Because of their small size, they also put less pressure on your shoulders. Backstroke paddles which span from your fingers to your elbow, covering your forearm, allowing you to focus on better catch. Sprint freestyle paddles with the front part of the paddle bent in an angle down, allowing you to get into the catch much sooner than with regular flat paddles. Freestyle paddles with a vertical piece of plastic for helping you get rid off the thumb first entry into the water. etc. etc.

Finally, there are hand paddles which look more like gloves than paddles with membranes between fingers, so they are not really called paddles. However, they serve very similar purpose in terms of increasing the surface area of your palm. If you are struggling with the proper finger/palm relaxation in the water, in other words, if your hand is too tight or fingers are spread too far apart, the glove paddles actually do wonders for this problem. There are a few kinds, ranging from neoprene to rubber material and from finger tips cut off to full-blown gloves. I am not a big fan of the gloves where the fingertips are cut off as it does not feel natural having the water enter the glove every time you push off the wall or put hand into the water. If you are going to choose this type of glove, use the full-blown glove with no openings at the fingers and as thin of a material as you can find. I got my hands on a set of interesting gloves which are mainly used for ocean water sports, however, they can be totally utilized for swimming as well, so a review of these will come to your computer screen near you very soon.

So as you can see, the paddle family is a very complicated beast and there is no wonder a lot of swimmers are confused. It is much easier to follow a faulty trend than to spend the time and research what is good for me. This of course does not only pertain to paddles, swim suits are in the same boat. The bottom line is, if you really really want to get you some paddles and you have no other thing you'd rather buy with your money, then go for it, but choose wisely. Because swimming with the wrong paddles with the wrong stroke is like lifting heavy things from the ground using your back instead of using your legs and we all know how that can cause some serious back pains. If on the other hand, I managed to convince you that you do not need to invest into hand paddles, but you would still like to buy something, get the front mounted snorkel instead.

TIP: there are more exercises you can do with paddles than what they were originally made for, check out the 8 ways to use hand paddles post to learn more.

Water Revival: How to Swim Your Way To Recovery

2012-03-12T14:22:00.001+02:00

We tend to view swimming as another way to exercise, so we often forget that water and swimming have also health benefits outside of the regular workout routines. Sarah, a certified yoga instructor, is here to tell us about how the water can revive your body and how to swim your way to recover from an injury.

Recover from injury in water

Enter Sarah:
I have been an avid exerciser since the age of 16. I have been able to stay healthy and fit because of my active lifestyle. So you can imagine my dismay when I was told I had a tear in my ACL. When my doctor told me that I needed to take an 8-10 week break from yoga, hiking, biking and dancing I thought I would die. Exercise is my hobby, my spiritual connection, my anti-depressant and my anti-anxiety defense. Trust me when I tell you that you don't want to hang out with me on a day that I don't get my 2 hours of exercise in. Quitting was not an option so I learned to glean the benefits of swimming. Like yoga, swimming is a full body experience. It improves your cardiovascular system, strengthens your muscles, promotes flexibility, and improves your posture. Fear not injured friends; the couch is not your only option while recovering.

A lot of the damage done to my knee was due to the excessive high impact exercises I did every day. So walking, running and dancing above water are not an option during the recovery process. A sudden twist or turn can shoot insurmountable pain up your leg. But avoiding all movement weakens the muscles that surround the joints. Water is almost 800x denser than air so it protects the knee from quick movements that could further damage the knee, no other exercise gives you this protection.

In my recovery treatment I have notice my physical therapist gradually increasing the weight and reps in the exercises I do. When recovering from your injury it's important that you are moving at a steady pace so that you can work toward strengthening the support of the joint while avoiding re-injury to the vulnerable area. Swim exercises function to stabilize the knee and build strength around it. You start easy and work your way up.

The exercises I've mentioned below pertain to knee rehab, although many of them would work for other lower body injuries, such as ankle or hip. But no matter what's going on in your body, remember that you should run whatever program you decide to do past your physical therapist. You are seeing a PT, right?

Seated Exercise: If this is a new injury you're going to want to take it easy at first. The best place for you is on the steps of the pool, where you can be sure you are secure and you can perform very controlled, focused movements. Leg lifts are great from this position. Sitting at the edge of the step lift the leg straight up until it is fully extended. Moving from a seated position to a standing position is also perfect for the steps. Separate your feet hip distance apart and slowly oscillate from seated position to standing position. Do each of these exercises 10x on each leg and then gradually increasing until you reach 20 or 30 without pain.

Marching: Once you have mastered your seated poses you are ready to move to standing. Marching is your next step. Move away from the stairs to where you're shoulder deep. Lift each knee one at a time to hip level. Repeating 10x on each knee and gradually increase until you reach 20 or 30 reps without pain.

Running: Once you have mastered your stationary marching you are ready to move around the pool. A great way to strengthen the knee is to run in water. You must make a deliberate effort to move against the resistance of water in order to gain the benefits of it. This allows you to work harder than running above water but keeps your joints safe from harm. You might want to invest in an aquajogger - floating devices for your waist, arms and feet that can simulate the above water experience of jogging in a low-impact way. With the aquajogger you can make your way around the pool like your running laps. You will find that you wear out much quicker than on land.

To give you even more incentive to get into swimming, the University of Western Australia conducted a study on nine well-trained triathletes (as published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine). Participants were asked to perform an interval running task at 90 % capacity. Half the subjects were told to lie down and rest after the run, while the other half were given instructions to swim. They found that those who swam immediately after had better recovery than those who had rested. They were able to run for almost 14 minutes as opposed to those that rested who could only run 12 minutes. These findings suggest that swimming for recovery enhances performance. Water is ~800 times more dense than air. So you are actually getting a better workout than a run or bike ride. It is a form of resistance exercise which is known as the best way to increase muscle strength and mass. The great thing about swimming is that you are using the whole body to accomplish the task of making your way across the pool or ocean.

Swimming will speed up your recovery

You are going to need to keep your cardio up if you want to stay in shape while recovering from your injury and swimming is high on the list of exercises to help burn calories. Every time you swim for at least 10 minutes you burn a nice amount of calories: the breast stroke will burn 60 calories; the backstroke burns 80 calories; the freestyle burns up to 100 calories; and the butterfly stroke burns a whopping 150 calories. A great way to increase the amount of calories you burn is to swim in ever increasing intervals with breaks in between.

Studies show that mood directly affects your health and ability to recover. When you are sedentary during your recovery process you are more susceptible to depression which can lead to a number of problems that will only slow your recovery process:

Weakened immune system
Compromise brain functioning
Lack of appetite needed to nourish the body
Serotonin production decreases which is necessary for mood, blood flow and cardiovascular health
An increase in Cortisol making it difficult for bones to absorb calcium

Of course, there are a host of other benefits to swimming. Like other exercises, it offers a nice steady release of endorphins, the feel good chemicals that give us a sense of joy when released into our blood stream. Just like yoga, swimming is both relaxing because of all the stretching of the muscles and meditative form of exercise because it's aspect of repetitive movements and breath.

William Wilson wrote "The experienced swimmer, when in the water, may be classed among the happiest of mortals in the happiest of moods, and in the most complete enjoyment of the happiest of exercise." Swimming gives the athlete the ability to exercise regardless of injury or weight. It is the only form of exercise that doesn't create intense impact on your internal body because you are only holding up 10 percent of your weight. So if you are looking for an alternative to sitting on the couch during your recovery process, swimming is for you. Put on that swimsuit and hit the pool.

This guest post is contributed by Sarah Stevenson, a.k.a., The Tini Yogini, who is a Certified Yoga Instructor in Southern California. She has a degree in Behavioral Psychology and teaches not only yoga classes but also life affirming workshops. She also writes for Beachbody, which provides effective and popular workout videos, including the Insanity Workout, a high intensity interval training program for total body conditioning.