Will Training with Paddles and Fins improve my Triathlon Swim?
admin December 18th, 2007
Should I use paddles to help with my pulling drills?? Also should I wear fins when I am doing my kicking drills??
That’s a big “It depends”. That’s a big “It depends”. The use of aids in swimming changes the nature and benefit of the drill you are doing. Paddles and fins can be used for strength, flexibility or technique improvement depending on how they are integrated with your workout.
Paddles for strength…
The use of aids in swimming changes the nature and benefit of the drill you are doing. Using paddles, for example, can help you in performing a force or strength workout, where the purpose of the drill is specifically to get stronger. More surface area requires more force production to perform the stroke. The benefit is that your shoulders/lats, etc get a better strength workout, but the downside is that it can increase the risk of injury if done excessively.
Paddles for technique…
Paddles can be used for certain types of technique workouts…if you let your hand slip or spill water, or you drop your elbow during your pull, this effect is magnified when you have paddles on. In this case, the paddles can help refine technique, but should then be used sparingly, say 25-50 with paddles to get an idea of the stroke areas that need work, then 25-50-100 without to practice newfound skill and repeat. You can see how this workout with paddles would help with technique and skill, whereas a workout of 5×100 with paddles on would more more geared towards strength development. The bottom line is that paddles are a versatile adjunct to swim training, but need to be used appropriately within a specific training plan.
Fins…
Using Fins for stroke drills
Fins can be useful in several ways as well. One of the ways I enjoy using them is when I’m doing a new stroke drill where my speed may be too slow so that I’m sinking while doing the drill and therefore unable to concentrate on the drill because I’m underwater! An example for me was when I started doing one arm stroke drills. I was so bad at them that I was really slow and sinking. By putting fins on, my speed was up and I was staying on the surface of the water, and therefore got more benefit out of practicing the one arm drills. So the fins were helpful not for my kick, but so that I got benefit out of a new drill. Now I am much better at the one arm drills and don’t need fins to help me get through them.
Fins for flexibility
Fins can help some people develop ankle flexibility. They can also help with leg/kicking strength in a similar way that paddles help with arm strength. Since it requires more force to move a larger surface area through the water, wearing fins helps develop strength in the legs, in particular the hamstrings and gluteus muscles. For people with a weak extensor group, this is a fantastic addition to your swim training that helps your overall athletic development.
But in triathlon, we are not really relying on kicking for speed or power production. The large muscles of the legs consume a lot of energy that is not adequately recouped in the swim leg of a triathlon for two reasons. The swim leg is relatively short compared to the bike & run, and the amount of propulsion added by legs only is not nearly as much as that provided by arms and trunk rotation.
I am still a big fan of kicking drills without fins to improve your kick… but I don’t think that fins are a requirement for this aspect alone..
Fins for balance…
One more example is using fins for people working on balance drills. By keeping speed up just a little, you can practice/experiment with horizontal balance if it is still a new skill. But ultimately, you need to be able to swim with good technique without the use of paddles, floats or fins. The use of these swimming adjuncts should be deliberate, with a purpose, and limited in your total workout. Your aim is to reproduce the benefit you get from them (balance or technique for example) without having to use the aids.
Afterward:
The points regarding conserving leg strength and keeping HR down during the swim are debatable, and were debated on another popular triathlon site. My personal thought is that each person needs to find their own break even point between good technique, the contribution of kicking to their total swimming speed in any given triathlon distance, and their personal energy reserves. All of this will depend upon your personal background, strengths and training focus in each of the 3 sports and is something that your coach can help you sort out individually.