Water Week: Swimming Equipment

Everyone has their favorite swim equipment and when you get to the pool you may notice some equipment resting on the end of the pool: kickboards, leg buoys, fins, and pull paddles. Swimming novices may look at that stuff and ask, "what the heck are these people doing with a bag of equipment on the side of the pool?"

Julie you may be able to attest to that. What were your initial thoughts upon entering a Master's swimming class or the pool for the first time? I know my initial thought was "isn't the goal to swim? Don't you just hop in and go?"

Julie: I was really intimidated going to my first Master's swim class, maybe because first and foremost the class is called "Master's" and I felt I really wanted to be in a class called "First Timer's." Luckily the woman I was sharing a lane with was really welcoming and informed me that I should grab a kickboard and a leg buoy (which I wasn't exactly sure how to use at first.) She then basically was like, "ok, just copy me and keep up" and blew by me.

Kickboards - will help improve the strength of your kick and the strength in your hip flexors for improved form. This will help to keep your legs towards the top of the water.

You can buy a plethora of kickboards from a variety of sport goods stores or online and many YMCA's or gyms will have some that you can borrow.

Pull Buoys and Paddles



Fins