It's hard giving paddle advice since paddles do different things and no one has the same exact stroke flaws. here are some guidelines that hopefully will help you and other triathletes when it comes to paddles

1st: you need to remove the wrist straps from almost every paddle. This helps with feedback. If the paddle is sliding off your hand then you're 1 step closer to identifying a stroke flaw

2nd: the overwhelming majority of triathletes are using paddles that are too large for them. If they sized down then the paddles could do what they are designed to do. If you're the average triathlete using something above size .5 or 1 for strokemakers or a SM for TYR Catalyst or size 0 or 1 in Roka paddles your paddle is too large. Size down. If you swam in college, growing up, swim <29 for a half IM then you can think about larger paddles, maybe.

3rd: The longer the set either in repeats or volume the smaller the paddle. Doing a single 400? The you can probably use a bigger paddle. Doing 10x100 go for a smaller paddle

4th: paddles may react a bit differently based on personal stroke dynamics

5th: Most paddles will cause you to reduce your stroke rate as you fatigue. Keep our stroke rate up. Best way to do that is size down in paddles. it's hard to produce more power when you can barely turn your arms over


Here is what I think about some paddles I own. IIRC I have 5 or 6 pair in my swim bag across 3 or 4 or 5 different types


TYR Catalyst - better for length out in front of the stroke, ok for power, will overwhelm less efficient swimmers (hey that's you as a triathlete!) in longer pull sets

Strokemakers - better for power, again .5 or size 0 for most triathletes and for those leaving on the 1:35 or less consistently across all sets maybe a 1, maybe. Leaving 1:30 and less you can probably get away with a 1 all the time and maybe a 2 for short power production sets

Roka Pro Swim paddles - power production. These paddles pull a lot of water. Going to large in size will overwhelm the overwhelming majority of triathletes leading to reduced stroke rate, reduced velocity and loss of pulling power. The majority or triathletes need to be in a 0. A minority in a 1. I use a 1 and I can barely turn these things over. I'm leaving on the 1:20 for my longer sets & 1:25 for my sets of repeats 300 and under..without paddles

Finis Agility paddles - good for the catch and maintaining pressure on the water. These will slide off the easiest for most triathletes.

I've got at least 1 other type of paddle but I'm too lazy to walk to the other side of the house to see what it is

Hope that helps

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I have a larger set of Tyr paddles and a small set of Finis agility paddles. I prefer the larger paddles, because they strengthen my pull as I’m catching more water. I don’t feel like the smaller paddles do much and I might as well just swim without paddles.

Most say go with smaller paddles but it’s not my preference for pull drills.

From the 100s of triathletes I've seen swimming over the decades the overwhelming majority end up with a reduced stroke velocity when using paddles.

If you're taking .2-.4 seconds longer to pull under the water are you really doing anything for power production? Sure you're pulling more water due to paddle size but you're not really forcing yourself to make changes or really increase your power.

If you size down you can accelerate your hands under your body & are forced to produce more power

this may be a case where feelings don't = reality. Haven't seen you swim so maybe not.
I'd ask how you 3 questions. What you mean by strengthening your pull, how you know that is what you are doing and what that is really doing for your swimming?

If you're like >90% of all triathletes bigger isn't better

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Do you ever use the finis freestyler paddles? I really should try the finis agility paddles

I have, don't remember anything about them though.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Thanks Brian,
Your detailed answer it's definitely very helpful to me and probably it'll be for others too. I know it's very difficult to give individual advice via an online forum, that said I'm still gonna ask for it. I'm a quite slow swimmer (for context I usually do 50x50m leaving at 1:05 and arriving around ~58). I've been using paddles (Zoggs Matrix in medium size, photo attached) sparingly for a while mainly for some fastish 50s but not extensively or for longer repeats because of fear of damaging my shoulders (and it's true that with my actual paddles my shoulders fatigue quickly and I find difficult to maintain cadence).
However, philosophically, logistically (no qualified coach around me) and psychologically I find very appealing the extensive use of pb+paddles that is promoted in some triathlon circles. Would you feel, based in your previous recommendations the following would be a sensible strategy:

1. Go for the Finis Agility paddles, seems like a popular option and given your post I assume that any major flaws in my stroke will cause them to slide off my hand so it will be more difficult to ingrain bad habits. Do you agree with these or do you think I should go for a basic flat paddle such as the strokemakers (no wrist strap)? I tend to think that the TYR Catalyst won't work for me since I'm a candidate for inefficient swimmer and will be probably overwhelmed by them hahaha
2. I currently swim 5 days a week, so replace one of those days with a 20x100m slowly working up to doing the full set with paddles and keep the fast 50s in the other days.

Seeing your recommendations, I think I should purchase the small size and when I can comfortably swim some serious meters with them consider an increase in size. I must note that I'm quite tall 1,95m and 82kg (~6' 4" and 181lbs) so I don't know if I should go directly for a medium size.

Since we are here, anyone also wear fins with their paddles on? I have a feeling I am cheating, cause it gives me fastest times. In addition to paddles, I have seen some for feet, to use for breast stroke

IDK anything about the Zogg paddles.

Paddle size isn't about how tall or how much you weigh it's about how good of a swimmer you are, what your stroke flaws are & what you are trying to accomplish. if I want to work on power production I'm grabbing my Roka's and doing 25-75s focusing on keeping a high stroke velocity & pulling a ton of water with the paddles. If I want to work on endurance I'm grabbing smaller paddles and swimming repeat 300-800s at a consistent pace from front to back on the set making sure my turnover stays near where it normally would on short rest.

If it were me I would try someone else's paddles in the style(s) you are considering and see if they correct whatever you're trying to correct/do whatever you want them to do. Then I'd buy.

IDK if I am going to jump on the paddles/buoy bandwagon to the extent that other tri coaches have. I come from a swim/swim coaching background. Paddles have their place sure. I'd also argue that 95% of triathlon coaches could cut themselves out of a paper bag with a knife when it comes to swimming.

Giving tons of paddle work is an easy solution vs trying to figure out what to do, when to do it, why you do what you're doing etc.

It (also) seems a lot of triathletes like swimming with paddles bc they feel fast(er) that way and to prevent/reduce suffering in the pool. "Oh I'm barely making the interval I'll just pop on the buoy & paddles to make it and get plenty of rest."

I say stop being such a big pussy in the pool.

If I can bang out a set of 12x200 w/paddles on 2:35 or 2:40 (depending if I want to suffer a bit or not). What does that do for me?

Is that going to translate into faster swims if I'm always swimming with paddles for my main sets? Or if I'm swimming them on 2:44 leaving on 2:50 and struggling to hold the intervals does putting on paddles to make it help me get fit? i'd argue no bc now I'm pulling a ton more water, going faster, getting more rest coming in at 2:38 & not requiring the physiological response I once was. Basically I'm being a wuss bc I'm don't want to suffer or do the work required to really make improvements

If I use them selectively and for specific things then who knows one day maybe I'll get back to doing 12x200 leaving on the 2:40 without paddles. (doubt it bc I'm not willing to go back doing 19-24k/wk when 6-9k gets me out of the water sub 29 for a half)

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I'd encourage most people to use fins when doing drills.
You can also use paddles and fins for some drills to fix some specific things/facilitate some specific things.

I think unless you know what your flaws are just doing drills is mostly a waste of time. If you cross over and you're doing fist drill, well what did that accomplish in helping you correct your cross over?

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Very good synopsis by Brian....I would add to this the speed finger paddles using only middle finger strap....I find these are the only paddles I need and I have every set of paddles under the sun.

I think your answer to the fins question in the thread it's the main reason I'm attracted for the pb+paddles approach. I understand your hesitation since I have it myself, however, my inability to coach myself and the complete absence of instruction around me (until october, then I'll move to Toulouse and I will join a club to train with) I decided to try to implement more paddles (I've been swimming mostly with pb for around month and a half, and surprisingly I've seen quite good gains with regards to body position without the pull buoy) and hope the paddles (and mostly the volume of hard training, no drills) do the magic they are supposed to do.
I will try to test some paddles as you said and when shit gets hard in the pool I will try to remember your deep advice "I say stop being such a big pussy in the pool." and hopefully report some gains.

I'd be interested in your opinion as sometimes I rotate between the Tyr Catylist Connect to isolate the shoulders/catch and Voloblades for more lats/pull of the stroke and work both independently. I also have a set of Speedo Tech paddles to basically increase the volume of my hand for complete stroke I use as well.

https://www.tyrsport.com.au/collections/paddles/products/catalyst-connect-training-paddles
https://triresults.wordpress.com/category/aquavolo/page/2/
http://www.swimwearshack.com.au/speedo-tech-hand-paddles-for-swim-training-3-levels.html

Since power is a product of force x velocity, then the answer is 'it depends' If you are applying more force then you could well be increasing your power.

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

That's some solid advice.

I'm curious about the differences between the Strokemakers and the Tyr Catalysts, since they look to have the same shape. Are the catalysts just more flexible?

I also find it interesting about changing up the size of paddles for the rep. Back in my competitive days, anyone only ever had one size in their equipment bag, usually the biggest you can handle without over-stressing your shoulders. However, doing short intervals like 100's was extremely rare for a pull set (but pull sets were never at an easy effort, either).

One of the things I have almost always done when using paddles and buoy is breath control. Throwing in some 'every-5' breathing I think is great, at least for me, in terms of improving oxygen efficiency. Basically it restricts me to 3 breaths per 25yd pool length. Typically I'll alternate breathing 3-5 by 50.

Pull sets are fun for me. I can handle a large paddle due to my swimming background (I use the XL strokemaker, it's blue but I think the newer ones in the same size are purple), so it's fun to be able to cruise at a high speed with all that added surface area. I do think, though, that the better "pull" set to be done is to wrap a tube around one's ankles and just swim like that (no other toys) at a solid effort. I think there is more strength gained from that type of pull set, and more technique flaws exposed.

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I have used the speedo tech paddles, just the other day as my swim partner just got a pair. I wasn't very impressed with them and didn't feel they increased the amount of water I was pulling vs other paddles in my bag.

The Aquavolo paddles though....I'm very intrigued by those. Thanks for making me spend some money today..sigh, so much for that 12pack I was going to buy to drink tonight.

Haven't used the Tyr connect paddles either.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

You aren't the typical triathlete that's for sure..and when it comes to swimming that's a good thing!

The Catalyst are shaped different in front. For me I seem to get better length out front vs strokemakers. The catalyst is a bit wider & longer vs strokemakers (sm vs 1 for strokemakers) over the fingers but narrows in a bit where the index finger and thumb area is then is a bit wider vs strokemakers on the thumb. Maybe that's why I seem to get a better front end set up with those vs strokemakers. ymmv

I think the breath control is ok now and then. The reason most people make breathing every 5 or 7 is bc they slow down which slows down the physiological response. Probably not bad to learn that yes you can go 4 or 5 strokes without breathing. For a long aerobic pull set going :01-:02/100 slower for most people isn't going to hurt them.

One thing I have my swim group & athletes do to increase their skill set is during pull sets breath on the non dominant side for the odd 50s or 100s.

most triathletes don't generate enough force on a consistent basis to maintain velocity if you add a tube. They just go slower and struggle more. I think it's best to do things to help them struggle less for more success in the water.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Have you tried their "Sensory Mitts" ? I bought them and they are pretty interesting. Don't know if useful.

no haven't tried them. Don't know anyone who has a pair that I could borrow either

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I do. In fact, I have become very fond of Finis paddles and have been using them to a great benefit for the last 2 months.
The freestyler ones have cured me of my tendency of crossing over at entry. The other day, one of the swim coaches at the pool in which I do my laps asked me about them, and she said she's planning on purchasing a pair for her athletes.

You definitely should try the agility paddles. They are like those teachers in olden times that would hit students with a stick if they misbehaved - unforgiving AF. You get shame-shocked into correcting your hand position at entry, because if you don't, you be stopping to pick them up every time you screw this up.