Are there any Zoomers supporters? Are they worth it?
Thanks,
Adam
They’re super cheap, so they are “worth” it, I suppose.
I actually have a tougher time balancing with them on. Which may be a good thing since I tend to bend too much at the knee. Zoomers – or any fins – certainly make that more difficult.
All in all, I prefer going without them. And I am quite possibly the worst swimmer on this board. Seriously.
Zoomers are a really good training tool, and a staple at most Master’s team workouts. They definitely make your legs work harder, especially if you’re used to normal (longer) fins. I’ve used them for a while now, and have no complaints.
All in all, I prefer going without them. And I am quite possibly the worst swimmer on this board. Seriously.
Aztec, I may have to call you on that my friend…I swam 53 for my first half in Jan 04.
Get ready for some gruesome toe sores.
They have not helped my kick one bit. Yet, I use them under some belief, like there is a Santa or Easter Bunny, that one day, after the 16,987 yard of using them, all of the sudden my kick will propel me off into the horizon.
When I get out a kickboard, to show you how bad my kick is, I actually go backwards. If I started midway in a lane, in a kicking drill, I would reach the start of the lane, FIRST, before I would ever reach the end of the lane. I’m not lying. My kick is so bad I actually wait for other swimmers to leave their practices and then I do kick drills. I do about a 1:10-1:20 ish set of 5-10 100s. 15 100s on 1:30 ish. And although that’s slow to some, if you saw how much I dragged those bastard feet behind me, and how my kick is braking the speed, I should get an Olympic Gold medal.
The reason is that I have poor ankle flexibility. Its no bicycle kick either. I’m kicking correctly but can’t bend my ankles back. If you go up to zoomers website they will tell you the same thing. I would invest in the “Rack” before I would in Zoomers. Another thing is to sit on your ankles, but I can’t do that because my left knee is screwed up from all the running I have done, I can’t even sit down on my left foot.
Clarification of Adam’s question because I’m curious to hear too – for a strong swimmer like Adam, who clearly has a swimming background, is there any discernable advantage to using zoomers in training versus continuing zoomerless?
I have zoomers myself, but have only used occasionally and mostly kicking w/ a board after the season ended. Not because I think they’d improve my tri swim, but because it’s a fun, different toy and I’m barely swimming at all right now anyway.
So – who has a swimming background and found zoomers noticably helpful for tri swimming? Who hasn’t seen any difference? Thoughts? Theories? Philosophies?
alicia
Booth, if it makes you feel any better my wife was exactly the same. I was on deck, this was a few years back, when she started a kick set and promptly went backwards. The coach was totally bemused having never seen anything like it,. She, the coach, just stared! My wife has improved somewhat but still is not a strong kicker!
Alicia,
I guess I’m a fairly strong swimmer, but my balance and kick are horrible. So my question is really: Will Zoomers help someone like me?
How come you don’t use them during the season? According to the Zoomers promos, you should do most of your swimming with them.
Adam
Zoomers do what they do, so I suppose they work. If you are trying to get faster in the pool by kicking harder you will be sorely disappointed. The kick provides, at most, 10% of the propulsion during freestyle. IMO, for a long distance tri race this % should drop. Use the kick to help with body positioning, hip rotation and possibly smoothing the power output between strokes.
I use zoomers sometimes when doing drills to keep me going fast enough that I can focus on doing the drill properly and not having to worry about swimming. Zoomers would also be good for working on ankle flexibility. Of course, it is perfectly valid to use zoomers if it keeps you swimming more laps just because using a pool toy keeps you from getting bored and getting out of the pool.
Booth, don’t feel bad, 3 years ago Sergio did exactly that. When given a kickboard to kick, he went backwards… 3 years on he’s under 22 for 1500m and keeps improving…
So SAC, did sergio use zoomers? What would you say were the keys to get him swimming faster?
no, i dont use zoomers, i use some other fins (arena???) just like zoomers but just a bit bigger
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All in all, I prefer going without them. And I am quite possibly the worst swimmer on this board. Seriously.
Aztec, I may have to call you on that my friend…I swam 53 for my first half in Jan 04.
Fish!
I can barely swim 50 meters at a time in the pool.
The keys in improving Sergio’s swim are good coaching, not only from myself but a couple other coaches, and his great will to learn and improve. That is the biggest factor.
As for Zoomers, I like them. We use the Arena Speedfins because they’re easier to buy here. But like everything, they’re not a magic thing that will make you faster, just a part of the equation.
After a swim workout I put them on and kick 200y or so on my back. It’s relaxing, stretches my ankles and, I could be wrong, but it feels like it works my hip flexors pretty well which should help in swim, bike or run.
Do you mean 1:10 - 1:20 for sets of 50s? 1:10 sounds pretty damn good for 100s kick sets to me. I’m 1:10 to 1:15 for 50s, and it kills me to do that - my legs ache, I’m out of breath, I’m dying. Don’t know what I’m doing wrong. One day I don’t know what I did right, but I did a set of 50s in about :45 - :50. Try as I might, I have not been able to duplicate that yet. I have no idea what I did differently.
I see lots of references to kickboards. Why do you use them at all? For one thing, they kill my shoulder. But more importantly, when are you ever in that position when swimming? I’ve been doing lots of kick sets, but without a board, on my side (ranging from fully rotated to just partly rotated) and with one hand reaching forward. I swivel to breathe, and switch sides by taking one stroke. I’ve learned a ton about balance and position by doing this as you can feel speed changes with slight modifications of kick/balance.
Also, anyone use a snorkel? My breathing is terrible, and yet I don’t want to spend all my time working on that since it holds me back from a lot more volume per workout.
They work but you can’t use them all the time otherwise they become a crutch.
Use them in you last interval set of 100’s or 200’s. They will help you to keep you stroke together, and drop the interval time by 5 sec. Great way to help you bridge the gap to a faster AT interval.
Kick sets are a waste of valuable training time for triathletes.
now that my better half is in residence at northwestern, i have had the opportunity to watch several of the top big ten varsity squads practice. they are all using flippers as part of their training regiment. that said, jenn and her top distance swimmer cronies (all three are sub-19 1500 LCM) never touch flippers, ever. they don’t touch bouys either. occasionally they hit the kickboard. they focus on making really well timed strokes (perfect stroke drills) and having excellent balance and roll. they will tell you that bouys and fins screw with their balance and therefore are detrimental to their training.
they have helped my kick and provided me amusement during long workouts, but then again, i’m not that fast.