Used a bike tube and afterwards wondered if I could have inflated the tube before wrapping it around my ankles. Later looked on the net as to how to use it. Still have questions.
My first impression was that not only a rope had been tied to my ankles but also a weight tied to that rope. Backed off and just tried to float level in the water with the band and that was doable. Tried taking several stokes before breathing and that worked better; yet, tired and started sinking. Did try breathing every two strokes which worked somewhat; yet noticed that my body was dolphining to do so. Surprisingly, backstroke with it on was not that bad.
Some on the net say don’t dolphin. Swim Smooth says it’s OK to dolphin a little and use a pull buoy. Their reason behind a pull buoy and a swim band is that some kick even with a pull buoy and this could raise awareness of that.
What’s your take on using some body flow/dolphin with a swim band? Is that part of the desired outcome or just stick to achieving the desired outcome with a higher stroke rate? Suggestions?
PS luckily the pool did not have a “deep” end nor a lifeguard to amuse.
You’re having a very normal first experience with the band.
Its ok to start with buoy+band. It does make it a LOT easier, but if you can’t even do buoy+band, forget about band only.
Its also ok to start with dolphin kicks when you’re learning, especially when you just start going band only, but remember that the goal is to ultimately minimize those. So once you can do laps with band only with the help of some excess dolphin kicks, you can work on smoothing things out so you don’t need them as much. Still, you’ll get a lot of the benefits of the band even if you do have to dolphin kick some.
I’ve also found that contrary to what some folks say, I can do the band swimming with a low stroke rate and slow speed. No, it’s not anywhere as pretty as Jonnyo’s video of him doing 1:20 pace with a band and no kick, but you def don’t need some high stroke turnover or overall swim speed to learn to swim banded and without cheating a ton.
It took me about 2-3 wks of dedicated practice to get it - it gets easier quickly though. Remember that the goal of the band isn’t to be feeling super comfortable and fast while banded - it’s to improve your body awareness and position and smoothness when you are NOT using the band. So if you’re feeling uncomfortable with the band while smoothing things out, yuou’re learning and benefiting. If you cheat so much that the band doesn’t feel ‘hard’ (at your level of band experience) you’re getting less benefits.
I’m swimming lots with a band now. The first couple times I could barely do 25m but am now up to 100m before really slowing down. Keep at it and it will slowly come together. What’s helped me doing very short sessions (15-20 minutes) of band swimming frequently. No assistance with a pull buoy, more trial and error.
I recall a thread here (maybe by Jonnyo?) that gave advice on where to tense to get a better float – have a search and see.