First of all, when doing these sets do you use a pull buoy or not? Why?
Second, how do you do them correctly and what EXACTLY is it improving and how?
What are the proper sets to do with the ankles bound?
What should I use to bound my ankles and how did you make it?
Anything else to help?
No buoy.
Aim is to improve catch, feel and propulsion. No catch or propulsion means you sink!
Short sets with lots of rest. 25’s are perfect to start. May build to 50’s if you dont drown.
I use an old latex tube that I punctured and tied into a tight loop. I have also used truck inner tubes cut into bands. One inner tube will yield a ton of bands.
Edit: I find it also helps me a lot with upping my stroke rate.
I actually use the strap and pull buoy as one unit. I drilled a hole in my buoy and thread the strap through it, then I don’t have to worry about holding on to the buoy, turns are easy, etc… Yes this does mean the buoy is at my ankles. My strap is a piece of old inner tube that is knotted in the middle, so basically 2 small loops. Teach you to keep legs high, and core solid. Great way to warm up and cool down, because you can plod along at a slow rate and still maintain form.
No buoy.
Aim is to improve catch, feel and propulsion. No catch or propulsion means you sink!
I’d add that it swimming with the band helps with your body positioning as well. Nothing forces you to engage your core and pull your legs up like the feeling that they’re acting as a parachute behind you.
The ankle band really smooths out your stroke. Any ‘bobbing’ you do, even a tiny bit, will be immediately noticed and amplified. Also cleans up your front-end. If you’ve never used one but are still interested in improving technique, you gotta learn how to swim with it - I found it impossible otherwise to get that smoothness that is required for better swimming. I have a tiny bob on my left that costs me 5sec/100 compared to rt-breathing, and the ankle band really brings it out.
Ankle band with one-armed strokes really bring out the balance issues.
Ankle band with one-armed strokes really bring out the balance issues.
Really, you can do this? I just got my your HTFU lesson for today.
I attempted it a couple weeks back after reading all the posts here and on Rappstarr’s blog about it. I used an old road inner tube cut and knotted. No pull buoy because a majority of the posts on it don’t mention the combination. I was very surprised to see how freaking hard it was, definitely need more practice. My stroke rate isn’t fast enough and I had a hard time doing 50s. Maybe I’ll revisit the buoy.
Pull buoy just eliminates the whole purpose of the strap in the first place.
The band is there to expose flaws in your position. Whether it’s core, catch, head position, rotation, hips. Almost all of it can be corrected with proper head position. Start out with 25 yards. Work your way up. I think it’s possibly the hardest swim drill to do. Adding other toys just eliminates the whole purpose.
Leg bands are fun, but they are a drag promoting substitute for the simple discipline of holding a mono-leg posture without them. Why not do it with the least amount of drag and the most acute muscle recruitment possible? Good body position fore and aft, lifting the lower and upper body from the core, and properly positioning the head is the foundation of any successful kick rhythm. A simple mono leg pull, sans the band, does a great job of promoting both.
This is a great workout. I did the New Port Richey Tri camp with John Kenny and he had me do sets with the band, and paddles. I have a Finnis band, and a bike tube cut and tied into a knot. Either one works well. Just remind yourself to not kick at all. I focus on a strong pull and engaging my core and pushing that chest down to bring my legs up.I started out doing 25’s (because my feet would drag and I was whooped) with a short rest and built up to 3x200 sets which I do now and they are killer. I do kick drills afterwards to give my arms a rest.Those, fulcrums, and sculling have really given me a better feel for the water. I’ve improved 10 seconds in my 100m in 2 months. John is a great coach and if you get a chance to get into one of his camps you won’t be disappointed.
Good luck.
Leg bands are fun, but they are a drag promoting substitute for the simple discipline of holding a mono-leg posture without them. Why not do it with the least amount of drag and the most acute muscle recruitment possible? Good body position fore and aft, lifting the lower and upper body from the core, and properly positioning the head is the foundation of any successful kick rhythm. A simple mono leg pull, sans the band, does a great job of promoting both.
I do it both ways. I don’t know if you’ve actually seen people new to banded swimming, but I totally disagree with you that you get can beginner-intermediate swimmers who have never swum banded to actually keep their legs together correctly the first times out. These folks ALWAYS scissor or compensate-kick for their inability to swim banded. I swim with a triclub, and every 3-4 weeks, she asks everyone to do exactly what you say for 200 yds, and me and one other person are the only ones who can actually hold our legs together correctly without a band. EVERY single other person cheats so badly that the coach is constantly screaming “you’re doing it wrong! Legs TOGETHER!” And it’s not because these folks aren’t trying - it’s just really, really, really hard to do it correctly unless you can do the band first.
Start with the band, and just go short distances like half a length, then work up. No buoy - destroys the whole point of the band. After you can swim a small number of laps, it’s a good time to add the ‘simulated band’ swimming where you forego the band but just keep your ankles together.
There’s a reason why the new folks always sink like a rock when they start with the band. It doesn’t let you cheat like crazy, which is exactly what you’ll do no matter how hard you try as a beginner to this.
I now do more bandless swimming that banded, but I always check my form by throwing the band on every few sessions to make sure I’m not getting sloppy with keeping my ankles together.
thread a 2.5lb weight into the band…
Decimel point error? 25lbs you mean?
I use these for long runs in hotel rooms while traveling on business.
No 2.5 is enough to drag most triathletes to the bottom. 5 lb is what most of the guys in my squad used, I used 5 until my shoulders flared up and then switched to 2.5
This is a great workout. I did the New Port Richey Tri camp with John Kenny and he had me do sets with the band, and paddles. I have a Finnis band, and a bike tube cut and tied into a knot. Either one works well. Just remind yourself to not kick at all. I focus on a strong pull and engaging my core and pushing that chest down to bring my legs up.I started out doing 25’s (because my feet would drag and I was whooped) with a short rest and built up to 3x200 sets which I do now and they are killer. I do kick drills afterwards to give my arms a rest.Those, fulcrums, and sculling have really given me a better feel for the water. I’ve improved 10 seconds in my 100m in 2 months. John is a great coach and if you get a chance to get into one of his camps you won’t be disappointed.
Good luck.
You are from new port richey? Me too! Where do you swim? PM me
I don’t know if you’ve actually seen people new to banded swimming, but I totally disagree with you that you get can beginner-intermediate swimmers who have never swum banded to actually keep their legs together correctly the first times out.
Yes, I am a swim coach, so I have worked with one or two beginner swimmers. I do not have any of the problems you describe when mono leg swimming is presented within the proper framework. I have seen both mono leg and banded swimming become total disasters when applied arbitrarily within a non-progressive program.
I don’t know if you’ve actually seen people new to banded swimming, but I totally disagree with you that you get can beginner-intermediate swimmers who have never swum banded to actually keep their legs together correctly the first times out.
Yes, I am a swim coach, so I have worked with one or two beginner swimmers. I do not have any of the problems you describe when mono leg swimming is presented within the proper framework. I have seen both mono leg and banded swimming become total disasters when applied arbitrarily within a non-progressive program.
Well, if you’ve got a coach who can walk you through swimming step by step, you won’t even need the band.
On your own though, good luck trying to figure it out on your own by just keeping your legs together. I’d say less than 5% of the people will even come close to getting it right based on what I’m seeing at my triclub.
Just think of the last time you’ve watched a group of beginners (or even intermediates) swim - seriously, how many of them can actually swim with the two legs in a true monokick? Pretty much none. If yours can do it pretty readily, you’ve got some of the most gifted beginners I’ve ever seen.
So what is the proper progression for introducing bands w/o buoy? When is a swimmer ready to bring this into their program?
So what is the proper progression for introducing bands w/o buoy? When is a swimmer ready to bring this into their program?
No to be too cryptic, but not to give away the goose, there is a level of awareness that would make these activities more useful. A swimmer should be acutely aware of what the feet are doing for the overall swim, before trying to remove the feet from the swim.
And not to direct traffic away from this site, but we wrote a blog post about the band some time ago. Maybe ‘a sensible alternative to the band’ or something along those lines. I think there was a video as well. Should be easily searchable.