Swimming Gears for Advanced Swimmers

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You might be swimming for the past 2 to 3 months and noticed performance improvements. 

You might be swimming for a few years, but struggling to get the gains. 

Or you wanna be an armature pool swimmer, open water swimmer, or a triathlete but you don't have a coach. 

THIS EQUIPMENT WILL BE THE BEST TO HELP YOU!!


I have been using some of this equipment and noticed improvements in my swimming speed, technique, and stamina. I hope it does the same for you. 

Ps: I'm not sponsored or paid by FINIS. 

1. Tempo Trainer

A tempo trainer is an electronic training device that transmits an audible beep to help you develop a consistent pace and tempo. For this, I am suggesting the FINIS Tempo Trainer. The FINIS tempo trainer has 2 modes that you can select to train.

a. Stroke Rate Mode

In this mode, you can set the stroke rate that you want to swim in. The device will then beep according to the stroke rate you intended. This is very simple because you can have consistent fast pace strokes or slow-paced consistent glides in the water all the time. Just listen to the beep and make sure your hand enters the water perfectly. 

b. Lap Interval Mode

The lap interval mode is used to replace the need for a pace clock. For those who swim alone like me, we can't afford to bring along a pace clock to the pool. For example, if you want to swim a set of 200meters at a 2.00/100m in a 50meter pool, you can set the tempo trainer to beep every 50meter by setting the tempo trainer to beep every 1 minute. This equals 2 minutes per 100meters or 2 beeps in 2 minutes. If it is programmed like so, you have to swim every 50m before the beep is made. There is some calculation to it, but it is simple to program it. 

Usually, I will program the tempo trainer to beep every time I reach one end of the pool. Most of the pools I go to has a 50 meter or 25-meter pool, so it is programmed differently. The advantage is that you can program pace to however you like. 

FINIS Tempo Trainer
2. Snorkel 

The snorkel is a very useful equipment to use especially to correct your stroke and your technique. Other swimmers might think that using a snorkel to swim is easy, as you don't have to take breaths. But, this snorkel is used to observe your swimming technique and improve it. With this snorkel, you can focus on the specific technique of your stroke. Other than that, this snorkel can be used to do some drills. 

For mid-distance and distance swimmers the benefits of using a snorkel lean more towards balancing out the workload across both sides of your body and to avoid over-loading one of your shoulders. At the same time, swim snorkels are crucial to improving your swimming. You don't need a coach to use a snorkel, you can simply observe your techniques by yourself and improving them. 


FINIS Snorkel

Example to use the swimming snorkel


3. Resistance bands

Now, let's now talk about something out of the pool. YES, what you do outside the pool matters the most compared to what you do in the pool. Some equipment that would help is resistance bands. Resistance bands are multi-purpose when it comes to swimming. These bands are very convenient, they are easy to bring around and inexpensive. 

These are some uses that I can think of:

  • warming up and stretching before training
  • recovery for sore muscles
  • workouts when some days you can't go to the pool
  • strength and conditioning workouts
  • developing specific muscles for swimming

There are a few types of resistance bands in the market, but I suggest these two to optimum results. 

With handles

Bands without loops

So, there you go. My go-to swimming gear in and out of the pool for advanced swimmers who want to swim faster and smoother. For those who don't have a coach to guide them, these gears will surely do. Catch you all in the next one. 




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