This
week, I received a frequently asked question about swimming with fins. Swimming
with fins during rigorous military training like BUD/S, Coast Guard HRSS, Air
Force PJ, Army Ranger / SF training or many law enforcement SWAT programs is
required in open water tests.
My
philosophy with teaching swimming is “a picture is worth 1000 words, but a
moving picture is worth 10,000 words”. I have a link on YouTube.com of me
swimming the Combat Swimmer Stroke with and without fins.
(see link) The combat swimmer stroke is a very efficient stroke with and
without fins and done by SEAL, PJ, and other special forces / special ops men
and women.
The
type of fins you should use when swimming in open water for any of these
professions is a strong SCUBA type fin that can also substitute for SCUBA
diving. Getting your ankles used to the strain of the kick takes a few weeks of
500-1000m swims, but the initial pain will go away as long as you incorporate
swimming with fins regularly into your program. I recommend anything made by
Cressi or the US Diver’s Rocket Fin as it is used by many special operations
training programs. You will need to wear booties with these types of fins and
not be able to use these fins bare foot.
Here is the email question from a young man preparing for BUD/S by
swimming with a newly purchased pair of fins.
Recently
I bought a pair of Rocket fins and booties. Up until now I have been using soft
fins for your workouts and I have been able to fin 1 mile under 30 minutes with
soft fins. With rocket fins, however, it feels much more awkward and painful.
It seems as if my arm-pulls get me more propulsion than the flutter kicks with
rocket fins.
1. Is there a specific technique to finning with rocket fins? Does the kick
have to be a certain width? It seems that bigger kicks give me a stop/start
movement and interrupt my momentum but while smaller kicks give me constant
movement they still don't seem to propel me that fast.
There
is a technique to swimming with fins, but no one best way as we all have
different kick strengths. I have found that athletes in sports like football
and soccer may not be the best swimmers without fins, but when they place a pair
of SCUBA fins on their legs, they are faster than most people in the class.
This is because they have well developed leg and hip strength and can use bigger
kicks to build speed. Some athletes with less strong legs / hips tend to still
swim fast, but are required to kick using smaller strides at a faster pace. You
have to find out what works best for you personally. You will want to learn how
to swim on both sides as well because you can alter your kick as long as your
top leg always extends forward on both the left and right side.
Learning to swim on both sides offers a form of “rest” by changing the pull –
push stride of your left / right leg.
As far
as arm pulls and breathing as pictured in the video, the arm pull can be used as
another method of propulsion, especially if you need to rest your legs by
skipping a few kicks throughout a long distance swim. Many people like to do a
slight pause of kicking when breathing and recovering the arms forward again to
remain streamlined. As with any swimming, recovering your arms should remain
stream-lined and not an obstacle to forward motion.
2. The fins seem to cause pain in my feet after a couple hundred yards and
stiffness up the front and side muscles of my shins. Is this just a matter of
conditioning and getting my feet used to wearing these fins?
It is a matter of
conditioning. When first wearing fins while swimming, you should only swim a
few hundreds yards and push slightly past discomfort in the ankle and shin
area. Do not push too hard and for too long at first as over use injuries like
tendonitis in the feet and knees can flare up causing you to only be able to
swim or run with severe discomfort or injury. This process usually takes about
10-15 swims or two to three weeks of swimming with fins. It is recommended to
swim 500m with fins and if they start to bother you, take off the fins and swim
500m without, then try fins one more time until discomfort returns. Do this for
a few weeks and you will be able to add greater distances each time you swim.
Good
luck with adding fins to your swim workouts. It takes time to get comfortable
so do not feel weak if you can only swim a few hundreds yards the first time you
wear a “real” pair of fins. Feel free to email me if you have any questions at
stew@stewsmith.com.
---------------------------
Buy any of Stew Smith's published books at
StewSmith.com. Leave a
review at Amazon.com and you will receive a free ebook of your choice from the
catalog link below. The published titles are:
The SWAT Workout
The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness (Book and DVD)
Maximum Fitness -- 52 week plan
Special Operations Workout - Army Ranger/SF, AF PJ, and Navy SEAL Workouts
The TV Watcher's Workout -- Ultimate Beginner Plan
Common Sense Self Defense -- Novice
Check out the new
2008 Catalog
