The Importance of good swimming gear!
Swimming is one of those sports/exercises that you can benefit massively from having the appropriate swimming gear…It isn’t simply lifting up, and putting down weights…creating a good foundation of products and accessories…can enhance your swimming, and potentially save you money in the future (by not having to buy new ‘crappy’ items)….so we thought to illustrate ways in which you can get the most out of your swimming training by using the right product for you.
Streamlined and ready for speed.
Streamline / Aerodynamics
Being horizontal, cutting through the water….to maximize speed and efficiency you want to have as little additional material creating friction against the water as possible. Everything from your swimming togs, cap (or lack of) and goggles can play a massive role in making things easier, or much much harder to swim…so that is why you need the right swimming gear.
For casual training in the pool, get yourself a goggle with a great fit, streamlined straps (not flapping around) and a slightly thicker silicone gasket for comfort. Dependent on whether the pool is indoor or outdoor, get a smoke lens (outdoor) and light or no colored lens for indoor.
We would definitely recommend a swimming cap to everyone who is swimming consistently for the streamlined aspect..but also to prevent too much chlorine damage (it happens) to the hair. Silicone, basic shape swim cap will fit pretty much everyone.
Racing goggles, definitely go for a slightly more sleek, lower silicone goggle. The more frequently you train, the more your eye socket adjusts to wearing goggles. You don’t need to have such a soft goggle, rather work with something that is low profile and reduces water friction as much as possible…for example – The Arena Carbon Core.
Arena Carbon Core goggle
Functional training with Accessories
How does a good swimmer train for up to 2 hours in the pool per session? They add in sets/exercises with functional training gear to maximize their overall fitness and strength. That means things like Fins, Pull Buoys and Paddles at a basic level…then add additional items such as Swim Snorkels to elevate your skills to that next level. The fins isolated with a kickboard, build your kick strength…paddles isolated with a pull buoy isolate your arm stroke and shoulder strength…the snorkel helps you to align your body position without the need to turn your head to breathe.
These things together make training more exciting, improve your technique and allow for more diversion.
Look good in and out of the water.
Top brands such as Arena (the worldwide top swimwear brand) offer the highest quality swim product and material on the market. Not only do they have a high-quality product (that doesn’t embarrassingly stretch)… but they have an immense catalog of men and women togs. They have every color possible, in awesome cuts, following on with the streamline discussion earlier….while helping you look as good as possible in and out of the water.
For training, we recommend a classic 1-piece for women…something Red or Blue for the summer! And for men, either a mid or full-length jammer for casual swimmers, or briefs for the competitive swimmer who needs the brief cut for breaststroke….either way in the men’s togs…can’t go wrong with Black.
So….Where do I find this gear?
Not to toot our own horn, but we have an extensive range of togs and accessories at The Olympic reception. You can find all sizes and shapes…along with the swim gear to help your training. Otherwise, a simple google should do the trick…
Swim better, swim faster, swim more efficiently with the right swimming gear.
That’s our tip.
