Yesterday in the pool, my workout was focused on technique and building strength. To aid in developing these important attributes, I swam with paddles (and a pull buoy).

Even though they look big in the photo, these paddles are not that large.  They are just a little bigger than my hand, when swimming.  Even though they are not big, they are fantastic at increasing resistance and creating an improved ‘feel’ for the water.

You need to have a pretty good swim technique, before introducing significant work with swim paddles.  With that increase in resistance during the pull, it’s possible to risk shoulder issues, if your technique is bad.  When used properly however, they can be great for building strength in swim specific muscles, like your Lats (latissimus dorsi).

After my swim yesterday, my Lats were fatigued quite a bit.  Even though they were a little sore all day, it was a good feeling, because that meant I was swimming well and hopefully building muscle strength.

I don’t do a lot of swim sessions with paddles, but I suspect I will need to do more, towards the end of this year’s race season.  That’s because I’ll be using paddles during the race, when I do the SwimRun NC in October. I’m going to need to be a lot strong for that race …