Year of Alison: Jumping on the Bandwagon

Yes, I am a little late to this party. Lately I have been incorporating some band work into my swimming. For those of you not on the "band"wagon, it's putting a band around your ankles to completely remove your kick. Some people combine it with a pull buoy, but I skip the pull buoy to really isolate my arms and core into doing all the work. It's been pretty fun, and shed some light on two weaknesses. Starting to fix them is already making a difference.

Homemade swim band - a piece of old inner tube.

One: I tend to catch with my right arm a little in too much, almost right in the centerline. When I have the band on and do this, it swivels my hips and legs out and I swim like an eel. So I am working on making sure my right arm is staying over to right of center.

Two: when I get tired I don't activate my abs, and my overall body position suffers a bit. The band is a great reminder to use those abs as if I don't, my legs really drag uselessly behind me!

Using a band is also a great way to turn a swim session into strength training. Slip the band around your ankles, put on some paddles, and you have a bicep/tricep/lat/core strength workout! Great for when you have tired legs but still want to get a good swim in.

3 comments:

KikiFebruary 12, 2012 at 4:19 PM
well now it won't come as a shock to you when I you get those workouts! Band work is awesome, really helps body position and makes you work,
MaggsFebruary 12, 2012 at 4:47 PM
I just put one in my swim bag. I've been meaning to for over a year. We'll see how it goes next week.
donnaFebruary 12, 2012 at 6:33 PM
It took me some time to get used to it...but I found it really helped me be conscious of my body position and press my chest into the water more to make sure my feet weren't dragging behind. All fun ways to help break up a swim workout and highlight weaknesses. Well done mixing it up :-)