During my recent blog trip to Morocco, I forced myself to wake up early everyday and go for a refreshing, active morning swim in the Kasbah Tamadot’s gorgeous pool. Given that I’m now less than one week away from jumping into the vast Olympic Aquatic Centre to swim for Sainsbury’s Sport Relief, I’m taking all the last-minute tips on board that I can; to that end, whilst in Morocco, I went to work with these Speedo Biofuse Power Paddles (which look like vast dolphin-flippers worn on your hands) to help maximise the energy and drive that I generate from my shoulders and arms. I learned ALOT!…
… The paddles are exceptional for developing swim-specific strength; I particularly felt the benefit in my deltoids and lats. The theory is such that by increasing the surface area in contact with the water (and thus increasing the resistance of the ‘pull’), the added force from these giant ‘scoops’ encourages the arms, shoulders and back to work harder in concert. They’re also a fantastic way to improve speed – I don’t think I’ve ever reeled off a length that quickly before – I almost felt motorised! The paddles enabled me to improve my stroke technique by physically emphasising some of the things I knew I needed to work on, so that I could feel the mistake; bringing my elbows higher, avoiding wrist-bend when plunging them back into the water, and not pushing out the water in front of me (as if I’m some sort of swan gliding in to land!). In essence, they intuitively promoted ‘correct’ hand positioning without anyone having to tell me as much. It also increased my ‘distance-per-stroke’ and made each stroke far more energy-efficient, which I’ve learned is the ultimate ‘holy grail’ for swimmers. As with most sports, once you’ve sorted the technique, it’ll all go swimmingly!
In these pictures (below) shot around the Kasbah’s pool, I was wearing the Women’s Speedo Fit Pinnacle Kickback in Pink/Black. It’s generously padded in all the right places, imposes a flattering shape, is fade resistant, snag resistant, seemingly indestructible (I tried), and most importantly to me, feels comfortable when I’m in the water; I’ll take any enhancement I can get ahead of the main event! Massive thanks to Speedo for supporting me ahead of the big, exciting event next weekend with their wonderful Swim Pack and App 🙂
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