Chapter 3 Swimming Equipment

     There is a wide variety of swimming equipment and training aids available on the market, which are designed to target specific areas within the freestyle stroke. Whilst some swimmers prefer to train without the use of any pool equipment, at Swim Smooth we are very passionate about using the right tools for your stroke and incorporating them into your programme in the most effective way.

     In this review we have categorised a wide range of training aids into ‘essentials’, ‘highly recommended’, ‘not-essential but nice to have’ and ‘not recommended’ and we aim to show you how each might help you with your swimming. Whilst this is not an exhaustive list of all the pool toys you will find out there, it will give you a very good idea of what to look out for.

     Californian swimming technology company Finis is one of the most innovative companies in this area and for this reason we have tried and tested all of its products, our favourite ones of which feature prominently below. Other manufacturers making good swim gear and training aids are Speedo, TYR, Aquasphere, and Arena. Depending upon your location, you may see that some of these brands are more prominent than others.