How To Swim With A Pull Buoy | Improve Your Freestyle Swimming

The pull buoy is a swim aid designed to help isolate your arms and provide support to your body without having to kick. This allows you to focus on developing your freestyle technique and strength in the water.
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In this video, Mark & Fraser explain why you might want to use a pull buoy and then how to incorporate this into your training. If you are relatively new to pull work, then you may want to start with fairly short reps in your workout. That way you can focus on the quality of each rep, with a short break to recover between each
A simple example would be completing 12x25m pull, with 20s recovery between each rep. Once you feel comfortable doing this, you can then build to something like 8x50m, then to 4x100m.
How often do you include pull work in your training? Let us know in the comments below 👇
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📹 5 Swim Toys To Help Improve Your Technique | Swimming Tips For Beginners - gtn.io/5SwimToys
📹 Beginner Triathlon Mistakes | 10 Things Triathletes Shouldn't Do! - gtn.io/TriathlonMistakes
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[@gtn]

How often do you include pull work in your training?

[@thijsvdc7269]

Always! I love pulling but hate kicking :/ Love the videos!!

[@TheDomLouis]

In the off season I'm using the pull buoy for my long slow sessions of 4x1km once a week, to focus on form without intensity. Love using the band to focus on how my core fixes body position. Both great tools!

[@mickm9878]

Always use the pullbuoy minimal kick

[@twometerpeter]

Where is this video shot?

[@tsnoonan]

@@twometerpeter I was wondering the same thing. During one of the underwater shots, I saw the logo(s) of "Sands Beach Active by Sailfish" and started googling it. I came up with this: www.sandsbeach.eu/en/facilities.html

[@evanmacdougall9715]

I started swimming in August and was barely improving because of my poor (and i soon found out to be excessive) kicking and sinking legs. In November I bought a pull bouy and it helped create major breakthroughs because I was able to focus on the technique for my arms and my breathing. For a few weeks I used it almost exclusively. Then as I improved I began using it less and less. Now I'm swimming 3 times a week and using the pull bouy during the middle session, only. And sometimes (when my technique is better) I find my legs are now higher in the water without the bouy than with it. It's also great for doing longer sessions to build strength and endurance in my arms because I can swim for a least three or four times the time and distance when I'm not using my legs.

[@stevenz1805]

Evan MacDougall dang this is me right here. My kicks stink and I have a difficult time keeping them afloat during normal freestyle. I love using the pull buoy. So what did you do to improve?

[@evanmacdougall9715]

​@@stevenz1805 I had to learn to "float". I did a full set of free beginner swim drills I found from Triathlon Taren. A couple of the drills help you learn to "float". First, If you hold onto the wall with your arms straight out and your head in the water and kick, you can get a feel for how much you need to kick to keep your feet and legs at the top of the water. Then when you're comfortable doing that, do a full lap of just kicks. I don't use a kickboard. I just push off the wall with my arms out (like in a superman position with my face in the water looking straight down) and then kick myself forward so that I stay perfectly horizontal. Every few seconds I breathe however feels most comfortable and then keep going in the same position. These 2 drills helped me get the feel for what my body position should be and also with some trial and error it has helped me learn how much kicking I need to do to keep my feet and legs on the top of the water. Now I start every swim session with a half or full lap of this kick drill. Just laying flat and kicking. Making sure I'm not kicking too hard. Kicking just enough to keep my feet and legs at the top of the water. Then I slowly transition from this drill to doing one-arm drills - sometimes alternating just one arm at a time - until I'm doing full freestyle swimming; trying the whole time to keep my kicking the same as I practiced in my initial kick drills. After that, it was doing some corkscrew drills and exaggerated hip rotating to practice turning my body and head to breathe so that I was rotating my body and my head to breathe - not lifting my head to breathe. That way my legs wouldn't sink every time I breathe. And then once I learned how to breathe better and also learned how to kick less but more effectively and efficiently, I wasn't always out of breath and my body was no longer fighting against my legs. This helped my swimming performance improve rapidly. The combination of learning to "float", learning how much but also how little to kick, the feeling for how my body should feel, and then how to rotate to breathe and not lift my head out of the water was what has really helped me. The pull bouy was the catalyst for all this because it showed me what swimming "should" feel like. It helps you practice your breathing and stroke separate from your legs. And then your improved stroke and breathing is part of what you need to do to help fix your legs. Because if you're breathing wrong, it'll make your legs sink even if you know how to kick properly. The combination of the two has worked miracles for me in just over a month!

[@stevenz1805]

Great man, I’ll work on that today definitely. I really appreciate the info sir, thanks a lot!

[@AP-qu8sl]

Evan MacDougall wow! Awesome explanation. I’m going to try this. Thanks for typing this much and helping us out

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

Still looking for the Lego square

[@sarahsmile2883]

I love to pull!! Hate kicking but kicking definitely wears me out faster

[@EFIT_206]

Just bought my first buoy to help me swim🙌🏿

[@mysticproduce705]

Thank you guys

[@JRabba1995]

Hi guys, cool video. I am currently in the process of recovery from a knee injury and the swim kicks make my knee hurt. Keeping them still eliminates the pain completely. Is exclusive pull training a good way to keep swiming? Thanks!!

[@briandoe1460]

I have the same question. I have an atrophied calf muscle with zero movement in the left ankle so my kick is super imbalanced

[@frankeeeej]

I find the biggest benefit of pull buoys, is that it stops your legs from compensating for imbalances at the front. For instance: if a swimmer massively crosses over their centre line at the font with their arms, he/she can kind of get away with it by sticking out a leg in the opposite direction at the back of their stroke... Not with a pull buoy they can't :d

[@yileiyilei5616]

I just found out that I snake quite a bit without kicking (with a pull buoy). Any suggestion on how I can fix it? I think my hand entry is good. I try to pull straight back too. I think when I activate my lats, my spine wants to curve to that side. How do you correct that?

[@bobbiassoun9790]

I have multiple sclerosis and I am trying to work in the pool. My biggest problem with my multiple sclerosis are my legs, how they don’t work anymore. I have to wear a flotation belt because I cannot kick my legs. It’s difficult to explain with multiple sclerosis but I can kick my legs in the pool but only when I’m standing straight up. If I try to kick my feet as I do a front crawl my legs will not kick. So this apparatus has been recommended for me and I’m just not sure how it would work for somebody with problems with their legs

[@eduardocelisMD]

Great video once again. Interestingly, I go faster with a pull boy (and without kicking) than when I swim without it. That means that I create so much drag with my sinky legs that actually completely negates the help of my kick?

[@trbeyond]

Yes. It doesn’t mean you have a bad kick, but it does mean your hip and leg position is creating much to much drag.

[@hudsonquay]

I'm exactly the same. Also when using fins. I think I've just got dense legs.

[@amandatown800]

I have the same thing!!! I swim faster with just my arms

[@ip1261]

because you must not think of using the legs to swim faster but to keep your body in the right position as they should adapt to the rotation you perform in the water. it is not about kicking fast, wide, or a lot...the legs give you the stability as if you were a boat, this is also why the movement should come from the hips. the hips with the core shape your swimming rotation and your water balance. if your legs kick from the knee under for instance, as many people do...you will sink. if you do that while you are in the rotation phase, and at the same time also the arms are busy because they are focusing on the catch...well, it will just become a mess and you will sink eventually more and more. just imagine your body to be an arrow in the water. perform the kick from the hips outside the water until your body has memorize it. it will remain in your body memory forever;)

[@megscorner3596]

How do I exit from the stroke? (Putting our hands up).

[@PsychologyGeek76]

Is it good to use to help strengthen your core muscles? Mines are weak and therefore I have a mommy tummy. Im trying to strengthen those muscles without having to get a tummy tuck.

[@matheuslima3221]

just work ur abs

[@jayda.mei_]

My question how do you do a flip turn with one? My coach wants to do it but I always lose the bouy

[@briandoe1460]

Can you post us an update if you manage to do it Miss Jade?

[@EFIT_206]

Nice swim

[@phxrsx]

Whats the difference in swimming with Roka swim shorts vs. a pull buoy?

[@markthrelfall3577]

adrian betti good question, and not one that I have much experience in personally. The shorts won’t have quite as much buoyancy, but not far off. Plus the pull buoy kind of stops you from kicking your legs too

[@vivianeraw8448]

I have a knee injury i cant kick So m gonna buy a pull buoy and start swimming Hope it works for me

[@322Patricia]

Where was this filmed? I am so jealous !! Rooms next to the pool with glorious sun!!! yessss :)

[@lazzocken]

In my ass, there ist a Lot of Space INSIDE, your welcome 😁

[@ferrerolounge1910]

just the rooms?? :D

[@jimb3093]

I was thinking the same thing! Where is that? lol!

[@79devo]

First pull buoy session today. Ps: how is Fraser ?

[@yoojin-oi8ij]

Progress report requested. Thank you in advance.

[@mickm9878]

Quick question im a beginner swimmer i keep getting cramps in my right foot when swimming any ideas how to get rid of this?Would it be dehydration?

[@markthrelfall3577]

Mick M more often that not, dehydration is the cause. Do you regularly run before swimming? That can sometimes trigger cramps too

[@mickm9878]

@@markthrelfall3577sometimes i run before but mostly 630am swims so no running before more than likely its dehydration thanks for reply

[@RicardGomes76]

Electrolites, sodium, potassium, magnesium...

[@Learntarott]

Yes. Take magnesium. So important. Look at YT videos about magnesium

[@vrunner6793]

I thought it was a pool boy 😆

[@husamayyoub6522]

Is it permissible for me to kick my leg with this tool

[@ferrerolounge1910]

Ankle sprain recovery for badminton took me here.

[@martam.1994]

Running ankle sprain here. It's been 16 days and I'm so restless 😫

[@vivianeraw8448]

Knee injury lead me here😰

[@HG-xv8eg]

R u recovered . I got severe pain in my ankle after swimming as m still in rehab period of ankle sprain since 6 months

[@fajaryogantara6072]

Is the pull buoy can help us to float?

[@Learntarott]

Keeps legs up

[@richc47us]

I tried one for the first time today and boy was that weird...it kept falling away from my legs...made my body position with my head deeper in the water while my legs and feet were more on the surface ( a good thing)....and BTW I was actually swimming faster haha....learned a lot thanks

[@ReducePlastic]

*buoy was that weird

[@anracingrsr1]

Didn't know that Sting teaches swimming nowadays.

[@chidiugorji7752]

lol

[@akIndia10]

Really

[@Spoons4Hands]

It looks like the placement is too high up in all of the shots

[@aquamotionswimschool]

I feel the buoy is placed too high in this video, which will still allow the swimmer to unconsciously kick. If you place lower, mid-thigh, like 4 inches above the knee, will give you the same floatation you are aiming for but will not allow you to kick, or else you will loose the buoy. kzbin.info/www/bejne/omasnoGma7qKodksi=CeSHJQIDbaR-WkSq

[@johofilm1]

always thought it was a pull BOY

[@nerdwana5813]

I thought it would be pool boy. I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it? :)

[@johofilm1]

@@nerdwana5813 haha yes double wrong but it does make sense :)

[@jasonandrews9058]

Super Nintendo Player one and Player two 0:10

[@osint6372]

The pull buoy can make you fish tail....

[@Alex-kr7zr]

You mean dolphin kick? Because humans cannot move the legs sideways.

[@flyswimfly1]

So much drag from your leading arms

[@mertkkuzu]

The Arabic Caption that your videos show for my country does bother me. I'm living in Turkey and we are not using Arabic language over here.

[@Alex-kr7zr]

Usually that's a result of your OS or browser settings.

[@livelovelaugh0000]

Talking to much

[@r.j.bigbrain3370]

ok, not a bad vid. But the guys don't answer a single question. There are people here with great Q.'s but all they get is crickets. thumbs down for me.

[@thkatandi]

Especially when you subscribers are putting money int their pocket, it's just rude on so many levels.

[@Noonswing]

Video doest not answer the question how to swim with pullb. Dislike