FITNESS SWIMMING: THE BASIC EQUIPMENT

Swimming is always thought to be a cheap sport, and there's no doubt that it can be as 
cheap as you make it. Basically all you need are a costume or trunks and a towel, plus 
the revenue to support the cost of transport to and from the pool and admission to it. 
After that there are various add-ons that make swimming more interesting and will enable 
you to vary your training.

But first, what to wear. There are now many makes of swimwear available wither in shops 
or be mail, in many instances from companies advertising in this magazine! One model is 
bound to suit you for comfort, fit or price. But what is essential is that what you wear 
to swim does not hold you back. Thus something that fits well and does not act as a drogue 
is essential. This means that you and a top competitive swimmer will probably buy the same 
thing. Certainly you will not want to be hampered by shorts if you are male or by 
unnecessary fabric or stiffening if female. Swimwear we can broadly describe as "racing" 
in style is reasonably priced, easy to wash and dry, and looks good too. Necessity 
quotient 10/10.

And now how to dry. Traditionally swimmers are depicted with fluffy towels, but these 
are becoming a thing of the past. They have to be dried after each use and washed 
regularly, a mother's nightmare.

The up to the minute drying device is the chamois, which dries as well as a towel and 
can then be rinsed out and stored in its plastic tube. Necessity quotient: 10/10.

Once you have swum for a few minutes you will probably start longing for some goggles. 
Now goggles aren't strictly necessary, and water conditions should not be so poor that 
goggles have to be worn if one is to have any vision after a swim. But it is unfortunately 
the case that pool chemicals, particularly as used indoors, have an irritating effect and 
that as a result goggles are more or less essential. There are any number of goggle designs 
to choose from, and one of them is bound to fit your particular eye and nose shape. The 
important thing is to find a goggle that suits, and then to keep a reserve pair and a 
spare strap, as like anything used regularly they will break or become mislaid at a 
crucial moment. Prescription goggles for those with imperfect vision are also available. 
Necessity quotient: 9/10.

Although not necessary in general, swim hats are compulsory in some pools and are, after 
pre-swim showering, the greatest help to pool hygiene. The thin latex ones are lighter but 
very short lived. The slightly heavier silicone hats carry better colours and last longer. 
(It is surprising that more pools do not make hats compulsory. It is amazing how strands 
of hair attach themselves to goggles and are almost impossible to remove.) Necessity 
quotient: 6/10.

Some swimmers find that they are more comfortable if they use a nose clip and ear plugs. 
The nose clip is an essential item of equipment for those swimmers prone to sinus trouble 
or who take home large quantities of water temporarily locked in their sinal cavities. 
Likewise there are those prone to ear infections or who are uncomfortable with water 
sloshing (as it can feel) around in their ears. Necessity quotient: 10/10 (if you require 
them).

The two most basic training aids are the kick board and pull buoy. Kick boards are made of 
very buoyant materials and come in a number of sizes and in an increasing number of shapes.
Whatever its size, provided your board is supportive you are OK, but you will find that you 
will kick faster with the larger, and so more buoyant, board. It is a matter of preference 
whether you have the board complete or with hand grip holes. There is also a variety of pull
buoy designs, but the best are the hourglass shaped one piece buoy. It is worth being careful
when acquiring a pull buoy, as if the buoy is too large (for large read buoyant) you will soon become addicted to its use as it is much easier to use your arms only and carry the pull buoy between your legs than it is to swim full stroke. The extra buoyancy makes all the difference. Necessity quotient: kickboard 10/10. Necessity quotient: pullbuoy 7/10.

To make pulling a real test some swimmers use thick rubber bands, commonly a section of a 
car inner tube, to inhibit involuntary (but still helpful) kicking. This makes a drastic 
difference to the speed at which some swimmers pull. Necessity quotient: 3/10.

An often overlooked but essential item is the drinks bottle. Any plastic container will do, 
but if you are swimming any distance at all be sure to keep a drink to hand and to drink 
little and often before you start to feel thirsty. Dehydration, as we read last month, is 
an insidious thing, and very difficult to overcome once you allow your body to lose water. 
Necessity quotient: 10/10.

You will need something to carry all this kit in, with some room to spare. Clothing and 
small items are suitable for any bag, but wet floats are more of a problem, which some 
solve through the use of string bags. These are commonly available in the USA but are not 
so readily found here. Their advantage is that their content drips and dries out in a very 
short time, whereas if floats and so on are left in a plastic bag or sports bag they retain 
their moisture to the detriment of the other contents. Necessity quotient: 5/10.

More swimmers are becoming aware of the enhanced training effects that can he gained by 
the use of hand paddles. Once again, the number of tyupe and shapes of paddles on the 
market is bewilderingly large, with variations in size from one type that barely covers 
the fingers to others which are as large as dinner plates. The adult swimmer would do 
well not to try to handle the largest sizes, as they can inflict considerable strain 
on the shoulders. Necessity quotient: 4/10.

It is a paradox that swimming with fins is beneficial to swimming training, and once again 
there are many different fins to choose from. Longer, more flexible, fins are encouraging 
for the swimmer whose kick is poor and who may nenefit from feeling the propulsion that 
can be gained from the crawl and dolphin kick. The short, stubby Zoomer type of fin has 
been developed as a training aid intended to strengthen the kick rather than to aid 
propulsion. Beware of taking the easy option, fin-wise. Necessity quotient: 3/10.

The market seems to support an increasing range of electronic products. The most basic of 
these is the wrist stopwatch, which is invaluable to anyone in a pool without an accurate 
clock. Although their use should be frowned upon in busy pools on safety grounds, they 
have become an essential feature of many swimmers' training environments. They of course 
range from the most basic time-of-day and simple stopwatch to elaborate recording devices 
which are capable of memorising up to 100 split times, with various count down and count 
up features thrown in. One stopwatch is designed to fit on a finger and doubles up as a 
lap counter. Two of the most recent developments include a stroke monitor, which counts 
your strokes during a repeat and analyses your stroke efficiency using a formula based 
on distance, time, and stroke count. Another device, the Aquapacer, can be programmed to 
sound a cadence and prompt the swimmer to maintain a predetermined rate of stroking, if 
not speed of swimming. Necessity quotient: watch/timer: 9/10; Lap Counter: 4/10; Stroke 
Monitor: 2/10.

An often overlooked factor in swimming, overlooked particularly by male swimmers, is the 
desirability of cleaning pool chemicals out of one's hair after swimming. It is said that 
to shower before a swim makes rinsing off afterwards more effective, while to complete the 
job a good anti-chlorine shampoo is required. There are a number of brands on the market. 
Necessity quotient: 5/10.

You will see that of the making of swimming gadgets there is no sign of an end. Many of 
the stroke correction enhancement devices were thought of many years ago, and a large and 
impressive range can be viewed in Sinclair Henry's famous Badminton Book of Swimming 
published at the end of the 19th century. there is indeed nothing new under the sun as 
far as swimming aids are concerned. W

[Copyright (c) 2000 Watermarks]