Speedo Contour Paddles

Growing up on the flat paddles, I distinctly remember wrapping my fingers around the top of these to hold them in place as we swam our pull sets. Man how times have changed!

While many new swimmers focus on adding fins to their equipment list first, triathletes should pay close attention to their pull and the time they spend training on their upper body. Unlike both the bike and running legs of the triathlon, the swim portion has a strong focus on the upper body and leveraging the strength of the triathlete’s arms. To do this, triathletes need to focus on their stroke and arm movement.

The Speedo Contoured Swim Paddles are available at most big box sporting goods stores. These run less than $15 and are well worth the investment. The contoured form allows for a comfortable handle on the paddles but more importantly it forces you to know how your hand enters and exits the water.

This paddle straps tight around the wrist and the middle finger and as long as they are secured tight, are comfortable and lightweight to use. The contour shape also provides the perfect position for your hands, helping to train new triathletes on the appropriate hand shape when competing.

Overall, I will give the product 3.5 out of 4 stars. These are significantly more beneficial for swim training than web options and Speedo has provided one of the top of the class in their contoured offering.

These fins are the new rage in swimming training circles. The second generation from Finis has made several improvements since they came out with the original Zoomers but continue to lag in sales due to the ubiquitous nature of the originals.

The benefit of shorter fins is that you can continue to focus on your form and traditional kick. With the longer fins often used in scuba and other swimming environments, your kick is hampered due to the time it takes to move your foot up and down. You become more accustomed to a slower kick cycle that can impact your ability to increase speed during races.

The shorter Zoomer fins add speed to your workouts to allow you to spend more time kicking without giving you a crutch that is difficult to overcome. Zoomers allow you to strength both your calf and hamstring muscles on both the down and up kick. You will feel the difference in muscle strain after the first kick exercise…and that’s a good thing.

The Z2 fins are the latest generation and are often cheaper than the originals. While the original fins are still more common, this is in part due to their popularity vs. their capabilities. The newer Z2 fins are structured to focus on the flow of water through and over the fins. This allows a smooth kicking motion you often get with the larger fins without hampering your kick cycle speed.

This is personal conjecture but I have found the Z2 fins to be more durable than the original. I went through 2 pair of the Zoomers that ripped by the heal. I have not had a similar experience from the Z2 which seem to be reinforced by where swimmers grab the heal to pull on.

Overall, I will give the product 3.5 out of 4 stars. Once I have the opportunity to test the TYR HydroFins, I will be able to determine if the Z2 fins are truly the best in class.