Pullbuoy - #1 Which one to buy
The Pullbuoy is a great swim training tool to positively affect your body position in the water or to strengthen your arm stroke. However, it is often feared by beginners or misused in a way that it rather negatively influences one's swimming position. So, we decided to share a series of tips about how to best use a pullbuoy and to train better. Here is tip #1 - which pullbuoy to buy.
Pullbuoys come in a variety of shapes and sizes, or in form of a hybrid swim tool; the pullkick. In order to choose the right tool, you should consider mainly two aspects: (1) wearing comfort and (2) buoyancy. Pullbuoys with thicker ends and more buoyancy keep even heavily-muscled legs at the surface of the water, but may lead to a hollow-back swim position when used by smaller swimmers. On the other hand, too small pullbuoys may not stay at the right position of your legs. Or they do not keep your legs up high enough if they tend to sink, and so this would again rather lead to an incorrect body position. A good average buoyancy for an adult swimmer is considered to be around 20kg. However, our recommendation is: Trying before buying! Whatever model you choose: Be aware that more pullbuoy training is not always better. Try to swim rather short distances with the pullbuoy, but concentrate on correct and effective arm strokes, without using your legs but with a well stabilized torso.
