Which Pullbuoy to buy? - Aquatools Guide #2

The Pullbuoy is a great swim training tool to positively affect your body position in the water and to strengthen your arm stroke. However, it is sometimes used in a way that rather negatively influences one's swimming position. 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 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.

Whatever model you choose: Be aware that more pullbuoy training is not always better. Try to swim rather short distances with the pullbuoy, and concentrate on correct and effective arm strokes, without using your legs but with a well stabilized torso.

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