A. CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONING: In swimming, the rate at which the arms cycle (arm stroke turnover rate) determines the amount of oxygen which can be taken in per minute. The amount of oxygen taken in per minute determines how hard you can exercise. The efficient propulsion provided by the Zoomers fin design causes your arms to cycle slightly faster. Faster arm cycle rate equals more breathes (more oxygen) per minute. MORE OXYGEN!! This is why you can exercise harder with Zoomers fins than without them.

HOLD IT!   PLEASE READ THAT AGAIN.

The benefits of getting more oxygen are many. When you swim with Zoomers fins, you will notice that it is easier for you to keep your heart rate higher throughout your workout. This will improve your cardiovascular conditioning level and will help keep your heart healthy. With time and regular work, your cardiovascular conditioning level will improve until you are able to keep your heart rate significantly elevated throughout a long workout (25 to 40 minutes). When you reach this point, you will begin to lose weight (decrease body fat percentage).  Does all of this happen automatically, just by putting on the Zoomers fins. NO! You have to work at it, but Zoomers fins make it much possible to work harder.

B. HIGH SPEEDS: Zoomers fins let you swim faster. Leg forces are higher because the fins cause more resistance. The swimming movements done when using Zoomers fins are close enough to unassisted swimming movements that a significant training benefit is achieved: translation: you will swim faster when you take them off.

C. LESS SHOULDER STRESS: When we swim crawl stroke, the head is always higher than the feet. In essence, we swim on an inclined plane. As speed increases, the body planes higher in the water. The shoulder joint is unstable when the arm is fully extended in front. At most workout speeds, the body is low in the water. From this lower position, the hand begins each arm stroke flat on the surface of the water, directly in front of you, and then is pressed down to the 'catch' position (the position where the hand engages the water). This is the position where injury frequently occurs. The additional speed from Zoomers fins will let you swim in a higher position in the water. From this higher body position, it is possible to reach the hand directly down to the 'catch' position, thereby avoiding the unstable, fully-extended position. Injury is avoided. Once you have swum with Zoomers fins for a few weeks, you will learn how to maintain this higher position all of the time and will still be able to do so when swimming without Zoomers fins. Retained learning!!!

D. BLISTERS: At first you may get some blisters. A lubricant, like Sno-Seal boot water-proofing (available at ski or back-pack stores) applied sparingly to the skin before putting on the fin is helpful. After a few weeks, your skin should become tougher If you have trouble, call or write me at Zoomers.

F. FIRM THIGHS and a lot more. The Zoomers fin is bigger than your foot. When you kick, it causes more resistance than the bare foot. The harder you kick the more resistance the water causes and the more muscle force you must use. To firm and tone the muscles of the legs, hips, stomach and butt, some aggressive kicking works well. One of the best exercises is vertical kicking. Vertical kicking is similar to water running except you use Zoomers fins, point the fins straight down toward the bottom of the pool and kick back and forth (do a flutter kick). Kick hard for about 30 seconds. This will cause you heart rate to go up. Rest for about 30 or 40 seconds (or until your heart rate slows) and then do it again. As your legs get stronger, increase the number of 30 second kicks. When performing water running, the knee bends when the leg comes forward. When vertical kicking, keep the knee fairly straight. This will work the muscles harder.

G. THE KICK: For each speed in the water there is size of kick which works best. The kick creates propulsion that pushes us forward, but each time the legs separate (flutter kick), the legs create drag which slows us down. As speed increases, drag increases very, very rapidly. At higher speeds, adjustments must be made in the kick, or drag will increase so much that it will cancel out most of the propulsion produced by the kick. Fortunately, drag can be reduced if the size of the kick is decreased. A smaller kick creates less drag, but a smaller kick also generates less propulsion. If this smaller kick is cycled faster (speeded up), then propulsion will be increased without significantly increasing drag. Zoomers fins are designed to help practice and perfect the use of this smaller, faster kick.

At slower speeds, a larger kick works well. In fact, a larger kick works best. To learn what size kick works best at each speed for your body type, try the following (this kicking drill works best if you are completely submerged; do this in the deep end of the pool). Push off the wall about 3 feet under water. Hold your arms out in front of you with your hands together to help streamline your body. Use a butterfly kick or a crawl stroke flutter kick. Keep your toes pointed and keep your knees fairly straight, and just push the fins up and down. Start with a large kick and then gradually make the kick smaller and faster. You should feel yourself going faster as the kick gets smaller and faster. Try this a few times. A variation is to kick on your back under water using a butterfly kick. The small, fast kick (14 to 18 inches high) works best. Experiment with the limits. Try a very fast, small kick. You will feel the water rushing by your head and over your shoulders. Then when you are going very fast, abruptly change to a very large kick. You will feel a sudden, huge increase in drag and you will slow down (Water brakes!).

H. RETAINED LEARNING: We do not race at slow speeds. When we race, we want to go fast. Most workout swimming is done below race pace. Therefore, we spend much of our time practicing the wrong things: a larger, slower kick, a slower arm turnover rate, lower body planing height, a different arm entry position and angle. And then we shave and taper and expect to do it all right! Zoomers fins make it possible to practice correct race pace techniques for long time periods all year long. And when you remove Zoomers fins, you will be able to do it right. You will have learned.

2. COMPETITIVE SWIMMING APPLICATIONS

A. HOW TO START UP: Start using Zoomers fins when swimming a normal set. Stay on the normal interval and swim. You will go too fast on the first few swims of the set because it's fun and feels good. You will then suddenly become very tired. You will learn what pace is maintainable after several workouts. It takes 3 to 4 weeks before the cardiovascular system capacity begins to increase enough to support use of the fins in long sets. It takes 8 to 12 weeks before you will be able to support aggressive use of the fins throughout an entire set. With hard work, you can continue to improve for years.

B. IMPROVING STROKES: FREESTYLE: After swimming freestyle with Zoomers fins for a few days, your stroke will become smoother and your planing height will become higher and more constant. This is because you are able to swim faster. Stroke errors will become more evident because of the faster movement speeds. Many errors in arm recovery and entry cause the body to swing out of alignment (the legs will swing from side to side). Frequent errors which cause this are: keeping the arm too straight on recovery, swinging the arm too widely, or the hand entering too close to the midline. At higher speeds, these errors become very exaggerated and are easier to feel. To correct the arm entry position: when you are in a higher planing position, the water entry point of the hand must be moved 3 to 4 inches closer to the shoulder and 3 to 4 inches farther out to the side (wider). This allows the entire arm to enter 'through a hole' similar to a 'through the hole' racing dive.

BUTTERFLY: Zoomers fins make it easier to swim fly correctly. You will be able to do more fly (a lot more fly) without stroke deterioration or shoulder injury. The planing height will be higher making possible a more direct hand entry. You will build back-arch and hamstring strength which will allow you to cycle the kick faster, which will allow you to cycle the arms faster. The added strength and conditioning will generate more leg-drive as you close out the race.

BREASTSTROKE: Zoomers fins were not designed for doing the breaststroke kick, but the breaststroke kick can be done, for example, in l.M. sets. A very good breaststroke drill with Zoomers fins is: use one breaststroke pull to one fly kick. Cycle very rapidly. Try to maintain a high body position. Do repeat 25's or 50's. Take adequate rest so you can work hard. This drill will help develop greater hamstring and back-arch strength so you can cycle the breaststroke more rapidly.

3. FITNESS AND LAP SWIMMING

A GREAT COMBINATION: Zoomers fins and Fulcrum Paddles:

Using the fins and paddles together provides a really great workout and introduces some variety. Swim some of your workout with fins and paddles, some with paddles, some with fins and some with nothing at all (except swim suit and goggles).