What to Look for in Water Aerobics Shoes

Water aerobics has quickly become a popular way to work out without causing a lot of stress on the joints. This makes it a great option for those who are elderly, pregnant or have another ailment or injury that affects their joints. When you choose to embark on this type of exercise routine, you will need a good pair of water aerobics shoes to wear while you exercise. Choosing the right pair is important to ensure you have the support you require.

Rubber Sole

If you have ever looked at the water shoes that are available at your local department store, you may have noticed they have flimsy soles and don’t provide the wearer with a lot of support. These are not the type of water aerobics shoes you want to use for exercising. The right water shoes designed for water aerobics will have thicker rubber soles that are still flexible to provide you with the extra support you need when you are performing exercises in the water.

Adjustability

Some water shoes seem to treat people with a one-size-fits-all approach. This is incorrect when it comes to choosing water shoes for your water aerobics classes. Like tennis shoes you would wear if you were exercising in the gym, you need water aerobics shoes that allow you to tighten the laces and adjust them so they fit your feet exactly. If the water shoes you choose aren’t adjustable, you could experience discomfort in your feet, either while you are exercising or when you are done. In either case, it isn’t good for your feet and will lead you to not want to exercise.

Foam Padding

Another important feature in water shoes designed for water aerobics is the foam padding that is found within the sole of the shoes. Even though you are exercising in the water and there is less impact on your joints, there will be some level of impact on your feet as you move through the water. The shock absorbing factors will ensure this type of work out is as easy on your joints as possible so you can make the most of your workout without stressing out your body.

Ventilation

Like all water shoes, it is important for your water aerobics shoes to provide your feet with ventilation for when you exit the pool. Allowing your feet to breathe will also allow the water within the shoe to quickly drain out when you step out of the pool. This means you won’t have to walk around with water sloshing around in your shoes after you are done working out.

Working out in the water can allow you to get a much better work out without putting additional stress on your joints. If you will be signing up for a water aerobics class, it is important to know how to choose the best water aerobics shoes. These special shoes provide you with plenty of features that make spending time in the pool doing water aerobics comfortable and fun for everyone.

The Proper Use of Swim Paddles Reduces Injury Risks

Competitive swimming requires you to place your focus on training to increase your strength and endurance in the water. To do this, many swimmers choose to add swim tools, such as swim paddles, to their work out routine, allowing them to remain competitive in the swimming world. However, if you don’t know what you are doing, you can actually cause injuries to your shoulders when you don’t use the paddles and other tools in the appropriate manner. Always ask for guidance from your coach, but these tips can help.

Start Slowly

Too many people plunge into using swim paddles and other tools too quickly and don’t allow their bodies to build up a tolerance to using these items. Start working with your paddles for a few minutes during your practices. When you can comfortably use these tools for a few minutes during your workout, you can add more time onto your exercises. This will allow your body, particularly your shoulders, to get used to working harder without risking injury.

Don’t Focus on the Tools

Another common mistakes swimmers make is to place a majority of their focus on using swim paddles as part of their training. While these tools are effective at helping you build up your strength and endurance in the water, they should be used as complementary tools, not the main focus of your swim training. Talk to your coach about how often he thinks you should be using them so you can avoid overusing them, increasing your risk of experiencing an injury.

Perfect Your Stroke First

Swim paddles are designed to help you build up the strength in your shoulders and arms, as well as increase your endurance so you can swim better for longer. Some swimmers seem to think these tools will help you develop your stroke and thus improve your performance. However, this is not what these tools are for. If you use them without having a proper stroke to begin with, you are at a much higher risk for injury. Therefore, you need to make sure you have your stroke down before you make use of these tools.

Buy the Right Ones

There are many types of swim paddles from which you can choose. Each type will provide you with a different benefit. This makes it extremely important to talk to your coach about what you are hoping to achieve and which paddles are most likely to provide you with those benefits. If you fail to buy the right ones, you will either not improve your performance or you will become injured.

Swim paddles can be an effective tool to help you improve your endurance and strength for more competitive swimming. However, they can also be dangerous if you don’t use them properly or buy the right ones for your needs. When you follow these tips and work closely with your coach, you can obtain all the benefits of using these paddles while keeping your risk of injury low.

The Benefits of Using Swim Lane Ropes

When you swim in a competitive swimming pool, you will notice the lanes are marked with special swim ropes and markers. There is a good reason why these particular swim lane ropes are used. While these ropes can be purchased in a wide variety of colors and styles, all of them serve the similar purpose. Learning what those purposes are can help you decide if you will need the ropes for your pool or if they are unnecessary.

Markings

The most important reason to use swim lane ropes in your pool is to mark off the individual lanes. This serves multiple purposes. For starters, it keeps the swimmers in their own area of the pool to reduce the risk of collisions or interfering with someone else’s swimming. Another primary purpose of these swim ropes is to show swimmers exactly where they are in the pool. This provides every swimmer with an easy way to know exactly where they are headed in the pool so they can concentrate on their swimming instead of where they are.

Keeping Disturbances Down

The lane ropes will also reduce the amount of disturbance in the water that will make its way into the lanes that are immediately next to each swimmer. This means no swimmer is at an advantage or a disadvantage over the others. If these ropes didn’t have their anti-wave properties, the swimmer who is in the lead would not have to fight against anyone else’s waves, while all the trailing swimmers would have to battle through choppier waters. It would also allow the swimmers behind to take advantage of a swimmer’s slip stream, which can provide them with an unfair advantage.

The Look of the Pool

While it isn’t really the purpose of the swim lane ropes, they also provide a certain look to your pool. If you are buying these lane ropes for your team’s pool, you want to choose lane markers that are in your team’s colors. If you will be hosting competitive meets, you may need to choose markers that are in the specific colors as set by the organization whose rules you follow for your swim meets. Before you purchase your lane ropes, it is important to know exactly what you will use them for and whether there are restrictions on the colors you will be able to use. 

Swim lane ropes are a critical aspect to add to your pool, especially if you have swimmers who are training in your pool or you host competitions at your pool. Learning the reasons why these lane ropes are used will help you decide if you need them and if so, which ones you need to purchase. In general, the lane ropes are designed to help swimmers stay on course and to know exactly where they are in the pool at any given time. They also reduce the amount of disturbance that bleeds over into the attached lanes. Finally, the ropes finalize the look of the pool, allowing you to fully customize your pool.

How to Choose the Right Swim Team Suits

Every swim team requires the right suits to ensure everyone can perform their best in the water. Using any swim suit you can purchase at any department store will not provide you with the reduced drag in the water or the proper fit to do well with competitive swimming. This makes choosing the right competitive swim team suits essential to ensure your team can perform in a way that provides them with the best chance of winning their races.

The Fit

Even though many of the top competitive swimwear companies make different designs, they are all geared toward effective swimming, including compression, low resistance and less restriction. However, that doesn’t mean that all swim suits are suitable for all swimmers. Therefore, you need to think about each of your swimmers so you can choose a suit style that will benefit each of your swimmers. With all the options that are available, you are sure to find one that will work well for each of your swimmers, no matter what their body style is.

  

Colors

 

Like many other sports teams, choosing matching colors is the perfect way to provide your team with a sense of unity. You need to think about what color would represent your team. If you already have team colors in mind, you can look for swim team suits that match your team colors and allow your team members to represent your team every time they show up at the pool. If you have specific color specifications in mind, you need to make sure you ask the company from which you buy them about the exact color you are ordering.

Logo

Some teams love to put their logo on their swim team suits. However, not all designs and manufacturers allow you to add your logo to the suits you are ordering. If you are dedicated to having your team logo embroidered on the suit, you will need to ask about whether it is an option for the suits you are considering for your team. If it isn’t available, you will need to decide how important it is to have the logo or if it is best to find a different suit.

The Design

While most swim teams choose a plain suit for their competitions, some leagues allow you to choose designs for your swim team suits instead. If your league allows you to choose designs, you will be able to find a wide variety of designs in many colors across the various manufacturers. If you will be ordering suits with a design on them, you may want to talk to your team first to determine what everyone would prefer.

Choosing the right swim team suits can be a challenge, especially when you realize how many options are available to you. When you are looking for the right swim suits, you will be able to choose from a variety of fits, colors and designs. In addition, you may be able to place your swim team’s logo on the suits so you can really set yourselves apart.