Every swimmer wants to improve their skill. Whether you’re competing on a team and dream of being the best, or you solely swim for exercise/enjoyment — you probably want to feel confident in the water. Luckily, some of the best swimming gear on the market in 2021 was created to help you do just that.
To find the best gear for you, you must first ask yourself: What’s your goal for improving your swimming? Do you need to work on your breathing? Maybe your kicking could use some strengthening? Or you might want to improve your pulling and strengthen your upper body. Whatever the goal, there’s must-have swimming gear out there for you.
Most Essential Gear for Swimming
Swim Snorkels
If you want to stop worrying about breathing and concentrate more on certain elements of your technique, invest in swim snorkels. Swimmers often use these types of snorkels for training. Because snorkels take away the need to think about when and how often to come up for air, they help you focus on other areas, like your stroke. You know how difficult it is to think about improving your stroke when all you can think about is taking your next breath.
What brand should you buy? Consider the highly-praised MP Michael Phelps Focus Swimming Snorkel. Reviewers are commenting that it “feels amazing in the water, like it’s a part of my face” and “ just slices through the water and feels amazingly natural.”
Another option is the Speedo Bullet Head Snorkel for Lap Swimming, which reviewers are describing as the “best laps snorkel”. It comes “highly recommended if you want to excel your swimming skills.”
Swim Fins
Want to experience what it’s like to zoom across the pool at lightning speed? While you may not go that fast (it’s nice to dream), you can improve your speed and efficiency with swim fins. These are a popular type of swimming gear that help to reduce excess knee bend and develop more power in the water.
There are tons of options out there for quality swim fins. The Arena Powerfin Pro Swimming Fins are a product that many competitive swimmers choose. They come in a variety of colors, from your standard black, to bright colors like yellow and pink. One reviewer said that they’re “more efficient than my previous silicon flippers (full foot coverage vs a strap) that split after one year of relatively light use during lap swimming.” Another reviewer calls them “super comfortable.”
FINIS Zoomers are another popular go-to option for swim fins. This swim training product is designed to improve your movement by strengthening your ankle flexibility and giving you full range of motion. Reviewers rave that these fins are “great for kick development, speed adaptation, and confidence.” One reviewer noted that he liked “the softer fit so it doesn’t put extra stress on my ankles and helps strengthen my hamstrings and glutes.”
Swim Paddles
Need a little boost pulling yourself in the water? That’s what swim paddles are designed to do. They add variety to sometimes monotonous swim training, and they can help improve your speed and performance overall. They’re a staple in just about every swimmer’s training, and there are plenty of quality options on the market right now.
Considered some of the best swim paddles for training, Speedshop Strokemaker Paddles are affordable and come in a variety of sizes. They’re designed to improve stroke technique and help reduce some of the burden on the shoulders while swimming. With an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon, reviewers say these are “the standard”. They’re known as “a great training tool and work for everyone, as there’s a size and adjustment for everybody.”
Another fantastic option is the Speedo Power Paddle Plus. Not only are these swim paddles ideal for beginner swimmers, they’re beloved by elite competitive swimmers, too. Reviewers delight in the design, saying that the product is
“designed perfectly and the holes in the paddles allow water to go through for a better control and workout.”
Depending on your goal for improving your swimming training, there are plenty of quality options out there to take your skills to the next level. Take advantage of what’s available to help you improve your technique.
Learn More About Swimming Lane Lines from Competitor Swim
Competitor Swim® understands the importance of following FINA guidelines for competition swimming. All of our lane lines are custom built by hand with pride, passion, and expertise. Every Competitor Swim® Racing Lanes is manufactured and assembled in the USA and customized for your specific needs. Contact us to learn more.
