Develop Your Swim Technique with Buoyancy Shorts

Buoyancy shorts are great for developing your swimming technique ahead of a triathlon, particularly for beginners who are also looking to perfect their running and cycling techniques too. These shorts imitate the effect of wearing a wet suit, adding buoyancy to the hips and allowing a higher position in the water. It’s a bit like using a pull buoy but allowing a more natural kicking motion.

However, if you are using buoyancy shorts to help you to train for a triathlon, don’t see them as a means to shirk the hard work you need to put in when training in a pool.  They should be viewed as a training tool, rather like a pull buoy, paddle or set of fins that are widely used and accepted.

When to use buoyancy shorts

These shorts are ideal if you are planning a long training set as they allow you to find a better position in the water, enabling you to concentrate on technique more easily. When you take them off for the hard work, you feel more in tune to that position and it transfers across to the session. You will also find them beneficial during practice drills as they will allow you to concentrate on the aspect of the drill that is most important, allowing you to focus on this aspect once you lose the shorts!

After a long hard session that leaves your arms, shoulders and core completely worked out, you can also wear buoyancy shorts for a decent cool down.

Preparing for the race

After a winter of training in a pool, getting used to swimming in a wet suit can alter your stroke mechanics slightly and you will need a bit of time to adjust. Similarly, you may not be able to get to do an open water swim. Buoyancy shorts give a great alternative to achieve this.

When the open water swim venues get warmer, you will find it much more convenient and comfortable to take these lighter, less bulky shorts on and off.

Most triathletes will agree, that buoyancy shorts are an excellent addition to any swim kit bag to help improve their swimming technique.

Buoyancy Shorts from Sharks Swim Shop

At Sharks Swim Shop, we stock three of the top brands of buoyancy shorts: Huub, Orca and Aqua Sphere.

The Huub Alpha Neoprene Buoyancy Shorts help to increase core stability and assist hip rotation for improved pool training sessions and swim times.  These are ideal for pool swimming when you want buoyancy to mimic your wetsuit.   This kick and body alignment training tool has been designed with input from Paul Newsome (Swim Smooth) and Professor Huub Toussaint.

The Orca Neoprene Buoyancy Shorts are great to wear on their own during pool training to mimic your wetsuit or to add extra buoyancy under your wetsuit whilst promoting correct body rotational form.

The Aqua Sphere Aqua Skin Unisex Buoyancy Short is made from Thermo-guard technology constructed from 2mm Glide Skin neoprene. Special panels under the crotch prevent chafing and provide added comfort.

To try them out, you can pop into our Swim Shop in Sketty or visit our website at www.sharksswimshop.co.uk