Swim Tethers

I'll try and help.  I havent used one, but followed a thread from earlier this summer.  If you do a forum search under 'swim tether' you should find it.  From what I remember the riptide is a good one.  It is a pair of shoes that are attahced, not your waste.  They're a bit more $$ but the people who have used it say it works well.  You may want to get a smaller size shoe from what I gathered.

Someone also came up w/ a frugal idea that I plan on trying next summer and thats using 3 old bicycle tubes tied together and around your waste.  I figured I'd give this a try since you can use old tubes that most shops would just throw away.

I have one. It is like this and I think I have the red tubing.

http://www.kiefer.com/Kiefer/productr.asp?pf_id=661000&gift=False&0=dept.asp%2Cdept_id%3D88%26Tree%3D%2CCompetitive%20Swim&1=dept.asp%2Cdept_id%3D5%26menu_id%3D%26Tree%3D0%2CTraining&2=dept.asp%2Cdept_id%3D52%26menu_id%3D%26Tree%3D1%2CResistance%20Training&HSLB=False&mscssid=0AF474C49679C4AA2979B45679EF1792

(sorry for the long link i don't know how to hotlink text). 

I have used it in my condo pool.  it's not too bad - kind of hard   awkward at first to get used to, but it definitely works and it creates good resistance.  you basically swim out and i think your swimming ability/strength can make it harder or easier for you. I'm a pretty strong swimmer and it provides a good workout. 

For me, it is like the treadmill -  20, 30 min tops and I'm done.  I also had to mix up freestyle with breaststroke, as i got a little bored.  but that's just me.  For $30 or whatever it's definitely worth it and yes, you get a workout from it - no complaints.

I exclusively train on a tether, and I really like it.  Sure, I might get a little faster if I were to hit a lap pool occasionally, but I'm pretty much in a maintain mode for the swim.  Thirty to sixty minutes a week on the tether keeps me in the top 5-10% finish on the swim in my races, which is good enough for me.

The tether I picked up is intended to attach to the feet/ankles, but I hated that setup.  So I dug out an old, nylon scuba weight belt (sans weights) and hooked the tether up to that.  Much better hooked up to the waist.

Swimming on a tether is essentially a sport-specific strength training session.  It will make you stronger.  I never used paddles when swimming in the past, but I'd guess it's somewhat similar as far as the results.  If you don't have decent swim form already, then you probably want to hit a lap pool, too, so that you can work on stroke and efficiency (drag reduction).  Swimming on a tether won't teach you how to cut down on drag, just increase forward thrust.

It is good for just going and practicing a swim of X minutes duration, whatever you are targeting for your next race.  No worries about turns and push-offs, and you can practice sighting, as well.  You won't be able to measure distance, so if that's a big concern then you will probably be bothered.  It's easy to do intervals, just go hard for a while, then back off, then back on, etc.  No problem doing breast stroke and back stroke to mix things up, too.  I do slide the belt around so that the cords attach in the front when I am doing back stroke, otherwise it gets a bit uncomfortable.