Swimmers Snorkel product evaluation

For the record, I’ll run through the obvious advantages of the Freestyle Snorkel for those without compromised technique. Primarily, it offers a lower head position and the ideal body position for optimum freestyle form for a competition swimmer. The brochure also lists less resistance, increased head stability and the ability to use the centrifugal force generated during flip turns to greatly restrict water from entering the tube. I’ve given up on tumble turns using the Swimmers snorkel, but once again that’s me being an old dog with great difficulty learning new tricks and an aversion to sucking water into my lungs instreead of Air.

Amongst the benefits listed for the Freestyle Snorkel are also increased CO2 tolerance and VO2 max from regular use and a 40% increase in conditioning and workload to the lungs when used with the accessory cardio-cap, offering benefits that are equivalent to those associated with altitude training. Sounds great – it’s just a shame my old brain can’t get the synapses firing in a new sequence so I can access those benefits. Accordingly, I’ll pass on making any more comment on the Freestyle Snorkel other than to say it’s clearly working for many other people other than myself, and would almost certainly be a must if being used as a training aid for freestyle competitors.

So back to the Swimmers snorkel.

With any form of vaguely competitive swimming now a distant memory, swimming still remains my number one form of enjoyable exercise. There’s something about the meditative rhythm and breathing patterns of swimming which manages to bring the brain back into equilibrium at the same time as ensuring all the main muscle groups get a work-out – it’s a great start to the day, or a perfect lunchtime break from the madness of emails and telephone calls and meetings or alternatively, a great way to turn back into a human being when the working day finishes.

At different times, my swimming has lapsed, and several times has had to be employed to gently bring the body back to good working order when excess weight has set in due to my extended deskbound periods, or after the occasional (usually motorcycle-related) accident. Each time it has helped repair the damage I’ve done and I’m ever so grateful to have found swimming and more recently swimming with the Swimmers Snorkel, as an effective cure-all for my regular self-induced maladies.

Now, with travel almost permanently on the agenda for my work with Gizmag, the Swimmers Snorkel has come into its own. Travel disrupts eating and exercise routines and can be incredibly taxing on the body if not carefully managed. Every hotel has a different gym with different exercise machines and maintaining a fitness regime is difficult. But the Swimmer’s Snorkel has helped me develop a pool-based stretching and exercise regime that only requires a pool, and that has proven a Godsend.

Most importantly, it enables swimming to cater equally for both halves of a body – as I’ve previously mentioned, I really do think it’s important to exercise both halves equally to stay balanced and symmetrical. It also enables me to breathe feely whether my arm is in the right position or not – this is indeed one of the fabulous benefits of the invention – it enables one to maintain the stroke rhythm regardless of the breathing and I can now swim longer and harder than I have for more than a decade.

Most of the benefits I have already covered in the previous article remain 100% true, so there’s no point in going over them again given they’re just a click away.

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