TYR Aquatic Resistance Belt

The more I use the Tyr swim belt, the more I appreciate the benefits that it provides to my swimming technique, endurance, and power. At first I found the backward pull of the bungee cord to be awkward and a bit discouraging. But I was able to adjust to that new kind of resistance after the first few workouts, by improving and maintaining my posture and technique in the water--i.e., by lying straight and fully extended in the water, by reaching forward from the ribs and waist belt area and not just from the shoulders, by relaxing my core and lower back area but maintaining an overall firmness, by keeping my neck and head relaxed and low in the water, aligned with my entire body from head to toe, by kicking from the hips and not from the knees, feet close together, and by maintaining a relaxed and steady rotation from the downward-and-forward movement of the hips with each stroke. In short, the resistance of the bungee cord has actually improved my overall technique by forcing me to be much more attentive to all of its aspects, in order to work with the resistance cord and maintain a long extension forward and an efficient technique in the pool for the entire duration of my swim. The swim belt has also improved my overall swim-specific strength and upper-body musculature, allowing me to swim with greater ease, endurance, and speed in open water. (It's equivalent to the strength and improved technique I develop from running on soft, grassy, and hilly terrain in a park, which makes for a much faster and easier run on flat, hard pavement.)I just wanted to share some key insights that I've learned through trial and error: (1) it really helps to tie the end piece of the cord at a high position, on a pole or tree trunk near the pool. I extended the cord by attaching a long piece of thick clothes-line rope to the end of the cord, and then tying the clothes line several feet high on a tree near the deep end of my pool, at about my full height (5'6"). Otherwise, the bungee cord will start pulling your legs and hips down and causing you to struggle to remain high and flat on the water, adding to drag and unnecessary exertion. (2) I find that the swim belt should be just slightly loose around my waist area, so it rests just above the hips but doesn't constrict my gut area. If the waist belt is too tight, it will cause discomfort to your intestines and feel like it's knocking the wind out of you a bit, especially as you extend further forward in the pool. But if the waist belt is too loose, it will sit too low on the hips and constrict your hip flexors as you try to maintain a steady and relaxed kick. (3) Above all, relax! I can't emphasize this enough. When I first used the swim belt, my immediate instinct was to "fight" the new sensation of the bungee cord and struggle against it, which caused me to swim poorly, with thrashing, choppy strokes and jerky movements. I find that when I let my body relax and work with the resistance, I start extending further forward in the pool during the course of the swim and maintaining that long extension throughout the swim. That always reassures me that I'm doing something right.

I don't have a large pool, and this belt works perfectly. It allows me to swim in place and has just enough stretch to make it comfortable. With no issues, I've practiced every stroke I'm interested in, with and without swim fins. The only problem I had was getting used to stationary swimming. It took about a week, and I'm just as happy as going to a lap swim facility—even better since there's no lane sharing at home.

I bought this to supplement swimming in a lap pool when I'm at my mom's house that has a small pool. So far I love it. I've swam with it for a few days. Gives a great feeling that's different from traditional lap swimming. You can just kind of go forever, get in a zone. For the price it's a great deal. Clearly I don't imagine it's going to last forever

Bought this for my husband so he can get his swim workouts in during quarantine. This was easy to hook up to a hook in the wall of our pool (possibly for a float line or..?). The thing about placement, however, is with it attached below the water line, it kind of pulls him down a bit. We will try an above water hook=up to see if that allows for a more natural position in the water. The belt is comfortable but tricky to adjust, at least at first. He was able to get a good swim workout in so we'll call that a win. Update: Changed the placement of where we hook up the strap and it's much better. I've used it too now and it's great for different types of water workouts. The one thing I will say is that swimming in place is different than regular swimming. It makes water go up our nose way more than regular lap swimming. Consider getting a nose clip to avoid this problem. Also, kicking can be a challenge (due to the bungee) so we just use a swim pull to get in a good swim without kicking. We still like it and use it all the time.

This was an attempt to find something to let me train in a hotel pool and to that end, it was a failure. It was not uncomfortable and seemed well made but tying it to the ladder was too low and the tether was too short to reach the fence. I ended up using a throw buoy rope to make an extension but even then, with the rope 4 feet above the pool edge, you plow at about a 30 degree chest high angle.I've seen them used by legitimate swimming programs but they all use a high whip antenna mount so that it lifts the hips. I'm going to try the ankle style next. Based on a wide ranging search I think it comes down to your potential anchor point.