So - you’re sick of sharing a lane in the pool at the gym
with some oaf who has not learned any public pool etiquette and you’re worried
about all those communicable diseases that public pools may be carrying so you
decide to do your swim training at home. The problem is your pool is a mere
seven metres long and by the time you’ve pushed off the wall at one end you are
already hitting your head on the wall of the other end. Well, now you can turn
your tiny water feature in your garden into a swim training machine.
The Home Swimmer is a portable Stationary Swimming System
which means that you can take it wherever you go and it is easy to use in any
pool because it requires no bolts to be fitted or permanent structures fitted.
Harald Kreipl from 3 Sport in Somerset West lent us one to
try out and I rushed home to tether myself up to the contraption. It’s easy to
assemble and all the parts are made from durable solid materials giving one the
impression that this investment (about R1200) wont need to be collected by your
municipal refuse collectors any time soon.
It was not long before I had assembled the four poles - and
latched the two straps to the resultant long pole. One simply secures the strap
with the spring with a tent peg into some ground to hold the upright pole in
place and then attach yourself to the other strap.
The strap is attached to a lightweight belt that secures
with velcro and is very comfortable and thin. Similar products that we have
seen in sport shops seem to have very thick belts that could almost act as
flotation devices.
Okay - so I found myself all tied up and could see that the
end I had secured into the ground was not exactly correctly positioned.
Fortunately an amused mother came along to help me out.
With everything in position, I pushed off and began to swim.
The pamphlet suggests that you should start swimming gently - but I must admit
if you want to actually stay stable in this whole triangular set-up, it takes
some powerful strokes to stop the pole from leaning to one side. It’s also useful to put a stone or a weight
at the bottom of your pool to help keep you in one spot and provide you with
some visual feedback about where you are positioned.
Once I had figured out what stroke kept the pole in position
it was fairly easy to relax into the swim training. But beware - you have to
power with every stroke - there’s no opportunity for gliding between strokes as
you would in normal swimming because you will end up being pulled backwards and
destabilising the entire system.
So I reckon this contraption would cut your swim training
down in time by forcing you to work continuously. So if you are interested in a good power workout and want to give up your gym membership then this may be the system for you!
By Colleen Jacka