Is your pull buoy your best friend??

Alison Smith
Nov 20
2 min read

If you’re preparing for a triathlon, it’s easy to justify the use of your pull buoy by saying you’re saving your legs for an upcoming bike or run session.

But when that becomes your default—especially when a session gets hard—you drift into a pattern that feels productive but quietly undermines your fitness.

Here’s the issue: swimming with a pull buoy and paddles doesn’t just give you a bit of extra buoyancy, it actively removes the biggest source of drag many swimmers battle with, and it dramatically reduces how much your cardiovascular system needs to work. Your legs—your largest muscle group—switch off, and your heart rate often drops by 20–25 bpm.

You might still feel like you’re working hard. You might justify it because it keeps you “on pace” or “with the group.” But what’s the real cost?

Here’s the truth many don’t want to hear: if endurance swimming were limited by strength, how is it that the slightly built 11-year-old in the next lane keeps lapping you? They’re not stronger. They’re fitter, their technique is better, and the modest force they apply goes in the right direction.

It pains me to see so many swimmers reaching for their pull buoy and paddles the moment a session gets tough. If you need that equipment to make the target pace or keep up with your lane mates, you’re swimming in the wrong lane or with the wrong group. You’re not helping yourself—you’re detraining.

What about the argument that a pull buoy “simulates a wetsuit”? Yes, it does provide extra buoyancy. But even in a wetsuit, your legs still move. That gentle flutter still carries an aerobic cost, and your fitness depends on maintaining that connection.

And paddles? They can be fantastic for shaping better catch mechanics—provided you take them off regularly so you can feel the water properly as well.