Alignment Kickboard

I bought Canadian Olympian Brent Hanson's freestyle mastery online course because I was intrigued by the different drills the USA Swim Coach was doing w/his team. I asked him about it & he referred me to Brent Hansen's website. The coach explained he was teaching all his age group swimmers Brent's drills, so they don't use the high elbow recovery technique bc it causes shoulder impingement. Also, how Brent's rotation drills are whole body (head/shoulders/hips), instead of just shoulders & hips. Brent highly recommends the Finis Alignment Kickboard. I teach a LOT of swim lessons weekly (17 yrs teaching), mostly to children, 3-11, with a few adults. I find it's a little harder for the littles to use this board (it's very buoyant), but my older students & adults like it. I love that it has grooves underneath for your thumbs, so you can be prone on your stomach, & hold it out in front of you, holding the edge closest to you, or, on your back, with the board on the top of your thighs. Brent also uses it 1-handed, where you put 1 hand under the strap & pull with your other arm, keeping the arm on the board straight. I like that it's not just regular foam, so it doesn't get dinged up easily. It could be punctured by something sharp, or if a child were to bite it. I only use it with kids under my supervision (I teach privates) & don't let them play with it. I believe it's an effective tool. Adults & older children may have the strength to use their core & keep it under the water a few inches when they're on their front or side, the way I would do with a normal kickboard. Love the bright color! I use several of the Finis training aids in my teaching = alignment paddles, swimmers snorkel, the giant foam float with holes (aka "The Big Cheese"), the tick tock hip rotation belt, & the posture trainer head alignment tool. They make quality, innovative products that last. I always wash them off with soap & water after every use.

I recently got back into swimming and lack the stamina to perform a lot of laps in order to get my workout. This thing is a great way to get back into swimming shape while being easy to use. It’s very comfortable to hold (which I was worried about) and very light weight but doesn't feel flimsy. It alap doesn’t offer too much resistance in the water so I can reposition it easily which is great for flip turns. It so good that my husband borrows it and now I’m tempted to get another.

To the coaches out there, I've used this kickboard as a tool to strengthen nearly every part of freestyle, backstroke and butterfly. I used to give my swimmers a pull buoy to balance, but this board takes the guesswork out of it. The kids can focus on stroke instead of fighting their tool, which in turn helps increase their balance in the water. Funny how that works.I've used it for streamline, not as effective as I thought, but still useful. I give my kids a snorkel and that keeps their head in position and works the shoulder and back stabilizers. The issue I had was with breathing, so the snorkel fixed that right away. Some of my senior level swimmers alternate with drill strokes inbetween breaths - which works if they are capable.Oddly enough, this board separates the skilled swimmers from the novice ones - across all ages. The skilled swimmers figure out how to breathe by rotating the shoulders and hips while the novice ones lift the head straight up. When that happens, the board slides to the side and makes it difficult to recover. It has made fixing some of those pesky habits the kids inherited by other coaches a breeze.

We love this for alignment training for swim team. I have 3 kids on the teat, all of them use this.

light weight , compact. helps with swim drills

I like this board because it is smaller than the typical boards and fits nicely in my swim bag which I pack into my gym back. I use it with fins to improve my form. It floats well, keeping my upper body streamlined. I like that it has a strap so I can also use it one handed, practicing my technique with my other arm and doing breathing exercises. With this one, I don't really need a traditional kickboard. Highly recommend it!

I've been working on my breathing technique with regular kick boards but they are very hard on the shoulders since those boards have too much buoying effect. This one is perfect in that terms that it gives you minimal buoying but enough to feel where you stretch. It is also perfect for working on the kick technique. The material is also not just foam, it is some kind of painted fabric, similar to a real lifebuoy, I think it will last forever. It is amazing that all FINIS products have this small extra touch which you appreciate as soon as you try it out. Thank you FINIS!!

It might seem expensive, but it is the right size when teaching young children to swim. They cannot lay on this board which would promote kicking from knees. Instead, this promotes beginners to kick at the hips. I cannot comment on how it helps advanced swimmers improve their strokes (that’s what the product description advertises).