Your hips drive your swim; Finish Hydro Hip product review

I am going to do another product review for the Finis Hydro Hip.

Why two reviews?

I knew that this thing helped right off the bat of using it, but I had NO idea that it would make me faster while working MUCH less hard.

I was always told that you swim from your hips and that your hips drive your rotation and keep you balanced. See, I didn't know what it meant to rotate from the hips. I had never felt the sensation and feeling of rotating from the hips. I thought body rotation was rotating your upping body to get your arms out of the water. WRONG!

You rotate from the hips and not only does that get your arms out of the water stress free (no load on the shoulders), but it also adds propulsion because you are getting full body anticipation and movement in your pull. Pull = propulsion.

Think of it this way:

Take a ball, and without rotating your body and ONLY using your arm, throw the ball. How far did it go? Probably not far.

Now try throwing that ball again but ONLY with your arms and your upper body. Keep your hips square and stationary. How far did the ball go this time? Probably a bit further.

Now throw the ball a third time and get your hip rotation into it. How far did the ball go this time? The furthest most likely.

This same concept is true with swimming. The more body/hip rotation you get into that pull, the more "OOMPH" you are going to get = more propulsion. Your pull is not just your arm, it is your whole body pulling your arm through the water.

So the Hydro Hip gave me that sensation of what it meant to rotate from the hips. I am swimming only 1500-1750 yards a workout right now (yay offseason!) and I am noticing that I am hitting faster times without working as hard for them. What did I change in my stroke? My hip rotation. Or rather I added proper hip rotation to my stroke.

My super swimmer buddy, Bob, said it best, you never want to swim flat, you always want your body to be rotating\ through the water.

If you don't know what it means to have that sensation of proper hip rotation, give the Hydro Hip a try.