Swim Paddles and Pull Buoy Strength Set: Build Your Catch and Pull

Session Overview

This 45-minute pool session uses swim paddles and a pull buoy to isolate and strengthen your upper body pull, developing the catch and high-elbow technique that produces fast, efficient freestyle. By removing your kick, you are forced to rely entirely on your arm stroke for propulsion — exposing weaknesses in your catch phase and building the shoulder and lat strength that makes a real difference in open water race conditions.

What You’ll Need

• Pull buoy
• Swim paddles (match paddle size to your hand — oversized paddles load the shoulder too aggressively)
• Swimming costume or tri suit
• Optional: resistance band (ankle strap) to prevent leg kick during pull buoy sets

Warm-Up (10 minutes)

400m easy freestyle at RPE 2-3, breathing every 3 strokes. Focus on long, relaxed strokes and a full arm extension before the catch. Finish with 2 x 50m drill: fingertip drag drill (drag fingertips along the surface to set a high elbow recovery) at easy effort with 20 seconds rest.

Main Set

The main set alternates pull buoy-only and paddles+pull buoy sets, progressing intensity across the session. Rest as listed — shorter rest means you carry fatigue into later sets, which develops race-specific strength endurance.

• 4 x 100m with pull buoy only at RPE 6, 20 seconds rest — focus on high-elbow catch and long pull-through
• 4 x 75m with paddles + pull buoy at RPE 7, 25 seconds rest — feel the extra resistance the paddles create through your palm and forearm
• 3 x 50m with paddles + pull buoy at RPE 8 (descend each one: get faster each rep), 30 seconds rest
• 1 x 200m pull buoy only at RPE 6 — flush set to finish the main block

Cool-Down (5 minutes)

200m easy backstroke or easy freestyle, RPE 1-2. No equipment. Focus on relaxed, slow breathing and letting your shoulders recover from the paddle work. Finish with 5 minutes of poolside shoulder mobility: arm circles, cross-body shoulder stretch, and doorframe-style chest opener.

Coaching Notes

• If you feel shoulder pain during paddle sets, remove the paddles and continue with pull buoy only — do not push through shoulder discomfort.
• The goal is quality catch technique at each rep, not maximum speed. Rushing the stroke undermines the benefit of paddle training.
• Easier: remove paddles entirely and do all sets with pull buoy only. Harder: add a resistance band around your ankles to actively resist any leg kick.
• RPE for paddle sets should feel like controlled effort — your shoulders will fatigue faster than usual. That is the adaptation stimulus.