Leg fins give you the correct kick timing with extra speed. They also teach you the proper kick timing and coordination if you don’t already know it. These fins help to coordinate your stroke for freestyle, backstroke and butterfly.
Regular foot fins change your kick timing. You feel their kick power happens over a shorter time, near the end of each kick when your knee moves quickly upwards to push the fin backwards. So, with foot flippers, the kick sequence of your knee and hip movements is completely different compared to barefoot swimming. You can feel it. Foot flippers disrupt your overall stroke timing, arms too.
Leg fins overcome these kick timing problems because they fit on your legs. They guide your hip and knee joints to bend and straighten with a similar sequence to good barefoot swimming. So they deliver power smoothly over a longer time, like good barefoot swimming. This gives you a more continuous and smoother kick. They strengthen the correct kicking muscles whilst using the correct kick sequence. This improves your normal barefoot swimming too, because your body remembers the correct kick pattern.
You can also use them to work on your overall stroke timing to improve your freestyle, backstroke and fly. They help you to coordinate your arms and legs properly. For example, you can use their smooth, continuous kick to lengthen your arm strokes and work on your catch.
So now you can have fins that give you extra speed and the correct kick timing!
See related FAQ about how leg fins build your muscle memory correctly.
See all FAQ about why hip power fins are the best for swimming.