Introducing the Torpo® T500 swimming kickboard
The revolutionary new kickboard is unstable in rotation yet stable, balanced and streamlined in profile, promoting swimming stroke development in a way previously not possible with traditional ‘flat’ kickboards.
HOW THE TORPO® T500 WORKS
Science, design & quality
The Torpo® works by being perfectly unstable in the rolling motion side-to-side, it allows swimmers both inexperienced and highly competent to roll whilst kicking.
There are many muscle groups which benefit from Torpo's® instability. In the side of the body these include the latissimus dorsi and the serratus anterior. In the back from the pelvis up to the neck, the erector spinae, there are three groups of controlling muscle. In the neck and shoulder area are the deltoid and trapezius muscles. In the stomach the rectus abdominis and abdominal oblique external muscles work to control body roll and core strength. And in the chest the pectoralis major are controlling the arm movements.
The natural teardrop design of Torpo® reduces drag significantly against a flat kickboard. It allows greater streamlining, hence more speed whilst kicking. This then enhances the effect of the kick closer to the kick whilst swimming front crawl. Though if increased resistance is required for the kicking drill, Torpo® can be held vertically which will produce drag akin to a ball.
WHY USE THE TORPO® T500
Swim faster, further and more efficiently than your competitors
Torpo® is designed to help swimmers excel in the water; though there are aerobic and anaerobic benefits of quantity training in swimming, for increased speed over short and long distances, the swimmer must improve technique in order to see significant gains.
To have better technique, swimmers should employ training methods which increase efficiency in the water, such efficiency is largely about reducing drag by streamlining body shape and maximising output from every effort expended.
Good quality teaching and coaching is fundamental to reducing drag; as is repetitive guided training. Use of a variety of aids can also help the swimmer by developing a better (horizontal) body position, becoming more streamlined, reducing frontal area and to gain a 'feel' for drag created by the water. Pool swimmers generally swim the range of strokes, whereas triathletes and open-water long distance swimmers predominantly focus on front crawl/freestyle. Yet all swimming benefits from improved technique, be it raw speed for pool sprinters or stroke efficiency for longer distance swimmers and triathletes.
WHY CHOOSE TORPO®
Flatboards are a drag
Generations of swimmers have learnt with 'flat' kickboards, developed in the 1940s, which inherently stop rotation. Such flat swimming kickboards are important for young and inexperienced swimmers, giving balance whilst they learn to kick. Yet as swimmers develop, this balance or stability becomes a hindrance when developing the rotation which is vital in an efficient stroke. Torpo® encourages rotation, in addition to helping improve core strength and having a low drag coeffiecient which allows use in all strokes.
Torpo® helps swimmers learn the correct body roll angle by mental and muscle memory whilst training, so when the full stroke is performed, a more accurate and natural body roll ensues. It can also help the advanced swimmer, opposing hip roll which balances the swimmer whilst rolling the upper body. Like a Swiss Ball, it will also help develop greater core strength as the swimmer has to control the unstable rolling motion with core muscle strength. This appears subtle at first when using Torpo®, although more pronounced with greater use. Even an Elite swimmer could feel the benefit to the core on initial use.
The natural teardrop design of Torpo® reduces drag significantly against a flat kickboard. It allows greater streamlining, hence more speed whilst kicking. This then enhances the effect of the kick closer to the kick whilst swimming front crawl. Though if increased resistance is required for the kicking drill, Torpo® can be held vertically which will produce drag akin to a ball.
Shoulder impingement and lower back pain is frequent in regular competitive swimmers especially when kick-training over large distances. Torpo® encourages 'head down' kicking with side breathing, as would be done in the front crawl stroke. Whereas the flat kickboard is often used as chat time with head up, Torpo® will force swimmers to maximise their drills.
The flat kickboard is mostly inclined causing significant drag. This also places lift on the board forcing the arms and shoulders up. Whilst Torpo® may not entirely solve these issues, the biomechanics of Torpo® with improved arm and head position may reduce strain on the rotator cuff in the shoulder and the lumbar spinal area and related muscle groups.
In breaststroke and butterfly, Torpo's® streamlined teardrop shape has some stability in forward pitching moment, akin to the way a dolphin would move vertically in the water. This allows the breast stroke swimmer to practice the vertical movement gained from the arms during the full stroke, whilst isolating the legs. A flat float stops natural vertical movement introducing unwanted pitching motion during the drill. Torpo® enhances this vertical movement naturally, whilst forcing the swimmer to use core muscle groups to maintain roll stability against its inherent roll instability.
