Swimming Gear

This is all you will need for this sport, technically:

Basic Swim Suit – Mandatory in public spaces for obvious reasons. Training suits are great for practices and are fairly cheap. Once you start getting faster and need to compete, get a (much more expensive) tech suit for competitions… and NO, don’t wear a T-shirt, it will just slow you down and will probably make you even colder than you already are.
Goggles – Somewhat optional… just kidding, but people have broken world records without them… buuuuttt… your eyes would be red all the time and it’s way harder to see anything, so having a good pair that fits right is essential for comfort, especially for kids. Your face is in the water all the time, so switch them if they don’t fit right/leak!
Some Water – AKA a pool, or a lake, or a river, or the ocean. Your choice…

All kidding aside, here are some things that are useful as well… and what to look for, when getting them:

Swim Cap – Keeps the chlorine out of your hair and especially for girls/women/anyone with long hair, will keep your hair out of your eyes/face. You can get a regular one, or one that has a little more room for long hair to be tucked under. Silicone is thicker and smoother and will last longer, but any old rubber swim cap will do as well, as long as it fits well.
Kick Board – Meant to keep your upper body comfortably above the water while kicking so you can do all this aerobic kicking work, but be careful using it too much, it can put pressure on your lower back and ruin your streamlines in the process. Most pools have them on hand anyway, it’s a simple thing and the size/shape doesn’t really matter, unless you are trying to do something very specific, so get the cheapest one out there, if you want your own. Kids usually prefer smaller ones, as they are easier to manipulate.
Pull Buoy – Same as the kick board, it’s just a flotation device to keep your legs steady and up near the surface of the water, while you work on your upper body.
Paddles/Resistance Gloves – They are meant to help you feel the resistance of water more while pulling, therefore making you pay more attention to how your arm moves through the water. Pretty much anything that makes your hand bigger while you pull, will do.
Fins– Long, medium or short blade, huh? Physics wise, it’s like what fish do with their tails. Here’s a good ARTICLE explaining the difference. Go with medium blade for most versatility in the pool.
Snorkel– Besides spying on fish in the clear Caribbean waters, snorkels are good for not having to breathe to front or sides, while doing various drills in the pool. Get one with a loooooooong and curved tube, so you don’t get water into it while using it. You might want one with a more restricted sprout size to train your lungs while swimming in pool, but if you are just in open water looking at turtles, then the maximum airflow is preferred.
Tempo Trainers– (Fairly) Cheap beepers that go under your cap, but that you can hear in the water and adjust the beeping tempo of. They can help enormously with getting arm speeds up, especially when learning different swimming speeds/tempos for the first time
In-Water Stretch Cords– Used to train with resistance and to learn to become more efficient while using power i.e. power endurance. Attached to a belt around your waist or your legs and the other end is attached to the block. Idea is to be able to swim “against the current” and to train your body to move forward using better technique and to be able to swim with-out walls, “in place”. Most swim clubs will have some at hand. It also feels amazingly light to swim after, as you will be naturally higher in the water and it feels oh-so-light. Can also used to pull back the swimmer by the coach to teach how “hyper-speed” feels at racing speeds.
Dry-Land Stretch Cords– They mimic how the swimmers arm should move under water and are useful tools to train shoulder and back muscles for endurance and power as well. They can also be used to teach technique as the swimmer doesn’t have to float while trying something out… i.e. “EVF” and “high elbow” demonstrations/practices on dry land.
Parachute– Resistance training builds muscle and parachutes that float behind you a few feet, are a great way to train that. They come in different sizes. Basically you swim with a small parachute dragging behind you.
Drag Suit– Same idea as parachutes, but easier to have on for longer distances. You have mesh “drag pants” on while training. Almost like swimming with basketball shorts on, so your body is forced to exert more power to make you move forward. Good and cheap option for resistance training.
Weight Belt– Swimming with a weighted belt around your waist, definitely teaches you to keep those hips high and your body flat on the water surface. Lots of coaches also like to use them for vertical kicking drills for endurance.
Ear Plugs– If your ear canals are narrow and water gets trapped in, you can get swimmers ear. Easy way to avoid this outer ear infection is to have some silicone ear plugs. Can’t hear as well, but if you need to use them, then do so.
Nose Clips– Help to kick under water on your back. Lot of back-strokers use them, as they don’t have to try to cover their nose with their upper lip at every turns and starts while kicking under water and taking advantage of that under water dolphin kick speed off the walls.
Pulling Ankle Straps– They are straps that go around your ankles, so the feet don’t move while you are trying to pull only/work on upper body strength. Helps to train body balance and isolate the lower and upper body parts.
Drag Sox– Essentially like swimming with socks on your feet. Can also be used as gloves. Another tool for resistance/power training. They help with kick speed, power and endurance the most, as you have to over-come a low pressure water (that sucks the swimmer back) behind you, as you kick. You can also use them with fins for balance and timing.
Tempo Trainers/Fitness Trackers– Tempo trainers float and these days are loud enough to hear under water, so if you need a beep to tell you when to pull/go, then they can be useful, especially because they can be synced to regular pace clocks… most fitness trackers these days are waterproof and some can count your laps pretty accurately, so those are great if you don’t want to keep track of distance on long swims.
Waterproof Music Players– To get the groove on… especially if swimming alone and far… yup, you can train alone, or just maybe use them to be able to ignore the others on those lone work-outs…
Tech Suit– Yeaahh… those. They compress your body (therefore making your body to be able to work more efficiently) and are made of materials that make it easier to slip through the water and make you more buoyant. Pretty good explanation is in this article. They have to fit right, are sometimes tailored for specific events and are highly regulated by swimming powers-to-be, so most likely appropriate for highly competitive swimmers. So make your own decision whether you need one, as they can be also very expensive. USA swimming also doesn’t allow them for 12 and under kids in any competition, so make sure your kids swim right naturally, before going high-tech. Here’s the USA SWIMMING OFFICIAL ARTICLE FOR SWIM REFS why that is.
Elastic Resistance Knee/Exercise Bands– They are elastic bands that go around your knees and are good for learning how to keep knees narrow while breaststroke kicking, or keeping knees/feet together when dolphin kicking…
Airofit– High tech gadget for measuring lung capacity and/or lung training while just daily training, or doing anything from sleeping to “altitude training”… basically to train your diaphragm… linked to an app that measures everything. Find it HERE, if you want one. Expensive, but seems to work for increasing lung capacity. FYI: Can’t use it at the same time as practicing, it’s a separate “lung workout”
Vasa Trainers– They can get (very) expensive, but are fantastic tools for dry-land training for swimmers. Made for swim specific strength, they are basically benches that you lie on and then pull your own body weight up on a slight slope, or against resistance with adjustable cords. Some swim clubs will have them and they make for fantastic tools to improve technique and strength. If you have the cash, get one for your home, otherwise don’t worry and do the work in the water. Cheaper option is to just have some dry-land cords and lie on a bleacher while doing some pulls with stretch cords. PS! Works for surfing workouts too for those paddle in and outs!