If you are a triathlete or an open water swimmer and you don’t have quite as much time to spend in the pool, a shortcut around building up your swim strength can often be using a pool buoy and paddles as part of your training.
1. Upper Body Strength and Posture
Using a pool buoy can be very good for your upper body strength and your swim specific strength. It can really help you learn the posture and the tautness that you need through your core and through your torso. It allows you to be able to generate power through the stroke and have a good connection with your kick, your rotation, and your pull.
2. Power
Pool buoy and paddles forces you to draw your belly button into your spine, tuck your abs in, forces you to squeeze your glutes a little bit and stay straight through that middle part of the body. With tautness and control and stability through there, you’re able to generate a lot more power.

When someone tells you that you should never use pool buoy, never use paddles, it really depends on what you are training for, I think it’s a very important part of your training as a triathlete or open water swimmer. It really depends on how you want to incorporate this into your training but it is often a thing that some athletes are missing and it’s also something that a lot of athletes can be doing too much.