Kickboards have long been used for swim training. When using a kickboard, a swimmer may isolate the kick portion of the swimming stroke. More generally, swimmers use resistance devices to increase difficulty during training in order to improve competitive performance.
A drawback common to many prior art techniques for creating additional resistance or drag is that they do not permit the swimmer to isolate and train the muscles used in kicking. Kicking is a vitally important part of competitive swimming. Swimmers obtain much of their overall swimming power and speed from kicking. It is well recognized that isolating and training the muscles used in kicking strengthens the muscles used in kicking and allows the swimmer to concentrate on the muscle movements used in their kicking stroke, thereby increasing the endurance and power of the swimmer's kicking stroke and the swimmer's overall swimming speed.
Some prior art devices have addressed the need for a kickboard mounted device to increase drag. However, these devices were integrated in to a specific kickboard such that a user would have to carry that kickboard to a training session. The devices were rigid and not of a flexible material which could be compacted by folding or other methods and placed in a bag, and then removed to be set up at the pool for a training session. Obvious, as integrated devices, these prior art aids did not address the fact that swimmers may train at various sites that may have different kickboards already available, and the only need is for the drag component to be added.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds