The Finis Tempo Trainer (price $27 – $40) is a small circular device that resembles a watch without a band. It fits into clip that clips onto goggle bands. The tempo trainer is a metronome that emits a beep at a user set interval and aids the swimmer in keep a constant pace. The beep interval is set as seconds per stroke. I went to the Finis website (www.finisinc.com/P-105015/Tempo-Trainer) and watched the how-to-use video which was very useful for understanding how best to use the device. In the video they explain how to attach the device to your goggle strap and they mention putting it under the swim cap. I normally don’t swim with a swim cap on and I tried to use it without a swim cap. The tempo trainer fell off twice while swimming without a cap. When swimming with a cap, it did not fall off. I highly recommend wearing a cap as directed in the video. I also recommend that once the holder is clipped onto the goggle strap, do not remove the holder when changing settings. If you need to change settings and look at the tempo trainer while doing it, remove the tempo trainer from the holder, leaving the clip in place. It is hassle to clip the holder back on while in the water.
There are only two buttons on the device. One button increases the beep frequency, one button decreases the beep frequency, and pushing both buttons at once turns it off. It required some reps to determine the frequency for my “normal” swim pace. I started at about 1 sec/beep, or sec/stroke, the default setting, and found that about 0.90-0.95 sec/stroke was the best setting when swimming at a normal pace. My normal distance per stroke in a 25 yard pool is about 19-21 per length. If you look at my 50 yard time (if I were doing a pace to do 20-30x50) and you do the math with the 19-21 strokes per length, 0.90- 0.95 sec/stroke, plus flip turn, it works out very close to my average time. In the video they talk about the usefulness of the tempo trainer in maintaining a faster than normal pace. I found this to be very true. I did a set of 4 x (200 with 20sr, 150 with 20sr, 100 with 20sr, 50 sprint with 60sr), where each set of 4 lengths gets progressively faster. I started the tempo trainer at 0.95 sec/stroke for the first set and did the last set at 0.70 sec/stroke. The beeping of the tempo trainer kept me focused on my stroke and kept me moving at a consistent pace, where normally I might be more likely to drop off in the final set. When using the tempo trainer I found that I had to set the frequency and start swimming and let my stroke fall into place with the frequency. I found that if I concentrated on the beep of the tempo trainer I would end up with an awkward stroke. Also, by concentrating on my stroke I found that my stroke performance improved.
The tempo trainer has a second function, which I did not use, and that is you can set the timer to a total time that you want to swim a distance in, for example if you want to swim 500 yards in 7 minutes, you set it to that time and it beeps at a frequency to keep you on pace for that distance and time.
I found the Finis Tempo Trainer to be a surprisingly useful training tool. I think some patience is required to initially use the tempo trainer, but I think once you are used to using the device it can be extremely useful for improving swim speed and distance per stroke.
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