Set your hips free.
If your stroke feels stiff or flat — or disconnected from your hip rotation and body roll — the fix is almost always the belt. It takes about thirty seconds to find.
Why your stroke feels off
Most people cinch the belt down tight — the natural urge is to make sure it can't shift or slip while you swim. But this isn't a belt you wear the way you'd wear one with a pair of pants. A belt that's snug to your body locks your hips to the webbing, so the two move as one. Your rotation comes from your hips — lock them to the belt and the whole stroke goes flat.
The sweet spot
Loosen the slide adjustment until your hips rotate gently inside the belt — your body should move almost independently of the belt, not as one with it — but not so far that it rides up off your hip bones. What you're after is two points of contact, one on each of the bones at the front of your hips (the iliac crest). Those two points are all that hold you in place; the rest of the webbing rides loose behind you and never touches your body.
Too tight
Hips move as one with the belt; the stroke feels flat and stiff. Back off the slide.
Just right
Two points of contact on your hip bones; your body rotates freely inside the belt while it stays put.
Too loose
The belt rides up over your hip bones or slides side to side. Snug it just until it sits.
Dialing it in
It's a feel thing more than a measurement. Loosen a little at a time and take a few strokes between each adjustment. You'll hit a point where your rotation comes back and the swim suddenly feels like swimming again — that's your spot.
Easy morning laps or open-water distance training — a properly loose belt holds up to all of it without flattening your mechanics.
Still not feeling right?
Send us a message once you've played with the fit and we'll dial it in with you.
Contact us