I don't know if the fins would work with backstroke or not... I guess you could try it; I don't see why it wouldn't. I have used it for freestyle and freestyle kick (using a kickboard -- due to shoulder problems, I try not to swim too many freestyle laps). I swim about an hour each time/4x a week.

That's funny; our lap pool doesn't have any rule against using fins and in fact, since I started using them, I've noticed that a lot of the *serious* swimmers have them. There is a very *serious* school swim team which practices at our pool right before our community swim team and they ALL have flippers. Never noticed that before!

A note: You *do* need to focus on your kick in the beginning. It needs to become a "full leg" kick, rather than just kicking from the knee! Imagine that you are a scuba diver. You want that full-leg motion and you will be AMAZED how hard this works your thighs and glutes (behind)!
And you WILL go faster, but you will end up swimming MORE laps in the same amount of time, so that balances out as well.
HTH,
Summer

I was trying to swim today using whole leg movments without fins. It was funny. I felt like I was swimming in molasses. I have severe knee problems right now, so I alternated between flutter kicking and the whole leg movements.

On land, I'm limping around a lot.

__________________
Ilse

380 (Highest)/318(9-11-08)/230.2(current)/154
5'6"
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible"
Walt Disney

The flutter kick should really come from the hip and not from the knee anyway. If you learn to do it from the hip then the swtich to with fins isn't hard at all. . .I know that is why my legs and glutes are so much smaller than the rest of me in comparison measurements--I am also noticing a lot of difinition in my arms and shoulders in the last 2 months!

__________________
Lori

232/190/130
My other journal http://www.lowcarbeating.com/bb/showthread.php?t=1130