Why swim paddles

When the question of swimming with hand paddles comes up, there are a number of things I take into consideration. Putting paddles on a swimmer who has technical issues i. These are a great tool for creating a better feel for the water because they take the hands out of the swimming equation.

The swimmer will learn to incorporate the entire arm through the stroke motion along with better positioning of the hands, high elbows, best point of entry to maximize the catch and how to hold the water through the entire cycle.

If you don't own a set or are looking for an easy, inexpensive alternative, you can always incorporate the closed-fist drill to help build the necessary mechanics.

I am a bit old school so I carry a bag of tennis balls with me to help my swimmers create the same mechanical correction to an inefficient stroke. Swim with them in your hands for a while and tell me you don't start to catch water better. Manufacturers carry a plethora of paddles designed to help this and to improve that but choosing the right one can be very confusing.

Before incorporating any type of hand paddles into your swimming workouts , ask yourself the following questions: What am I going to get out of this workout? What is the purpose of doing a set with paddles? Am I working technique, power, strength or speed? Frank Sole is a premier swim coach and tactician with extensive experience coaching high school swim teams, club teams, masters swim programs, and working with all levels of triathletes from beginner right up to Kona qualifiers.

Sole enjoys writing about triathlon training, technique development, relationships and the lighter side of triathlon. So what is the reason that swimmers go faster with paddles and a pull buoy? And what should they do in order to catch up? Since runners have short and heavy leg muscles, they tend to sink easily, so the pull buoy and paddles can come very handy.

There is no kicking with the pull buoy, which is a major energy depletion process for runners. They float better with the pull buoy and paddles and save up their legs. It all comes to a better body position in the water. In addition, the pedals give a larger surface area, increase our pulling volume and speed up our progress pace per stroke. When going hard, or doing a pedals set, we tend to start pulling deeper, so we lose stroke area.

The good thing is that the neck is still protected. Many swimmers tend to break the streamline by uplifting their palm, so they literally block their own forward movement. This bad habit puts tension on the neck, wrist, as well as slows you down and makes you lactate out sooner. If you have a difficult time practicing it, you may do so with fins on.

To sum up, swimming with pedals is very important factor of powering up and technique improvement. It is highly recommended you consult WEST staff and pick the right pair for you. You actually know this already.

Only a precious few of us triathletes could jump into a junior swim program and outswim the boys and girls in the pool. Take all of those kids to the weight room, though, and we will trounce them when it comes to strength exercises like bench press or lat pull downs. Paddles provide more resistance in the water and put added strain on your muscles and joints, especially around the shoulder. Before you start using them, talk to a coach or experienced swimmer to get some feedback on whether or not they will be a good tool.

Paddles with holes in them are said to provide more feel for the water and put less stress on your shoulders.