How to Swim With Hand Paddles
Training to build a swim stroke is a long process that involves daily workouts and lots of physical work. But if you want a quicker way to build upper body strength and perfect your swim stroke, try purchasing a pair of swim hand paddles. These flat plastic paddles attach to your hands and provide more resistance than your hands alone. With this added resistance, the paddles force your hands to move smooth and straight through the water while also giving your arms an additional workout.
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Instructions
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Attach the hand paddles to your hands. The style of hand paddles can vary, but in general, you will attach the paddle to the front of your hand with the plastic loop on the back of the paddle. If the paddle is sitting on the ground, your hand will go directly on top of the paddle as you slide the black rubber loop over your middle finger. The black loop will look like a ring on your finger and keep the paddle snuggly attached to your hand.
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Start swimming. When you first use the swim paddles, your hands may rock from side to side or may not hit the water the same way you're used to. Take your time with each stroke, and concentrate on letting your hand hit the water with the fingers pointed down.
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Pull your hand towards you through the water. The hand enters the water, fingers first, then you pull your hand straight back. The pulling is the hard part of any swim stroke and will seem even harder when using the hand paddles. Use your upper arms, and bend your elbow as you pull straight back.
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Finish your stroke, and raise your hand out of the water. To complete each stroke, your elbow should come out of the water first with your hand coming out last, near your abdomen. Your elbow should remain close to your body, and the hand paddle needs to remain straight. Turning the hand paddle as you finish the stroke will not help you increase strength in your swim stroke.
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Extend arm and re-insert hand into the water in front of your head. This is an ongoing stroke that involves both your left and right hand.
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Repeat the insert, pull and exit stroke as many times as you would like to complete your upper body strength and speed drills.
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Tips & Warnings
Doing hand paddle drills in the middle of your workout will give your arms a chance to warm up first and results in less strain on the muscles.
It is not necessary to do hand paddle drills for a long duration of time. Doing hand paddle drills for 100 to 200 yards should be plenty. If you use the hand paddles too much, your stroke form will suffer and you will be more prone to injury.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Swimming image by Stana from Fotolia.com
