Swimming paddles attach to hands to help build muscle and increase speed in water. They can also be used for stroke refinement and to aid efficiency. However, those with shoulder or elbow injuries or beginners may not benefit. Paddles should be used every other day to allow for muscle recovery.
Swimming paddles are rounded implements made of rubber or plastic that are designed to attach to the hands and help swimmers build stronger muscles and increase their speed in the water. For swimmers trying to perfect their stroke, swimming paddles can also be used as a diagnostic tool to determine areas for improvement that can make them more efficient. Some Olympic coaches have used these paddles for decades to condition and prepare their athletes for world-class competition.
Using swimming to build muscle mass can be difficult due to the fact that the resistance of the water generally never changes. Often swimmers can reach a point in their training where their strength and speed hit a plateau because their muscles get used to working against the water. Swimming paddles can help people overcome this obstacle by making the hands larger and heavier, and therefore more difficult to get through the water. This added resistance can result in more use of the arm and back muscles and can be beneficial for building muscle mass in swimmers. Typically, the larger the paddles, the more difficult they are to get through the water, allowing swimmers to increase the difficulty of their training by using larger paddles as needed to challenge their muscles.
Swimming paddles can also be used to make swimmers more efficient by refining their strokes and teaching proper technique. If a person uses these paddles and their hand placement is incorrect when entering the water, the paddles will force the hand to spin in an unnatural manner or make it extremely difficult to get the hand through the water. Also, if a swimmer’s arms are not working in tandem, the paddles can cause the hips to rotate and will force a correction in the stroke. In general, coaches recommend stroke refinement swimming paddles be the same size as a person’s hand and have holes to allow the swimmer to feel the water as much as possible. Finger paddles, which can cover all or some of the fingers but not the palm of the hand, are a type of swimming paddle that some trainers believe are especially good at helping people feel the water.
The efficiency of the swimmer’s stroke can also be aided by the use of swimming paddles, as they can allow a person to feel exactly where to start pulling their arm through the water. When the paddles catch the water in front of a person’s stroke, their body will begin to propel forward, signaling the swimmer to start pulling on the stroke. By identifying this point where the hand connects to and grips the water, a swimmer can become aware of the time it takes to land the most powerful stroke with the least amount of effort.
A person with a history of shoulder or elbow injuries would generally not be a good candidate for using swim paddles for training because the extra strain could cause too much stress on these joints. Beginning swimmers will generally not benefit from these paddles due to their need to focus on breathing, mechanics, and familiarity with the water. Due to the fact that using swimming paddles taxes the body in the same way that lifting weights does, a person should generally use them every other day to allow the muscles to recover.
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