If you scuba or snorkel, you're likely familiar with swim fins that help power your legs. However, lap swimmers use not only swim fins for their feet, they also often use swim fins that go on their hands. Called swim paddles or hand paddles, this equipment serves a variety of purposes, from technique enhancement to strength building.
Types
Swim paddles come in two main varieties: a webbed glove or a flat piece of plastic with rubber or tubing that holds your hand to the plastic.
When to Use Swim Paddles
You should use swim paddles when focusing on your pull. By using a pull buoy to keep your lower body buoyant, you can isolate your pull to both strengthen your upper body and improve cardiovascular conditioning. Strengthening occurs as you use only your arms to propel yourself through the water, typically using a freestyle or backstroke arm movement. Cardiovascular conditioning occurs as you use a freestyle pull and incorporate a breathing pattern. For example, you can pull the first lap breathing every three strokes, the next lap every five strokes and the third lap back to every three strokes. If you're very fit, you can breathe every seven strokes on the third lap. Use the fourth lap, if you're swimming sets of four laps at a time, to recover and breathe as you need.
Technique Training
You can also use hand paddles to improve both your freestyle and backstroke arm technique. When pulling freestyle, focus on the placement of your hand in the water. Your hand should not come in thumb-first as this can cause an over-rotation of your shoulder, leading to swimmer's shoulder). You should also focus on the position of your arm as you pull through the water. To do this, make sure you bend your elbow and sweep the water as you move forward. Remember to use your body rotation to extend your arm fully forward as you begin the next stroke.
Warning
While using swim paddles can be helpful in developing upper body strength and cardiovascular conditioning, it does have a downside. The U.S. Masters Swimming website notes that swim paddles can place too much stress on your shoulders. As a result, if you're pulling and you begin to feel pain in your shoulders, either stop and switch strokes or remove the paddles and continue with your pull routine.
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