Paddle help!

Cliff--I don't mean to sound too curmudgeonly here, but... Forget paddles altogether. They contribute to shoulder problems, cost money, and make you swim weirdly. I may be iconoclastic here, but I think a sport like swimming is basically about you and the water. Lots of companies would like to sell you gadgets, from underwater radios to bungee cords, but this is not a sport like tennis or skiing or biking where excelling depends tremendously on buying the "right" equipment. (The one exception here, I believe, are body suits like the Speedo Fastskin, but that's another topic.) To me, practice swimming with paddles or zoomers or other gizmos are of marginal benefit other than the distraction such items offer from the (sometimes) monotonous aspects of our practice regimens. Remember how joggers used to use hand and/or ankle weights to add resistance to their training? And how many ended up injured as a consequence of slightly abnormal gaits? I think paddles essentially do the same thing for swimmers. You are still pretty young-in your 20s, right?--so this might not effect you as much now as when you're older. But the bottom line, in my view, is that swimming speed is so tailored to the idiosyncracies of the individual human body that to try to "enhance" it with external apparatus (which you won't be able to rely on in the meets) is not doing you much good--and may be doing you some harm.

Cliff, I disagree with the others and beleive that using fins and pulling gear can be incredibly beneficial. First however I would point out that if your technique is not correct these "devises" will only magnify your problems and possibly cause/worsen injuries. If you have a good coach who will keep on you about tehnique then you should not completely rule out using the "toys". The flip side is that paddles especially can help promote a more balanced and efficient stroke if you alreaady have good body awareness, they are also excelleant strength builders. The biggest problem I see is that if people tend to drop their thumbs on entry the paddles will put additonal starin on the shoulder. If your focused on a flat or little finger first entry and are using hip roatation and extension the paddles can really increase your feel as well as the resistance. As for fins, I see a lot of folks get addicted and can understand people getting pissed about others using them. However, one of the biggest factors in developing a powerful and efficient kick is ankle flexibility which fins help develop. Personally I like a set of long softer fins that I use for long (200-500) kick sets or for race pace sprint sets vs. someone who may be leaving them on the whole practice. Bert, as far as annoying lane mates, I'm 6' 6" with an 80" arm span. The 5 lane pool we train is has lanes that are about 10 inches narrower than a "standard" pool. Needless to say people who drop in from time to time get a little freaked when I'm using my XL catalyst paddles! Truth be told however is that I geet hit from arm swingers in the lanes next to me and have only hit others 2-3 times in the last few years (high elbows!). Paul

Jim, I tend to agree with you. While my daughter's coach has her and the other senior kids use paddles a lot, at my age (51) with my limited water time and, face it, my performance at some end of the year meet is not crucial, paddles are just an annoyance that only cause injury to the others with whom I share a lane. Another fact specific to me, is that the weakest part of my stroke is my kick (give me a pull buoy and the 27 year old in my lane can't keep up). Therefore, for me, I don't see that paddles are going to help what is already my strength, i.e. pulling. I'm sure there'll be opinions contrary to mine, but in the spectrum that is Master's Swimming, I fall somewhere in the middle of those who are in it just for fitness, and the other end, those who are obsessed with their training and have lofty goals of setting records. There's room for everybody and, for me, I don't care if I ever put on a paddle or ever see a kickboard.

Cliff, One final note on bad backs. I injured my back when I was in my 20s--jumping off a wall to avoid being bit by a guard dog, but again, that's another story... Anyhow, I had episodic lower back pain for years, sometimes with sciatica. I thought swimming would be just the ticket, and to some extent it is. But swimming (especially butterfly and sprint freestyle) can cause me to arch in a way that aggravates the back pain, despite all that's been written about how swimming is supposedly the most injury-benign of the major sports. What I have found helps a lot is to do some moderate weight lifting, lots of walking, and a variety of other sports along with swimming. For whatever reason, my back tends to be worse in winter months--possibly because of the cold, possibly because I don't get as much walking, etc. in. The main point I want to get across here is that back pain will go away eventually, and if you can take a balanced approach to exercise (even jogging really helps, if you can do this), chances are you can elongate the interludes between painful episodes. Good luck.

They got it right........... Paddles are an arm-sore as well as a huge annoyance to your lane-mates. Same for fins. Or... go to a workout where only triathletes train. ;)

Thanx Greg and Jim, for your support for a position that I have been advocating, with little avail, for about three decades. And to Clif for bringing up the subject which allows me to express my most recent summary of the situation. Leonardo da Vinci not only was a great artist, but also he was a prolific inventor of war machines of horrific destruction. In my mind's eye he had a pre-christian era anchestor whose own contribution was the attachment of a scythe or sickle to chariot wheels to mow down the enemy pawns. One of his twentieth century decendants, on a more subtle level, invented hand paddles for swimmers! I have only myself to blame, I guess, for not expressing this graphic analogy to the various committees to whom I have brought my previous proposals to ban hand paddles from pools that are open to the general public. If swimming coaches permit their use during closed practices that is their own business and I do not have a quarrel with them, but the general public should not be put in a position of having to avoid those scary things. I have never charged a hand paddle wearer with intending to "touch " anyone, nor does it happen every day where I swim, but twice this week, that I have observed, it has happened. If there is anybody out there who has information about court cases, or out of court settlements, involving swimmers hand paddles please do not hesitate to contribute it to this thread. The life you save could be someone very close to you.;)

I think I have to express a dissenting view here. My coach has us do at least one paddle set in almost every workout. I've found that they are useful -- particularly for giving a sense of whether your stroke mechanics are correct and giving you the feel of swimming at (or even faster than) race pace. But, I agree that they don't help much for strengthening your pull, and they can cause shoulder soreness. So, I would suggest starting with the smallest paddle you're comfortable with and working up to a larger size that covers your hand as you get used to them. (But there's no need to work up to a size that's bigger than your hand -- the excess resistance could cause shoulder strain.) Also, avoid rectangular paddles, since they put pressure against your fingers, rather than your palms, so they can distort your stroke and increase the strain on your shoulders.

Thanks guys. Alot of interesting opinoins here, and that's exaclty what I posted for. As for injuries, that's exactly what I don't want to happen. I guess I will do away with the paddles. The main reason why I swim is for my lower back. I have a bad lower back and swimming is the only form of exersize that is easy on it. I really can't afford to get hurt. Now, I am kind of scared to use them. :( Better scared, than injured I guess. Thanks to all! -Cliff

Hey Jim and Cliff, I've been through the back pain routine, too, specifically sciatica. At my first episode, I was given the usual muscle relaxers and pain relievers, hoping that the spasms would subside. They did to a degree, but it wasn't until I enderwent physical theraoy through my chiropractor that the pain was relieved. I know that some chiropractors have received a bad "rap" and deservedly so. For the majority of them, they are truly excellent therapists. I still, upon occasion, visit the chiropractor, for an adjustment. This, coupled with swimming and some weight training has resulted in little or no back problems for me. Just a suggestion, here, from one who's been there and done that.

I have found small hand paddles very helpful in figuring out where I stress my shoulders. I have been fighting shoulder strain on and off as I refine my freestyle. Nothing like 25 to 100 yards with paddles to really feel where I am leaning too much on my hand/arm while I breathe or some such phenomena. I only use them when I am experiencing no shoulder pain ... to figure out where in my stroke I am being hard on my shoulders. And maybe they also show where I am being inefficient ... if I don't finish a stroke or something, it is obvious. They definately have helped me with a cleaner entry into the water also. Now I put them on about once a month for a few laps, just to feel what I am doing. The paddles I use are barely larger than my hands, shaped like my hands mostly, and full of holes. I use strokemakers XS (red) and like them alot. Good Luck!