I have been working on my freestyle/crawl stroke and it appears that vertical forearm drills are really helping me increase my dps.
After doing a little research I have come across a product called fistgloves that seem to really force you to use your forearms. The gloves force you to ball your hands up into a fist and as a result do not allow you to use your palm/fingers while swimming.
Today I decided to try swimming some laps while balling up my fists WITHOUT the fist gloves. It seemed to work pretty well. My stroke count went up, I started to get a little case of dropped elbow on my left arm but started to do a better job using my forearms during my stroke.
So...my question is whether there is really any benefit to actually buying a pair of fist gloves or can I pretty much get the same result by simply balling up my fists? I have no problem spending the $10 or whatever they cost if there is any real benefit to purchasing this product.
Parents
Former Member
I use fistgloves fairly regularly. I think that they help ME in the following ways:
1) Aids forearm propulsion as mentioned by others.
2) Helps correct body balance in the water since you can't really use your arms to hold you up.
3) On days when my arms are really shot and/or my osteoarthritis kicks up in my right AC joint, they allow me to get a decent workout in without stressing my arms/shoulders too much.
4) Better than plain closed fist swimming because you don't have to tense your muscles to keep your fists closed - especially hard for me since I've had some of the fingers of my right hand broken several times working with horses and I can't easily close them.
I really like fistgloves.
-LBJ
I use fistgloves fairly regularly. I think that they help ME in the following ways:
1) Aids forearm propulsion as mentioned by others.
2) Helps correct body balance in the water since you can't really use your arms to hold you up.
3) On days when my arms are really shot and/or my osteoarthritis kicks up in my right AC joint, they allow me to get a decent workout in without stressing my arms/shoulders too much.
4) Better than plain closed fist swimming because you don't have to tense your muscles to keep your fists closed - especially hard for me since I've had some of the fingers of my right hand broken several times working with horses and I can't easily close them.
I really like fistgloves.
-LBJ
