I noticed that a lot of elite swimmers(ex., Popov) have their thumb sticking out to the side(not touching the index finger).I was wondering if that has to do with anything other than personal preferance.My guess is that gives your palm(and maybe actually the entire area from the tip of your fingers to your elbow) a more relaxed feeling but still keep all your other fingers together.What do you think?
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(Bernoulli: The difference of pressure between the opposing sides of a surface pulls the surface toward the lower pressure. Faster moving air or water has less pressure than slower moving air or water.)
The Bernoulli effect has an impact on swimming, but shaping your hand like an properly shaped fin is not really possible. Your fingers separated means that your fingers create the pressure difference vs. your entire hand creating a very similar pressure difference.
Your arm is providing most of the paddling surface area. Given this, I think it's safe to say that the position of your fingers are less important than the position and movement of your arm. I guarantee that someone has done a study to see which is more effective. I bet that it's entirely up to the shape of the swimmer's hand.
On the other ha... I mean, on a differant note: An open hand may deliver an unnoticeable amount of less pressure difference at swimming speeds (of course I'm guessing). But, using a relaxed hand certainly conserves energy in relation to the effort it takes a swimmer to hold his/her fingers together under that pressure.
In the end I think a swimmer should stay as relaxed as possible.
(Bernoulli: The difference of pressure between the opposing sides of a surface pulls the surface toward the lower pressure. Faster moving air or water has less pressure than slower moving air or water.)
The Bernoulli effect has an impact on swimming, but shaping your hand like an properly shaped fin is not really possible. Your fingers separated means that your fingers create the pressure difference vs. your entire hand creating a very similar pressure difference.
Your arm is providing most of the paddling surface area. Given this, I think it's safe to say that the position of your fingers are less important than the position and movement of your arm. I guarantee that someone has done a study to see which is more effective. I bet that it's entirely up to the shape of the swimmer's hand.
On the other ha... I mean, on a differant note: An open hand may deliver an unnoticeable amount of less pressure difference at swimming speeds (of course I'm guessing). But, using a relaxed hand certainly conserves energy in relation to the effort it takes a swimmer to hold his/her fingers together under that pressure.
In the end I think a swimmer should stay as relaxed as possible.
