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?
Originally posted by mrcnwmn
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.
i totally agree with the above!! i know when i first started swimming (about 15 years ago!) all my coaches were very adamant about making sure all your fingers were tight together. but only a few years after that, the school of thought had changed to whatever was comfortable to each individual swimmer... as long as you're catching water, i honestly don't think it matters where your fingers or thumb are, as long as it feel comfortable to you!
Originally posted by mrcnwmn
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.
i totally agree with the above!! i know when i first started swimming (about 15 years ago!) all my coaches were very adamant about making sure all your fingers were tight together. but only a few years after that, the school of thought had changed to whatever was comfortable to each individual swimmer... as long as you're catching water, i honestly don't think it matters where your fingers or thumb are, as long as it feel comfortable to you!
