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?
Parents
Former Member
When I was taking a class with some Masters coaches, I heard a couple of opinions about the hand and finger position. One coach said that he preferred the thumb out to the side since it helped him control his hand position. Another coach said that a slight spread of the fingers develops vortices (small turbulent swirls of water) that increase the effective surface of the hand. The effects are much smaller than having the correct arm position.
Since there is a small bit of webbing between the thumb and forefinger, perhaps sticking the thumb out spreads out the webbing a little, like a sail. But it's such a small piece of skin, it probably has a minimal effect.
When I was taking a class with some Masters coaches, I heard a couple of opinions about the hand and finger position. One coach said that he preferred the thumb out to the side since it helped him control his hand position. Another coach said that a slight spread of the fingers develops vortices (small turbulent swirls of water) that increase the effective surface of the hand. The effects are much smaller than having the correct arm position.
Since there is a small bit of webbing between the thumb and forefinger, perhaps sticking the thumb out spreads out the webbing a little, like a sail. But it's such a small piece of skin, it probably has a minimal effect.
