Last night I went to a coached practice for the first time in a long time, and the coach had me and one other person do backstroke pinkie out/pinkie in instead of thumb out/pinkie in. That was the first time I had ever had a coach tell me to do something like that, and I didn't get a chance to ask the purpose. Do any of you coaches or more experienced swimmers know why a coach might tell a swimmer to do that?
George is spot on. While taking just the suppination (palm facing away from the body) aspect into consideration, it would not seem to be a good thing but when you consider mechanical advantage along with the rotation of the shoulder, engaging the triceps at the start on the water exit actually speeds up the over water recovery and also adds a little stored elastic energy to the start of the arm pull. By having the hand slightly suppinated with palm angled away from the body, you only have to engage the rotational muscles in the shoulder to move the arm instead of having to perform a combination rotation and suppination while recovering.
Paul
George is spot on. While taking just the suppination (palm facing away from the body) aspect into consideration, it would not seem to be a good thing but when you consider mechanical advantage along with the rotation of the shoulder, engaging the triceps at the start on the water exit actually speeds up the over water recovery and also adds a little stored elastic energy to the start of the arm pull. By having the hand slightly suppinated with palm angled away from the body, you only have to engage the rotational muscles in the shoulder to move the arm instead of having to perform a combination rotation and suppination while recovering.
Paul
