Friday, September 7, 2012

The Ultimate Arm-Trainer

While most hand paddles can help develop upper body strength, not all of them are designed to give swimmers a better feel of the water they displace. But the Finis PT Paddles stand out from the pack. Their unique design and comfortable feel will have any level swimmer improving their overall stroke in no time at all.
The 'PT' in PT Paddles stands for Perfect Technique. And these different looking paddles really can help perfect your stroke. They do so by taking away the propulsion of your hand, without immobilizing it or requiring the hand to lie in an unnatural place. In fact, the PT's unique design keeps your hand in the proper position, yet keeps it from producing any real kind of water displacement. While this might sound counter intuitive to other training products that increase forward propulsion, the Finis Paddles actually help build even more upper body strength. Because the propulsion is removed from the hand, the responsibility of pulling your body forward is displaced to the forearm. Forearm strength and muscle memory is really what helps push elite swimmers past breakneck speeds. It's not the hands that generate propulsion, but instead it's done with strong and well-trained forearms.
Instead of utilizing a flat or perforated board to proper the upper body forward, the Finis paddles are rounded bean-shaped devices that fit comfortably within the palm's surface. Unlike traditional paddles, it's designed to reduce your hands displacing water and transfers the power to your lower and upper arms.
While some swimmers might notice that the PT Paddles are designed to do what 'fist drills' do, they'll quickly realize that the latter drills can't stand up to the Finis' performance. Fist drills, those that require swimming with closed palms as opposed to open hands, force swimmers to hold their hand in an unnatural position. PT Paddles reduce the amount of pull the hand creates, all the while keeping the palm in a neutral, natural position. They also allow the fingertips to still get a good feel for the water. This is an important feeling to maintain since the stroke always enters fingers first. In addition to feel, the paddles even further decrease the amount of influence the hand has, and therefore will help develop stronger forearms faster than with fist drills.
Finis PT Paddles are made from soft, non-chafing materials. They will stay put on the hand without pinching or rubbing. The dimpled side lies flush against the palm and keeps it from getting desensitized during use. Because the paddles don't use additional drag, they are safe and easy on the shoulders. Use the PT Paddles during warm up and drill sets. Start slow, to get a good feel for their design, and slowly increase the reps to achieve your desired results. They are ideal for intermediate and advances swimmers. It's important that the swimmer is already comfortable with their stroke before using the paddles. And because the Finis paddles help develop a more continuous propulsion between the arms; they are ideal for open water swimming where waves often play a factor in stroke rhythm.

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