I have Taylor Swift Wrists / Exercises to Improve Catch and pull
So I have the tiny dainty wrists of a 'tween. These are awesome-aero on the bike and give me a sub .2 CdA, but kinda suck for propulsion in swimming. Particularly for the catch, and the transition from the catch to pull. Does anyone have strengthening suggestions? Would some type of specific paddle work help (I'm already using paddles, but these seems to be working much larger groups like the lats and pecs, and I can't isolate the wrist)? Some kind of wrist curl with weights? I don't intend to build up big 'ol popeye wrists on top of my pipe cleaner arms, but I would like to improve the stability that comes with a locked wrist on the pull.
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Dave - I hear ya on this one. Grabbing and holding firmly onto the water perpendicular to your direction of travel is IMO THE key to successful swimming. It is VERY hard to see in underwater videos, but it is probably (along with preternatural flexibility especially of shoulders, knees and ankles) what separates us from the folks who can *really* swim. Back in the '60s, when I was learning how to swim and coach others, leading swim coaches talked about having a good "feel" for the water. I think this is what they mean.
And, holding those hands in the proper position throughout the length of the stroke is in part dependent on the strength of your forearms. I proved this to myself in 2010/11 when I damaged my spinal cord at levels C 5-7, weakening specifically those muscles and even losing entirely two of them on my right hand and arm. Once my fitness returned after about 4-6 months, I discovered that I had lost swim speed, despite not losing any run or bike speed. Specifically, my times were 10% lower than 6 months earlier, about the same as suddenly having my times for yards be the same as they had been for meters. I can only explain this by the strength I permanently lost in my upper extremities due to the peculiar nature of that injury.
I started PT then which I have continued, including weight training for wrist flexion (wrist curls) and extension (what might be termed "french wrist curls"). It's provided a small amount of benefit (which has been overwhelmed by the inevitable effect of getting older, but that's another story). You could see if your wrists are as weak as mine with two simple dumbbell exercises. The flexion - rest your forearms in your knee with palm facing you - came back fairly quickly. I started @ 10#, 3 x 12, and quickly doubled that. I can now routinely do 25#. The other way - rotate your forearms 180 deg inward, holding the weight in your fist, lifting it up and down - I went from 3# slowly over years to 10#. I don;t know what "good" is for these exercises, but if you are not doing better than that, then consider yourself on a par with a 67 y/o guy who's had a spinal cord injury. BTW, my PT says these particular muscles can handle work like this on a daily basis, and that high reps is better than heavy weight for making them stronger. Or, play a lot of tennis with both hand; become a carpenter, wielding a hammer 3 hours a day. I;ve noticed those folks seem to have pretty strong forearms!
If you pass that test though, and don;t seem to be lacking raw strength, then consider using paddles specifically for this purpose. Years ago, Rich wrote about how to become a ninja with paddles - the end result being black and brown belts don't use the rubber straps to hold the paddles on their hands. Brown belt: grab the outside edges of the paddles throughout the underwater stroke. Black belt - shift your fingers while underwater so they are on the surface not the edge of the paddle. If your hand position is weak and/or fluttering through the water, you'll quickly find out as the paddles slide off your hands.
So I started using the paddles without straps, and often will throw in a 50 or 2 at the end of every mini-set, just to re-set in my mind the feeling of pushing properly against the water. Also, the paddles make it real obvious where your hand is pointing at any point in the course of the stroke.
Remember, your wrists are not meant to be fixed during the stroke. Instead, they start out flexed 90 deg, and move during the course of the stroke to extended 90 deg.