How to Have Amazing Swimmer’s Hands

This post is excerpted from Lesson 1 of the TI 2.0 Freestyle Mastery Self-Coaching Course.

I’m known for my strong belief in swimming with the natural ‘training equipment’ with which we come into the world. I do make a few exceptions however, having received great benefit from thoughtful use of three pieces of man-made equipment—the Swimmer’s Snorkel and Tempo Trainer from Finis and the fistglove. In this post, I’ll cover the fistglove.

Fistgloves are a latex glove which wraps the hand into a fist. They were invented by Scott Lemley, swim coach at University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Lemley, an aikido practitioner for many years, was inspired to develop fistgloves after practicing aikido blindfolded. (To understand how much we rely on sight for balance, try standing still with eyes closed.)

In water, the hands are our most important source of sensory information. Take them away and we feel a bit helpless. Just as people who lose their sight become much keener in their use of other senses, depriving the hands of sensory input with fistgloves enhances sensory awareness on all other body surfaces.

Fistgloves are an invaluable learning tool because of three effects:

1. Better Balance and Stability We unconsciously use the hands to compensate for poor body control. Fistgloves make it exceedingly difficult to use the hands to correct body position. This forces us to develop a balanced and stable core body–freeing the hands to be far more effective in creating propulsion, enabling a more efficient 2-Beat Kick, and making breathing easier and more comfortable.
2. Hyper-Sensitive Hands The most elusive and important element in an effective Catch-and-Press is the ability to distinguish subtle changes in water pressure with your hands. Just 10 minutes with fistgloves will dramatically increase that awareness.
3. Better Arm Position Positioning hand and arm to trap a large volume of water is the first step to creating maximum forward motion. When using fistgloves, traction from your hands is reduced so dramatically that you must use your forearm to hold the water. This teaches you to convert your hand-and-arm into a huge ‘living’ paddle. 

Can you substitute Fists or Paddles?

Swimming with fists closed (or with index finger extended) is a popular way to improve hand sensitivity–and has the advantage of being quite simple. I did fist-and-finger swimming for decades before I used fistgloves. I always felt it was worthwhile. However, the added effect of ‘wrapping’ my hands in latex made a difference beyond anything I’d ever imagined.

After fist swimming, my hands felt a little more sensitive and my stroke a little better. The first time I used fistgloves, I experienced transformative change in awareness. As I wrote at the time, it felt like “Alexander Popov’s hands had been magically grafted onto my arms.”

Scott Lemley calls fistgloves “the Unpaddle.” I agree. I used paddles for over 20 years. I always felt significantly greater grip while I had them on. And I always felt ineffectual after taking them off. Fistgloves produce precisely the opposite effect: I struggle for grip with them on, and feel utterly amazing after removing them. What could be better than a practice aid that makes your ‘normal equipment’ feel extraordinary?

As well, use of paddles is one of the most common causes of shoulder injury. If you have an error in your stroke, paddles will magnify it. Fistgloves will fix it.

A Starter Guide to Fistgloves

Here are a few guidelines for ‘fistglove rookies.’  With experience, you’ll come up with even more applications.

1. Focus on sensation. Focus first on creating a sensation of ‘hypersensitive hands.’ You’ll feel helpless at first–like paddling a kayak with a popsicle stick. A few laps later you’ll feel a tiny bit of grip and control. After 20 minutes you may feel almost normal. At that point, remove the gloves. Your hands will instantly feel extraordinary. Continue as long as that feeling persists. At first the effect may last about half as long as it took to create it. With practice, you’ll achieve the ‘fistglove effect’ faster and sustain it longer. Eventually the feeling of hypersensitive hands will become permanent.
2. Swim short repeats. At first I did mostly 25s and 50s because of how helpless I felt. As I felt more control, I swam farther, eventually up to 500y/m continuously with fistgloves, taking just 1 to 2 additional SPL compared to my ungloved stroke count.
3. Count strokes. Compare stroke count with and without gloves. Work patiently to reduce that difference. Also compare your stroke count with ungloved hands, before and after using fistgloves. Try this sample set:

Swim 3 rounds of 4 x 25.

• Round 1: Swim with ungloved hands. Count strokes.
• Round 2: Swim with fistgloves. Count strokes and compare to Round 1. Strive to reduce the difference in counts.
• Round 3: Swim with ungloved hands. Count strokes and compare with Round 1. You should be taking fewer strokes.

Optional: Repeat Rounds 2 and 3 to see if you can do slightly better on Rounds 4 and 5 than on Rounds 2 and 3.

The TI 2.0 Freestyle Mastery Self-Coaching Course teaches ‘Expert’ Catch-and-Press and three other Mastery skills for freestyle. Learn more here. 

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Join Me: Swim Across America

On Saturday, Oct 1, I will swim from Golden Gate Bridge to Chrissy Field in San Francisco Bay to raise money for Swim Across America. This is my first time participating in a SAA event.

I’ll swim to honor to honor the memory of two people–my dear friend, Betsy Owens, former chair of Adirondack Masters Swimming, and my cousin, Beverly Sharkey. Each died from cancer. I am also swimming to support my friend Susan Helmrich, a 3-time cancer survivor and the captain of Team Susan Survives.

Please join me in giving to support cancer research, prevention and treatment and make an impact in the fight to find a cure. Even a gift as modest as $10 can make a difference. You may donate here.

Thank you for your generosity and may it lead to a cancer-free world!

May your laps,and life, be as happy as mine.