A Firm Hand

I have spoken to a lot of triathletes and swimmers about catching the water. How do you get hold of the water and move it backwards? How do you make sure your hand doesn’t just slip through the water?

When I answer this, I keep talking about tension through the wrists. Keeping a firm hand. Feeling the pressure and the resistance of the water as you press back.

Coach Gerry Rodrigues from the famed Tower 26 triathlon swim squad in California tells it best. He suggests that many swimmers have hand and wrist strength equivalent to that when stroking a cat. Soft, gentle. Their hands slip through the water as a result. In my experience, these are the swimmers who struggle to generate much power and often swim with 24 strokes or more per 25 metres.

Instead, Gerry suggests, they should have a much firmer hand and wrist. Rather than stroking a cat gently, they should be stroking a Great Dane! Much firmer. Much rougher.

This video from a swimmer I met for a 1-1 this week (André) is a great example of keeping your hands and arms relaxed as you recover and enter the water, and then putting tension in the hand and wrist when you need to. Watch his hands. His fingers are super relaxed as they enter the water, but as soon as they need to grab hold of the water, there is a firmness and strength. Look at his right hand. You can see that he has the water in his right hand and is pushing it backwards.

Try it. Get it right and you will notice the difference immediately.

Let me know how you get on?