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The 30-second article
• Researchers investigated the effects
on swimming of using different sized
hand paddles which are commonly
used in training by competitive
swimmers
• The cost of transport (COT), which is
the energy required to move 1kg of
body mass forwards by 1 metre, was
measured,
as
was
oxygen
consumption (VO2), heart rate (HR
max) and rating of perceived exertion
(RPE)
• The authors found that all the paddles
significantly lowered the COT
compared to swimming without swim
hand paddles
• Stroke rate was found to decrease
when swimming with larger size
paddles, while distance travelled per
arm stroke increased
• Caloric expenditure increased only a
small amount, and with the largest
paddle sizes.
were somewhat sobering: my percentage
body fat was higher than I’d expected
(despite my regular intensive training in the
gym, swimming and surfing) and I’d also
lost a small amount of bone over the past
10 years.
After the acute bout of depression
abated, I decided I’d better review my
training and diet regime. First weakness, I
am a chocoholic, so I resolved to clean up
my chocolate snacking. Next, I reviewed
my progressive resistance training regime.
As I’d lost some bone, I decided to return
to front squats, hang cleans and jump
rope (the latter will also be beneficial to my
surfing as it isolates muscular endurance
of my shoulders for improved paddling
performance).
Speaking of training my shoulders,
some years ago I came up with this brilliant
swim training routine of – rather than just
incorporating some hypoxic laps (breath
holding) – isolating my shoulders by using
a foam pool buoy and a floatie tucked
between my knees, so my arms did all the
swimming, with no leg kicks to assist in
forward propulsion. After a couple of swims
using this technique and pondering what
else I could do to increase the work of my
shoulders, I employed swim hand paddles
to load my shoulders – and it worked! Even
in my ‘advancing years’ I can out-paddle the
grommets in the surf!
This leads us into this Research Review,
where colleagues at California State
University completed a study investigating
various size swim paddles. The authors
state that swim hand paddles are commonly
used in training by competitive swimmers.
Surprisingly, there is very limited scientific
literature on this topic, despite their
widespread use. Furthermore, the paddles
commercially available are in various shapes
and sizes, which according to the authors is
not based upon science, rather anecdotal
evidence. The authors do specify the optimal
swim hand paddle is based upon a number
of personal characteristics, including body
size, swimming experience, proficiency
and other anthropometric measurements.
The researchers decided to investigate the
cost of transport (COT), which is the energy
required to move 1kg of body mass forwards
by 1 metre, using various size swim paddles.
The researchers recruited 26 trained and
experienced adult swimmers (13 men/13
women) to trial 5 different sized commercially
available paddles (surface areas 201 cm 2 ,
256 cm 2 , 310 cm 2 , 358 cm 2 and 391 cm 2 ).
Prior to swimming, researchers measured
the participants’ height, weight, wingspan
(arm span) and lengths (leg, torso, forearm
and hand). All paddles had between 38 and
45 holes, depending upon the paddle size.
All swimming was conducted in a swim
flume. Swimmers initially did the swims
with no paddles, however were fitted with
two buoys, between the ankles and the
thighs. The researchers measured oxygen
consumption (VO 2 ), heart rate (HR max) and
rating of perceived exertion (RPE).
Results: Without the swim hand paddles,
the average VO 2 was 23.3 ml/kg/min and
heart rate 118 beats per minute. The authors
reported that they found all the paddles
significantly lowered the COT compared
to swimming without swim hand paddles.
Interestingly, the ‘cost of transport’
(energy expenditure) decreased as the
paddle size increased
NETWORK SPRING 2018 | 23