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This study investigated the effects of a 4-week training with hand paddles (HPD) on front-crawl swimming performance (SP), clean swimming speed (SPEED), stroke rate (SR), stroke length (SL) and tethered force (TF). Twenty swimmers (10 men and 10 women) were paired according to performance and gender, and were randomly assigned to control (CON, 22.4 ± 2.3 years) or HPD (21.8 ± 1.9 years) groups. During 4 weeks both groups performed the same training, except for a sprint training set (3 times/week, 10 × 10 strokes all-out, 1-min rest) completed with (HPD = 320 cm 2 ) and without (CON) paddles. Afterwards, both groups performed the same training over a 2-week taper period. SP, SPEED, SR, SL and TF were assessed before (PRE) and after the 4-week period (POST), after the first (T1) and second taper weeks (T2). Swimmers rated their perceived exertion for the sprint training set (RPE TS ) and the training session for determining internal training load (ITL). SP, SPEED, SR, SL and TF did not change from PRE to POST, T1 and T2. ITL and RPE TS were not different between groups. Training 4 weeks with HPD does not affect swimming performance, so the use of HPD remains unsupported in such period.

The purpose of the research was to determine the influence of hand paddles on the arm coordination in female front crawl swimmers. Ten female swimmers swam at a maximal intensity 25 m without, with small hand paddles (116 cm), and with large hand paddles (286 cm). Four S-VHS cameras were used to record the underwater motion of both arms, and the digitizing of selected points onto the subject's body was undertaken using the Ariel Performance Analysis System. The mean swimming velocity, the stroke length, the stroke rate, the relative duration of the separate phases of the stroke, and the index of coordination were then calculated. The index of coordination was defined as the time interval between the propulsive phases of the 2 arms expressed as a percentage of the mean duration of the stroke cycle. The results showed that when the hand paddles were worn, the mean swimming velocity (p < 0.05) and the stroke length (p < 0.05) were significantly increased, whereas the stroke rate was significantly decreased (p < 0.05). When large paddles were worn, the relative duration of the whole propulsive phase was significantly decreased (p < 0.05), and the relative duration of the nonpropulsive phase was significantly increased (p < 0.05). However, the index of coordination was remained unchanged under the 3 measurement conditions (p = 0.895). It was concluded that in front crawl hand-paddled swimming, significant increases of the swimming velocity was not caused by modifications in the pattern of arm coordination. Thus, hand-paddled swimming should not be used as a tool to alter the time sequence of the application of propulsive forces generated from the 2 arms.

The aim of the study was to investigate possible modifications caused by hand paddles in the relative contribution of the lift and drag forces of the hand and in the propelling efficiency, during front crawl swimming. Eight female swimmers swam 25 m with maximal intensity without paddles, with small (116 cm(2)) and with large paddles (268 cm(2)). Four cameras operating at 60 Hz were used to record the images and the Ariel Performance Analysis System was used for the digitisation. The results showed that, although during swimming with hand paddles the hand's velocity decreased, the greater propulsive area of the hand paddle caused an increase in the drag, lift, resultant and effective forces of the hand. However, the relative contribution of lift and drag forces on swimming propulsion was not modified, nor was the direction of the resultant force. Hand paddles also increased the propelling efficiency, the stroke length and the swimming velocity, mainly because of the larger propulsive areas of the hand in comparison with free swimming. However, the significant decrease of the stroke rate, might argue the effectiveness of hand paddle training, particularly when large paddles are used in front crawl swimming.

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of two different sized hand paddles on the three-dimensional underwater stroke pattern of front crawl swimming at a fixed stroke rate., Methods: Nine male adolescent competitive freestyle swimmers participated in the study. Each subject swam a series of 25 m trials at a constant stroke rate, without and with hand paddles of two different cross sectional areas (small paddles: 116 cm(2), large paddles: 311 cm(2)). An acoustic metronome connected with a sound amplifier was used to help the subject keep the stroke rate constant. Stroke rate was calculated for each subject using the time for 3 complete right arm stroke cycles. The underwater motion of each subject's right arm was filmed using two S-VHS cameras, operating at 60 fields/s, which were located behind two underwater viewing windows. The spatial coordinates of selected points on the right arm and the hip were calculated using the DLT procedure with 30 control points and after the digital filtering of the raw data with a cut-off frequency of 6 Hz, the hand's linear displacements and velocities, as well as the mean swimming velocity, were calculated. Moreover, the displacement of the hip in the direction of propulsion, from the right hand's entry to the next entry of the same hand, was calculated in order to determine the stroke length. For the statistical treatment of the data the analysis of variance for dependent samples was used., Results: The analysis of the data revealed that when hand paddles were worn, the stroke length (F(2,16)=10.329; P<0.05) and the mean swimming velocity (F(2),16=5.076; P<0.05) were significantly increased, while the temporal characteristics of the underwater stroke and the displacement of the hand were not significantly altered. On the other hand, the peak backward hand speeds during the insweep (F(2,16)=4.794; P<0.05) and the push phase (F(2,16)=5.827; P<0.05) were greatly reduced. These modifications were greater when large paddles were worn., Conclusions: From the results of the present study it was concluded that the movement pattern was not significantly modified when swimmers swam with hand paddles, at a constant stroke rate. However, large hand paddles caused a decrease in their hand velocities during the underwater stroke.