Intro to Water Aerobic Gloves
Water aerobics is one of the many activities that you can do in the pool that helps to burn calories and keep you in shape. With your useful equipment by your side, like underwater weights and buoyancy belts, you might think that's all you need for your aerobic workouts. There's one other vital piece of equipment that you can use to vary your workout and make it the most it can be. Those are water aerobic gloves. These are very similar to fins that you can wear for your feet in that they help make you propel through the water faster. These gloves help you zoom through the water while you're wearing them. We'll go over what water aerobic gloves are and how you can start incorporating them into your workout for added strength benefits.
What are water aerobic gloves?
Water aerobic fins are gloves or paddles that you can slip on over your hands that propel you faster through the water. These can be made out of plastic and resemble mini-kickboards with holes in them. The other type of aerobic paddle is a glove that you can wear that has fin like material in between your fingers. The idea of these gloves is to create a wider area on your hands so that your hand can cut through the water. This means that you will be able to pull more water out of the way, which then helps you move more quickly as you are swimming laps. These are very similar to flippers that you can wear on your feet which greatly help you boost through all of your lap swimming. Wearing both flippers and gloves simultaneously is a great way to zip through the water as if it's nothing. (Good, informative paragraph!)
What are aerobic gloves used for?
Fins that you can wear on your hands and your feet are best used for strength training and helping you get through the water more quickly. In between aerobicizing sets during your workout class, you can put on these gloves and power through your lap swimming to get back to the aerobics much more rapidly. Gloves are also a great way to train your body to understand how water moves so you can adapt your hand movement in the water. By having a way to freely move through the water, you can appreciate how much the paddles help guide you and help you understand hand placement in the water as well. The paddles are also used to improve your upper body muscles. The trick here is to start gradually. By warming up to using the paddles, you will have less of a chance of injury.
How and why you should incorporate them into your workout
Hand paddles are a great tool to add to your arsenal of swim equipment. They shouldn't always be seen as strengthening tools but as teaching tools to improve correct stroke mechanics. For example, in the freestyle stroke, you can use them to concentrate on the following focal points:
- To feel how to correctly pierce the water with a flat hand during the recovery.
- To extend all the way to the front with a long and relaxed stroke to drill front quadrant swimming.
- To feel how to properly anchor the hands in the water and to pull the body above them.
With all of these techniques behind you, you'll be able to properly understand just how you can improve your overall swimming and your strokes.
When first starting out with swim paddles try and buy the smaller versions with holes in them. These put less stress on your shoulders and allow a better feel of the water. While you're wearing them, focus on the feel of the water and correct stroke mechanics. You'll be able to understand exactly how you can improve your hand placement when you're entering and leaving the water. Overall, hand paddles are an effective way to improve your swimming.
