swimming with 1 lb hand weights
This idea arose in a discussion in the thread "How does weight shift cause propulsion?" I won't get into what I thought might happen by doing this, because I didn't really experience any of that, but it was an interesting experience.
I have some small 1 pound hand weights that fit nicely into a closed fist, and this is what I used. This is a little like fist swimming carried to an extreme. You need to be able to fist swim if you are going to swim carrying weights in your hand. The first thing I should say is that this wasn't much fun, and, because of that, I didn't do as much of it as I might have. That said, fist swimming wasn't much fun when I started it either. Even now, after doing it on a regular basis for several years, I don't really look forward to that part of my practice, but I have found it useful, which is why I continue to do it. So it is possible that if I stuck with the weights, I would learn to see some virtue in them that doesn't become apparent until you practice with them. Its main virtue today is that it is a way to put you in a completely different sensory perspective when swimming, so when you go back to normal swimming, you experience the world around you in a different light.
The first thing I notice is the difference in the spearing hands. TI advocates a weightless front hand, presumably to avoid leaning on that front arm to support your head. Needless to say, you will never experience a weightless front hand when that hand is holding a weight. In fact, you need to start supporting that hand. For those of us who tend to lean on that front arm, this might be a good way to cure yourself of this tendency. You'll drown if you don't. The next major issue is the process of anchoring in the back sweep. With a weight in your hand, it feels like you are trying to anchor in air instead of water. There is no sense of resistance that you can perceive. My stroke count increased by about 2, but that might go back down if I practiced. Didn't notice much difference in the recovery, although I thought this might be a good way to emphasize elbow up.
Like I said, I don't think I can really judge this in just one session, because I haven't learned to optimize my style around it. In comparison, fist swimming is definitely not the same as regular swimming, no matter how good you get at it. Rather it provides a perspective to sensitize you to certain things, like how to use your forearms for propulsion. Weight swimming is definitely a different experience too. Not sure if I'll get back to it, but it was worth trying at least once.
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04-24-2015
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