Assembly & exercise instructions
For product code 114 0109
Page 2
1. Attaching the straps
There are two rubber tubes for each hand paddle: one long and one short. The short tube is the strap for your
middle finger; it must be attached to the two holes next to each other, near the front of the paddle. The long tube is
for your wrist and must be attached to the two holes which are further apart from each other, near the end of the
paddle (see numbers 4 and 11).
2. Please note
The holes in the paddles are intentionally quite small – this allows the tubing to stay in place once the strap is
adjusted to fit your hand. It is still possible to adjust the straps after your initial fitting by following these steps.
Squeeze the tip of the tubing and insert it into the relevant hole on the labelled side of the paddle. Then squeeze
the tip from the other side and pull it through bit by bit. Do this for each end of all four tubes – keep squeezing and
pulling through slowly. Be careful when pulling the tubing through the holes and do not use force.
3. Adjusting the straps
Once all four tips of the tubing are through the holes, put the paddle on and then adjust the tubing for a good fit.
Don’t make the straps too tight – the hand paddles should be comfortable to wear. Always remember, when
adjusting the straps, make sure to squeeze the tubes and only pull through a bit at a time.
4. Fitting the paddles
The longer strap should be worn above the wrist. The shorter strap is for the middle finger – secure it as near to the
hand as possible, at least above the middle knuckle. The larger paddles have twice the number of holes for this
strap than the smaller paddles – you might need to experiment a little to find the perfect fit (see number 11).
5. Replacing the straps
If you lose a tube, or it breaks due to pulling too hard (without squeezing it), you can buy a replacement from us or
similar tubing from a specialist supplier. Some swimmers prefer flat straps. If you want to try that, you can cut an
old bicycle inner tube, as they make brilliant straps for this type of hand paddle.
6. Improving your stroke technique
Swimming with hand paddles will help to improve your stroke performance for several reasons. Please see the
points below for more details.
7. Identifying errors more easily
Understanding whether or not you pull the water efficiently can only be felt, not seen. So identifying errors in your
technique can be very difficult – particularly when making fine adjustments to your stroke mechanics. Using
paddles increases the surface area of the water you catch, meaning that incorrect hand positioning will be noticed
much sooner and more easily than when swimming without paddles.
8. Identifying key errors straight away
Swimming is all about streamlining and effective pulls. The swimmer must hold their hand in a neutral position
when it enters the water, with their fingers lower than their wrist and the wrist lower than the elbow, then dropping
the fingers to the bottom of the pool, catching the water and pulling all the way back past the hips. Many swimmers
have an incorrect hand position – which they are often unaware of. The paddles will soon change this as they
highlight any inefficiency. Certain key errors will even result in the water pushing the paddles away from you.
Wearing paddles means you will be forced to adopt the correct hand position, as otherwise you won’t be able to
move forward in the water.
9. Executing the pull cleanly
