Swimming gloves

Abstract

A glove for biasing a user's hand into an optimal position for swimming. The glove having a body member with a thumb hole and closure flaps, four finger portions secured to the body member and a resilient member secured to the body member and extending across the four finger portions, wherein the resilient member in cooperation with the four finger portions reduces splaying of fingers during a swimming stroke, restricts balling of the hand when worn and restricts touching of the fingers when worn.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to gloves that bias a hand into an optimal position for swimming. In particular, it relates to gloves that promote muscle memory of the optimal hand position and improve swimming performance.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]New swimmers and those learning to swim most often exhibit one of two reactions on entering the water. They may show a ‘startle’ reflex leading to splayed fingers or a stress reflex tending to curl the fingers into a fist.[0005]Either reaction is detrimental to swimming performance as it limits the power of the hand to push water down the body, the key propulsion mechanism in all four functional strokes.[0006]New swimmers and those learning to swim often struggle with a number of barriers to developing efficient strokes, such as getting the correct body position to remain buoyant, keeping the kick going, getting the arm action rhythmic and effective and breat...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a glove that helps a user's hand to be in an optimal position for swimming. It comprises a resilient portion that reduces the distance between the fingers during the swimming stroke. This glove can be used by new swimmers or learners to achieve an optimal hand position for swimming. It can also improve the swimming efficiency and performance of more experienced swimmers. Additionally, the invention reduces the barriers to swimming by ensuring that swimmers are able to maintain sufficient forward motion to become stronger swimmers.

Problems solved by technology

Either reaction is detrimental to swimming performance as it limits the power of the hand to push water down the body, the key propulsion mechanism in all four functional strokes.

New swimmers and those learning to swim often struggle with a number of barriers to developing efficient strokes, such as getting the correct body position to remain buoyant, keeping the kick going, getting the arm action rhythmic and effective and breathing.

These barriers can take a considerable amount of time to overcome and the ability of new swimmers to focus on overcoming multiple barriers simultaneously is limited.

Furthermore, all swimmers suffer inefficiency in their stroke without optimisation of their hand position for swimming.

Specifically, they do not limit the fingers ability to spread widely, in fact many promote this poor finger position, and they do not constrain the ability of the fingers to touch one another or to ball into a fist.

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