Swimming glossary

Support

What we call supports in the water are the actions that we produce with our limbs and that move masses of water. The fact that we act on the water in this way enables us to move. A support is the sensation of resistance you have when you act on the water and therefore move it (when we say we 'push' the water backwards).

Lever arm

The lever arm is the distance between one end of the lever and its point of support. In swimming, the end of the lever is our hand and its point of support our shoulder. The greater the distance between the shoulder and the hand, the greater the force that needs to be applied to the hand in order to carry out the movement. But it's the shoulder that applies the force, and the hand that applies the resistance. Keeping the arm fully extended would therefore considerably reduce the acceleration of our whole arm, as well as our power endurance.