Triathlon Swimming Q&A: Will Fingernails help my Swim?

March 2 , 2009

Q: Would I become a faster swimmer if I let my fingernails grow really long?

A: Well gosh, let’s hope not!  Can you picture someone powering through the water with built-in 12 inch claws at the end of their fingers?  Yuck!  Seriously though, the elite competitive swimmers are divided on this one.  Some purposely keep the nails long, and others cut them so short that their fingers bleed.  It may seem like a slam dunk that longer nails make a larger pulling surface which therefore makes you faster.  However, any gains are limited because the nails are spaced apart.  So water directly under the nails gets caught and helps your propulsion.  But you cannot grab the water between your nails like you can the water between your fingers.

To be clear, I am not aware of any testing which shows that long nails actually make you faster, and how long they need to be in order to provide some benefit.  But here’s the tribal knowledge on the subject.  A longer fingernail makes you faster, but at a cost of accurate feel for the water.  To swim efficiently, it is vital to have extremely accurate sensory perception of your hand positioning.  It gets more difficult to do this if you are wearing plastic paddles, or have long fingernails, or pull with any other surface that doesn’t send signals to the brain.  Thus, longer fingernails make you faster, but increase the risk of efficiency losses.

It is the trade off between the increases in propulsion versus loss in sensory perception that divides competitive swimmers on long fingernails.  Those that value propulsion let the nails grow.  Those who want to feel the water at all costs will cut the nails short.  You will have to decide for yourself which one of the two camps you fall into!

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