The arms should be relaxed and bent at about a 90° angle. The arms should swing in unison with the opposite leg – this is thought to help drive the leg. The arms should swing up to about face level and back just past the hips. This motion is often referred to as swinging the arms “cheek to cheek” or “ear to rear”. The hands should be as relaxed as possible. The hands should not be clenched like a fist.  This can be accomplished by cupping the fingers and placing the thumb on the top finger, by extending the fingers like you are performing a chop, or by lightly pressing the thumb to the index finger with the other fingers loose.