Top gym workouts that help swimmers

Variety is the spice of life. Adding multiple and variable elements in all aspects of your daily lives provide a greater sense of satisfaction, enriches the functioning of activities and produces better results. In cases of sports activities, this is a universal truth that is applied at both professional and amateur levels. All top coaches of the world, no matter what the sport is, plan and apply a wide variety of training methods and techniques to gain the best possible outcome. It couldn't be otherwise in swimming. Numerous workouts help swimmers to improve their performance. Let's have a look at the most effective of them.

 

Pullups

Swimming is a unique sports activity for many reasons. Maybe the two most important reasons for its special nature is that you move into an aquatic environment where there is no buoyancy and that you work all parts of your body. Of course, there is an interconnection between those two reasons. The bottom line is that strengthening the muscular system in all parts of the body will greatly help you throughout swimming. One of the best workouts for achieving that is pullups. You can perform it no matter your level. There are three main ways to do it: 

 

• High pullups 

• Medium pullups 
• Low pullups 

Each of the above enhances different parts of your muscles. To give you an outline of the advantages of the pullbacks, we could name three of them: 

 

• Strengthening the back muscle
• Strengthening the arm and shoulder muscle
• Enhancing grip strength

 

Your back, arm and shoulder muscles are very significant for optimising your swimming performance, thus pullups can be a great boost.

 

Squat jumping

This is a very practical workout that does not require any gym equipment for practising it. You just need a smooth surface, like grass if you are outdoor or an exercise mat for indoor practice and you are ready to go! There are several variations for squat, depending on your fitness level and your purpose. For enhancing your swimming performance, it would be best to squat down and then jump as high as you can after fully extending your ankle, knees and hips.

You don't need to push it to the limits from day one, and you should definitely make sure that there are not previous injuries on those parts of your body so that you won't risk any burdening or injuries. Squat jumping is highly beneficial for swimmers because: 

 

• It enhances the body strength of your upper and lower body
• It increases the explosiveness of your body
• It burns calories at a high rate keeping your body fit
• It improves your agility

 

 

Lateral lunge

 Again, this is a workout you can perform everywhere though you should prefer a smooth surface. You should also make sure that you learn properly the mechanics of the practice so that it will be effective. Your feet must be flat on the ground and your toes should point straight ahead. Lateral lunge is practised by squatting onto both legs and staying there for a couple of seconds before standing up again. You should squat as low as possible and keep your other feet straight. It is a practice that exercises: 

 

• Quads
• Inner thighs
• Hamstrings
• Calves

 

Lateral lunge is a great workout for swimmers because it enhances the rotation of the hips, which is very significant for the process of swimming.

Lateral Pillar Bridge

For this workout, you will need an exercise mat. There are five steps to perform it: 

 

• Lay it on the side
• Put your elbow below your armpit
• Stabilise your elbow on the exercise mat
• Lift your hip so that your ankle and shoulder create a straight line
• Make sure that your head is in the line with your spine

 

You should then stay at that position for 3-5 seconds and repeat the process 10 times. Again, the length of this workout and the volume you perform depends on your physical condition. If you have any injuries at any of the body parts that were mentioned, you should first get the green light from a doctor. The lateral pillar bridge is a great workout for your hips and improves your body power when swimming, thus leading to better performances.

 

Exercises in gym

For all the previous workouts there you need neither any sophisticated equipment nor a subscription. They are flexible and you could practice them anytime anywhere. On the other hand, if you can go to a gym there are many more options. Firstly, you could practice the fore mentioned workouts inside the gym and probably under the guidance of a specialised trainer. Then you could choose from several other training techniques for improving your swimming performance.

 

Standing Straight-Bar Military Press

This exercise focuses on the anterior and medial deltoid. You keep the barrel on your chest from a standing position and then repeatedly lift it over your head all the way up at the top. Keep in mind that during the workout, you should keep your wrist over your elbow, maintaining a 90-degree angle. Besides the shoulder, standing straight-bar military press strengthens the following muscles:  

 

• Upper chest
• Upper traps
• Triceps
• Core Legs
• Abdominals

 

Standing Straight-Bar Military Press strengthens many muscle parts and is greatly beneficial for swimmers.

 

Dumbbell Biceps Curl

Swimmers are very well aware of the body balance that is required for achieving a fulfilling swimming experience. In most cases, the upper part of the body needs more training as the legs can strengthen even by simple walking. When swimming, the body functions as a whole and the movement of arms set the pace of motion. Dumbbell biceps curl works muscles at both upper and lower arms, which are important for swimming. Additionally, this workout enhances the range of motion that elbows produce, thus improving swimming performances. It's also quite easy to practice, you just have to keep in mind the following principles: 

 

 

• You are in a standing position keeping your knees, elbows and arms loose
• You keep your arms sideways when holding the weights
• Control your breathing (breathe out when lifting the weights and breathe in when coming back down)
• Control the pace of your arms movement
• Keep it slow and steady

 

Hanging Knee Raises

 This is an excellent workout for swimmers. It is performed by bringing your knees as close to your shoulders as possible while hanging from the specific gym instrument. It could be a bit more demanding for beginners but it can provide great effects. The main benefits of hanging knee raise for swimmers are:  

 

• Great practice of abdominals 
• Strengthening of wrists
• Building endurance 
• Improving stability 

 

You don't need to push yourselves to the limit from day one. Set your own rhythm of practice and increase the number of repetitions gradually. You will see that your own body will “guide” you. You just have to “listen” to it.

 

Dumbbell Reverse Fly

This is an exercise you can do either by bending your knees or by lying face down on an inclined gym bench. It's great for strengthening your back and shoulders as well as increasing your muscle size. It's important to learn well the technique of its practice by keeping a 45-degree angle to the ground and making sure that you “lock” that position throughout the set. Again, the volume of the workout has to be progressive for avoiding muscles exhaustion or back burden. It would be ideal to combine practising dumbbell reverse fly to the bench and by using no bench.

 

Conclusion

 Combining swimming with other workouts is not necessary for improving your swimming abilities but can be very helpful. It's beyond any doubt that swimming is the optimal activity for working out all parts of your body simultaneously. In all cases though, adding further elements to your training routine can be beneficial. And like I said at the beginning: Adding variety in what we do is always nice.