Now moving to the shoulders, which need to be supple yet strong. Start with 30 seconds and try to increase to a minute. The hard part now is to hold that position. Your neck, back and legs should make a straight line. Prop yourself into the standard push-up position with hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart, fingers pointed forward. The Straight Arm Plank is both simple and difficult. Regular doses of Straight Arm Planks will help keep you on the straight and narrow. In addition, a strong core helps you to hold your body in a streamlined position and maintain stability as you move smoothly through the water. The connection from one end of the body to the other is through the core so it is essential to build and maintain strength here to ensure this coordination is working smoothly. If you watch a strong swimmer in action you will see that movement from the finger tips through to the toes is coordinated and regular. Moving up through the body, the next problem we often find with new swimmers is a weakness through the body’s core. Start with three rounds of 10 kicks with each leg and try to increase to 20 over time. Initiate a controlled flutter kick motion will keeping your legs straight. Holding yourself strongly through the core, keep your legs straight and gently raise your feet a few centimetres above the floor. In the traditional Pilates Swimmer exercise you would use both your arms and your legs but we will just concentrate on the lower part of the body. ![]() Try to create a sensation of length along your spine. Lie face down on a mat with your arms stretched forward. The Pilates Swimmer exercise forces you to utilise the glutes and keep your legs straight thus training you to use the right muscles while in the water. the glutes rather than the quads) but a difficulty in controlling and sensing the movement while in the water. The problem here stems usually not from a lack of ability to use the right muscles (i.e. To swim fast you need to keep the kick small and the legs streamlined. Excessive knee bending is an inefficient way to kick and again causes a lot of drag. They don’t take long and some can be done while you’re doing something else, so need not take up a lot of time.Īnother common problem for new swimmers is “kicking from the knee”. These then are my top five exercises that I recommend to new swimmers – more experienced swimmers should also consider including them in their daily routine. It’s always a good idea to look after the smaller supporting muscles around the shoulders to reduce the risk of injury. Other areas that new swimmers often need to improve are core strength and shoulder mobility. at 90 degrees to your leg) will cause a lot of drag and slow you down. Trying to force your feet into a plantar flexion position if you don’t have sufficient mobility can be a trigger for cramp, yet holding your feet in the neutral position (i.e. For example, and possibly the most common problem, adult swimmers often have limited ankle mobility and this reduces their ability to point their toes. ![]() It’s not that they don’t want to or that they don’t try, it’s that their bodies simply won’t do it. One of the problems for new swimmers is that they are physically incapable of doing some of the things coaches ask them to do. But new swimmers, people returning to swimming after a long break and people who’ve been swimming for years will all benefit from land training. ![]() ![]() More time spent in the water should translate into technical improvements and thus speed gains. If you’re new to swimming, it’s understandable you want to get in the water as often as possible.
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