Strength Training Exercises for Swimmers

Strength training exercises are specifically meant to increase the strength and lifting power of your body. They may also help you build endurance, especially for activities like swimming, where you rely on your stamina to keep you in the water for a long time.

If you are looking to speed up your swimming or swim for a longer distance, strength training exercises should be a part of your routine. Swimming requires you to use your entire body, from your shoulders and upper back to your core and lower body. Hence, strengthening the muscles in these areas can help you improve your swimming.

Strength Training Exercises for Swimmers

Strength training is as important as cardio or endurance workouts for swimmers. A strong core, upper body and lower body will enable you to swim longer and improve your speed.

1) Squat Jumps

Swimmers have to rely on their legs to propel them forward in the water. Leg strength and stamina is important for swimmers. The squat is one of the best strength training exercises to build strength in the lower body, especially the thighs. Squats can effectively enhance power and explosiveness as well as the speed of swimmers.

Jump squats are an advanced variation of the normal bodyweight squat. Front squats are advisable for swimmers instead of back squats. Let us now see how you can do this exercise:

Stand upright with your feet hip-width apart and your toes turned slightly outwards.
Now squat down on your knees, till your thighs are parallel to the floor.
From this position, jump up with all the power you can muster and then return to the squat stance. This is one repetition.
Ensure that your knees remain parallel to your toes while you squat and jump.
Perform 3 sets of 12-15 reps.

2) Plank

The form of a swimmer's body in the water is significant. A straight back must be maintained, as if there were a straight line running from your ankles to your head.

A strong plank can help you perfect this form, prevent injury and increase your freestyle pace. Here's how you can do this strength training exercise:

Get into the Tabletop position, with your hands directly under your shoulders and your knees under your hips.
Now bring your legs back one by one to stand on your toes. Your body should form a straight line parallel to the ground.
Slowly raise your body so that your weight rests on your hands and feet.
Your core should be drawn in and your glutes engaged.
Hold the pose for as long as you, preferably upto a minute.

3) Mountain Climbers

Mountain climbers are a terrific strength training exercise for swimmers since they engage the entire body. Shoulders, glutes, triceps, legs, and core are all worked in this exercise. Mountain climbers also increase your cardio endurance.

Here's how you can do this exercise:

Assume the plank pose, ensuring that your weight is distributed equally between your hands and toes.
Check your form; your hands should be around shoulder-width apart, your back should be flat, your abs should be engaged, and your head should be in alignment.
Pull your right knee to your chest, as close as you can.
Alternate your legs by bringing one knee out and the other knee in.
Keep your hips down and move your knees as quickly as possible. Breathe in and out alternately with each leg change.

4) Pushups

Pushups are an effective kind of strength training for swimmers since they strengthen the pectoral and latissimus dorsi muscles, which allow for powerful propulsion during swimming.

Perform your pushups slowly to make them more difficult. You must ensure that you are growing arm and chest strength in addition to cardiac endurance.

Here's how you can do this exercise:

To perform a push-up, you will get on all fours and position your hands slightly wider than your shoulders. Maintain a small bend in your elbows.
Extend your legs so that you are balanced on your hands and toes, with your feet separated hip-width.
Breathe in as you bend your elbows to a 90-degree angle and slowly drop yourself to the floor in a controlled motion.
Return to the starting posture by breathing out while clenching the chest muscles and pushing up through the hands.

5) Dumbbell Woodchop

This strength training exercise is excellent for core strength since it simultaneously targets the abdominals and obliques. The twisting and raising motion resembles some of the movements you already perform in the water. Check out the video linked below to understand how to properly perform this exercise in good form, to get all the benefits.

6) Russian Twists

Russian twists strengthen your abdominal muscles, shoulders, and hips, allowing you to generate a more effective stroke. They also enable you to perform improved movements in water, such as gliding and direction changes. Holding a medicine ball or other weight while performing this strength training exercise can further challenge your muscles.

Root into your sit bones as you lift your feet off the floor while maintaining a bent knee position.
Create a V-shaped torso and thighs by elongating and straightening your spine at a 45-degree angle from the floor.
Extend your arms straight in front of you and interlace or clasp your hands together.
Utilize your abdominal muscles to twist to the right, then back to the centre, and finally to the left.
Perform 2-3 sets of 8-16 reps each.

If you are looking to improve your swimming, perform these six strength training exercises regularly to see a marked improvement.