Kickstart your swim event fitness

Personal trainer Vivienne Rickman outlines how to dryland train for the upcoming season

As the days grow longer and temperatures get warmer, many of us are ready to move from bracing winter dips to longer, more sustained swims and may have even booked a swim event. While we’ve kept up our cold water exposure, our endurance, strength and technique may have taken a backseat over recent months. Combining your swim training with a structured dryland training plan, whether at home or in the gym, will help you make the most of the season ahead, regaining your fitness, power and efficiency.

Strength training

Swimming relies heavily on the shoulders, back, core and legs, so strength training should focus on building muscular endurance and preventing injury. Some key exercises to include:

Pull-ups and lat pulldowns – Not everyone can lift their body weight in a pull-up, so lat pulldowns offer a great alternative to strengthening the lats. Strong lats = strong front crawl pull.

TOP TIP – Activate your lats by pulling down from your armpits!

Dumbbell shoulder press & lateral raises – Swimmers are often plagued with shoulder injuries caused by the repetitive overhead movements in front crawl. Build strength and improve shoulder stability to master longer swims.

Seated Rows – Develop a strong, stable core and powerful back muscles. Use a seated row machine at the gym, keep your back straight and your shoulder blades together.

Lunges & Squats – Strengthen legs and glutes for better body positioning in the water. Try bodyweight only until you have your form correct, then add resistance such as dumbbells or a kettlebell.

Core stability

A strong core helps maintain an efficient body position, reducing drag in the water and improving our stability for those allimportant hip rotations we need. Add these to your routine:

Planks – Build endurance for better balance, try front and side planks.

Dead bugs – Engage deep core muscles for a streamlined position.

Russian twists & hanging leg raises – Improve rotational strength for an efficient stroke, try your Russian twists with feet on the floor to start. If you can’t manage a hanging leg raise, start with a dead hang (hanging from a pull-up bar), hanging strengthens the upper back, shoulders, core and forearms, those leg raises and pull-ups won’t be far away!

Cardiovascular training

Since long swims outdoors require sustained effort, cardiovascular training is essential. While regular swimming is great cardio, not everyone trains in the pool all winter. Give these a try:

Skipping – Aside from being great fun (who doesn’t love picking up a skipping rope?), this is a great activity for interval training.

Rowing machine – Rowing is a great all-over cardio workout. Its rhythmic, repetitiveness shares some similarities with swimming.

Kettlebell swings – Kettlebells are brilliant for improving strength, aerobic power and cardiovascular fitness. Ensure the power is coming from your legs and glutes, your shoulders and arms should not be doing any heavy lifting. Hinge at the hips to build momentum.

TOP TIP – Choosing a kettlebell – if you are new to kettlebells choose a lighter weight so that you can get familiar with how they feel and so you can practice swinging with good form.

Walking & jogging – A brisk walk or jog is a great way to improve our cardiovascular health.

Mobility & flexibility

Not being so active over winter can affect stroke mechanics and shoulder mobility. Daily stretching and mobility exercises – such as shoulder circles, thoracic rotations and hip openers – will help prevent injury and improve stroke efficiency.

By including strength, endurance and mobility exercises into your swim training, you’ll be prepared to step back into those long outdoor swims and events, feeling stronger, more prepared and ready for the season ahead.

Vivienne is an outdoor swimmer, health and fitness coach. She splits her time between the mountains of Snowdonia in North Wales, where she lives, and the South Coast where she grew up. Vivienne offers online fitness, nutrition and swim coaching programs. You can contact her at viviennerickman.co.uk