As the Canada Olympic team does not travel to Tokyo, young swimming stars like young Nina Kucheran give up their dreams to self-isolate. Our hearts are with swimmers that will leave the swimming career without getting into the Olympics. However, the good news is various home exercises for swimmers to stay in shape are available even if you cannot get your feet in water for some period.
COVID-19 outbreak is coming with news every day; as an Aquastream family, we are concerned about our members. To help to prevent the virus spread in Vaughan, we have suspended all classes till April 6. You can follow updates on our Facebook page. We wish the soonest end to a virus threat to see our swimmers back in the pool. Meanwhile, we are trying to assist our readers with useful tips to stay in a healthy mind and body.
Here go several home exercises for swimmers to stay in shape before they can return to the pool exercises:
Do core exercises at home
For the most core activities, you don’t need any equipment; it is easy to implement and there many online resources to guide you through the process. A strong core what you need to push, confront and pull yourself forward in the water. Consistent core workouts will help you to stay in shape and easy your return to swimming regime.
Some core exercises you can do at home without any equipment include:
The plank
If you have never done the plank before, begin with short length planks for 10-20 seconds and increase the length gradually. Try to stick to rules and stay in the proper position. That will tighten not only your core but most of the body.
V-Sit kicking
It is a more challenging exercise that targets internal and external obliques, hip flexors and rectus abdominis to improve trunk and core balance. Don’t worry about the times you can perform this ab exercise; the feel of the burn will signal that it works.
Superman
In contrast to the V-sit kicking the superman is one of the easiest core exercises for swimmers to stay in shape at home, yet very effective. It targets your spine from hip to neck and improves core strength in obliques and low back.
Hip Bridges
One more easy, lazy, yet capable exercise for everybody; hip bridges are glute-toning activities but develop a strong core for the rest of the body as well. For the two last exercises, do them as much as possible in combination with the other two to create more tension in muscles.
Walk in the fresh air or do multi-muscle walk training at home
We don’t argue that walking will keep you in shape as running or swimming because it is a low intense low impact type of training. However, it is sufficient to stay on schedule, and when mixed with different exercises, it can be quite powerful.
Swimming vs running: keep heart healthy, body fit
We have already talked about differences in swimming and running based on their influence on the heart. Good to know that both exercise types similarly influence the heart. However, running is a high impact exercise and suits better people who don’t have injuries or specific conditions. We suggest having short running sessions combined with walking in fresh air during the self-isolation period.
If you have the running experience, you know how long you can run without exhausting and demotivating yourself from doing it daily. Most of the swimmers combine both activities; thus, it should not be a challenge to replace one with another. Our suggestions on home exercises for swimmers to stay in shape also include outside exercises because altogether they are dryland exercises for swimmers that don’t require a pool to practice.
Weight exercises for more advanced athletes
You can do weight training at home if you have some equipment. Home exercises for swimmers to stay in shape include all levels of training, beginning from the easiest and ending with high impact training to build the whole body strength. That includes power cleans, clean pulls, kettlebell swings (suitable for all level swimmers, you can use light weights), rollouts, deadlifts, and so on. Remember to keep proper positioning and posture while performing all exercises, especially weight lifting. Posture and positioning in dryland activities are at least as necessary as for swimming training in a pool.
To sum up
Review all the home exercises for swimmers to stay in shape listed in this blog post. Identify with what level of training you feel comfortable. Finally, create a small schedule for yourself, try to follow it daily, at least three-four times a week.
As we assume that you don’t have access to the swimming pool in those days, we are not suggesting to align your training with your swimming goals and current areas of improvement. Just keep yourself in shape.