Articles and Videos
Three Drills to Improve Your Freestyle Catch
If you've been working on your freestyle technique for a while, you've likely been thinking about your freestyle catch. The catch is perhaps the most important aspect of the freestyle stroke, as that’s where you generate most of your propulsive power from.
In-Water Stretching Drills for Swimmers
Staying flexibile is a critical skill for swimmers because it improves streamlining, stroke mechanics, and resistance to injury. But staying flexible as we age isn’t always easy.
Butterfly One-Two-One Drill
Butterfly can be the most exhausting stroke to swim, and it takes many swimmers of lot of practice to learn the proper timing. Practicing it, however, can be exhausting. Once you’re worn out, your stroke will start to fall apart, at which point you’re practicing bad technique—that’s never a good thing.
Three Pull Dryland Exercises Better than Pull-Ups
When we're talking swimming, we know pulling is important. Being able to grip the water and pull yourself forward is critical for both performance-based goals and just pure enjoyment of the sport.
Great Dryland and Core Exercise for Swimmers: Weighted Circles
Strong shoulders and core muscles are key to any swimmer’s success, and this exercise can help build both.
Five Exercises to Help You Recover After Swim Practice
If you’re like many Masters swimmers, you bolt for the showers and then the door immediately after practice. Most of us have so many other demands on our time and commitments, it can be difficult to take a moment to fully transition from the work of the session to the rest of your day.
Two Tips for a Strong Butterfly Kick
Butterfly is often considered the most challenging of the competitive swimming strokes because it requires strength, stamina, and superior timing. Much of the propulsion in the stroke comes from the powerful dolphin kick, and it can take some time to master the undulation you’ll need to execute that kick while learning how to employ this energy-gobbling movement most efficiently.
Best Muscle Builder for the Back and Shoulders
Swimming isn’t just about pulling. For sure, you have to pull, but you also have to rotate effectively in order to pull efficiently.
Three Steps to Freestyle Flip Turns
If you’ve never learned to do a flip turn in freestyle or you need to improve your technique, you’ve come to the right place for fundamental help.
Perfect Pre-Swim Pallof Press
When you find you have a couple minutes extra before swim practice, use that time to complete this simple exercise that will prepare your body and mind to better manage body rotation in the water. Controlled rotation means a more efficient stroke.
Three Swim Dryland Exercises for Improved Overhead Range of Motion
Swimming requires its practitioners to spend a lot of time reaching overhead, but sometimes that can cause your mid-back to tighten up. This in turn can force the lower back to take over in managing that overhead reach, which can cause further pain and discomfort.
Three Ways to Use Your Arms When Diving from a Starting Block
While it may seem like diving off the starting block is all about explosive power from the lower body, it turns out your arms provide some of the propulsive power as well. Harnessing that strength can help you get off the block faster and stronger.
Secrets to a Super-Fast Start
The fastest moment of any swimming race occurs before you even enter the water. When you burst off the block to commence the race, you fly through the air much faster than you can ever cruise through the much denser-than-air water. That’s reason enough to harness your start for as much propulsion and speed as it can give you, so you can start your race going as fast as you possibly can.
Improve Your Front Quadrant Swimming
If you watch an aerial view of elite swimmers, you’ll notice that they always have a hand or arm out in front of their heads. This is called front-quadrant swimming, and the best of the best use it because it lengthens your body and helps with stroke timing.
Dryland Exercise for Optimal Shoulder Mobility
Do you struggle to hit a strong overhead position in swimming and sometimes need to arch your lower back to get into that position? This could be because of some tension in your shoulders. This band exercise can help.
Core Stability Exercise for Swimmers
Too much wiggle in the water is inefficient and can lead many swimmers to meander down the lane like a snake slithers. This common problem usually means the swimmer has good range of motion and good rotation but doesn’t have quite enough core strength to control that rotational movement. This core stability exercise can help you learn to better control that side-to-side wiggle.
Should You Exhale While Swimming?
One of the most common questions many swimmers ask is whether they should be exhaling while they’re swimming. Quite simply, yes. You should always exhale while you swim, no matter which stroke you’re swimming.
How to Strengthen Your Core and Swim Faster
Body position in the water is perhaps the most foundational, important aspect of being able to swim fast and efficiently. It can be challenging to develop the core strength needed to achieve the ideal body position, but these three core progression exercise can help.
Freestyle Swimming Pro Tip
We can learn a lot from the drills that the pros use. The Popov drill is named after legendary Russian sprinter Alexander Popov and is perfect for developing your length, balance, control, and rotation.
Dryland Circuit for Leg Strength
