Swimmers, Use This Strength-Building Workout to Get Pool-Ready

Amplify your training and your results with this strength-building workout for swimmers. A focus on upper body and core blends with total-body drills to make you unstoppable no matter the terrain.

WARM-UP

Perform each movement for 45 seconds.

Plank Walkout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwzHarE-ftM

• Stand with your feet under your hips and your hands at your sides.
• Bend your knees to move slowly to the floor, and keep your toes grounded as you walk your hands out to come into plank position.
• Hold the plank for a second, and then walk your hands back the same way to return to standing, with smooth transitions as you move, and back strong from head to heels.

Modified Side Plank

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7cLUU7110k

• Begin lying on your side, with your knees stacked and bent, feet stacked slightly behind you. Rest on your bottom elbow for support. Your other hand should rest on your hip.
• Lift your hips up toward the ceiling to a side plank, keeping your back strong from head to heels and pressing through your shoulder to support.
• Hold, then lower your hips and repeat. Switch sides.

Down Dog Walkout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRtGCEu8FZY

• Stand tall. Keep your spine long and shoulders wide as you bend your knees and place your palms on the ground. Begin to walk out into a plank, then push your hips up to the ceiling to come into down dog.
• Keep your hips up as you walk your hands back toward your feet, and roll up to stand.

Body-Weight Bridge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwDsM0USPvQ

• Begin on your back with your knees bent and your feet planted hip-width apart and your arms by your sides.
• Keep your neck long and relaxed and your core engaged as you press strongly into your feet. Squeeze your glutes and lift your pelvis up toward the ceiling as far as possible without straining.
• Maintain parallel thighs and breathe naturally. Hold, then release back to the ground.

Lunging Hamstring Stretch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nJiPEN6eO8

• Stand tall. Step with your right foot into a forward lunge.
• Place your hands on the floor by your front foot, then push your hips up to the ceiling and straighten your back leg to stretch.
• Bend your knees and return to stand, and repeat on the opposite side.

Modified Side Lunge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9xLdGQ9Cfs

• Stand with your feet wider than your shoulders, toes facing out.
• Shift your weight into your right leg as you sit down into a slight side lunge.
• Hold and breathe, then push up through your foot to return to stand. Alternate sides.

Squat Kick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3NwYJJbmNk

• Stand with feet wider than your shoulders, toes pointed forward.
• Drop your hips back and down into a squat. Shift your weight into your left leg as you begin to stand, and bring your right leg up to perform a forward kick.
• Return to stand, drop back into a squat, shift your weight into your right leg, and bring your left leg up to perform a forward kick. Continue alternating sides.

WORKOUT

Perform each movement for 30 seconds and proceed through all four movements in a superset, without stopping. Rest 60 seconds.

Perform each superset twice before proceeding to the next superset.

Superset 1

Medicine-Ball Squat Circle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYeHp1kENj0

• Stand with your feet wider than your shoulders, holding a medicine ball at your chest.
• Squat down and touch the medicine ball to the ground.
• Keep your spine long and your shoulders wide as you slowly stand, bringing the ball up to the left, then up over your head and to the right. Squat as you complete the circle with the ball and touch the ground. Alternate directions.

Tip: Use your whole body as you perform the move, rotating through your hips.

Barbell Deadlift Row

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC5ukgegfJs

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a barbell at your thighs. Your hands should be about a thumb’s length from your legs.
• Engage your core, keep your knees soft, and push your hips back and hinge forward as you lower the barbell to your knees, keeping your spine strong.
• Squeeze your shoulder blades as you row the barbell up to your bellybutton. Your elbows should point straight back toward the ceiling.
• Lower the barbell and push your hips forward to return to stand.

Modified Plank

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmi047aVatA

• Begin in a low-plank position, with your forearms on the ground, your elbows under your shoulders, and your knees and toes touching the ground.
• Keep your spine long and your shoulders wide, and lower your hips so that your torso forms a strong, straight line from head to knees.

Parallel Squat Jump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgdiFg24rqc

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Drop your hips down and back into a squat, swinging your arms out behind you. Drive through your heels and explode straight up, lifting your chest and swinging your arms straight up.
• Land softly in a squat.

Superset 2

Kettlebell Rotating Press

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdhuKR40RwY

• Stand with your feet under your hips, holding a kettlebell in your right hand at your right shoulder.
• Rotate through your torso to your left and press the kettlebell toward the ceiling, releasing your right foot as you turn. Keep your spine long and your shoulders wide.
• Rotate and lower the kettlebell. Shift the kettlebell to your left hand and repeat, rotating to your right.

Dumbbell Seated Biceps Curl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liI3Au-RvPI

• Sit on a bench with your feet planted on the floor. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing your sides.
• Keep your spine long and your shoulders wide and curl the dumbbells up to your shoulders, rotating your palms to face you as you curl.
• Rotate your palms to face each other as you lower the dumbbells to your sides.

Kettlebell Wide Squat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsFq89-bSmo

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and hold a kettlebell in both hands at your chest.
• Bend your knees as you sit back and down into a squat. Keep your chest lifted, and make sure your knees track over your toes but not past them.
• Push through your heels to return to stand.

Dumbbell Front Leap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPa4wNin-_g

• Stand tall, holding dumbbells at your sides.
• Leap forward with your right foot and stick the landing, bending your knees and keeping your feet close together as your left foot trails and hovers behind your right foot.
• Step back and leap with your left foot.

Superset 3

Kettlebell Swing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiN7uH-AmiQ

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and hold a kettlebell with both hands in front of your hips.
• Bend your knees, push your hips back and down slightly, and pull your shoulders back and down so that your trunk is strong and ready.
• In one smooth motion, hike the kettlebell back between your legs, then push your hips forward as you swing the kettlebell forward with straight arms, up to chest height.
• At the top of the movement, squeeze through your glutes and exhale. Inhale as you swing the kettlebell down and back.

Tip: Don’t swing the bell higher than your chest.

Medicine-Ball Diagonal Lunge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgM_FedoLGg

• Stand tall, holding a medicine ball.
• With your arms straight, lift the medicine ball to shoulder height.
• Keep your left foot planted and step forward with your right foot into a diagonal lunge, rotating the medicine ball and your torso to your left.
• Push through your right foot and rotate as you return to standing.
• Repeat, stepping forward with your left foot. Alternate sides.

Side Plank

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhqTU2zjE4Q

• Begin in a high-plank position, with your hands under your shoulders and your spine long.
• Keep your body rigid as you rotate to your left, opening your left arm and lifting it to the ceiling as you come to rest on the sides of your feet.
• Engage your abs, lift your hips to the ceiling, and stack your left foot on top of your right foot. Rotate back to prone plank, hold for 30 seconds, and then rotate and repeat side plank on your right.

Medicine-Ball Squat Rotation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htRKPGeQcp0

• Stand with your feet wider than your shoulders, holding a medicine ball.
• Squat down with the medicine ball, bringing it to your right foot.
• As you stand, bring the ball up and across your body, rotating your hips to the left.
• Bring the ball up over your left shoulder, keeping your elbows straight as you move the ball and releasing your right foot as you twist.

COOL-DOWN

Standing Hurdle Stretch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PySxVZZXmc

• Stand tall with your hands on your hips.
• Draw your right knee up to waist height, keeping your foot flexed, your spine long and your shoulders wide.
• Rotate through your hip to bring your knee out to your right, keeping it parallel to the ground. Once you’ve gone as far as you’re able, drop your foot lightly to tap the ground and then lift your knee out to your right.
• Rotate internally through the hip to bring your knee forward, then drop your foot to the ground.
• Keep your standing leg straight for the duration of the movement.

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Photo credit: Aqua Chara, Unsplash