Elevate Your Swimming Technique This Summer

Swimming is a full-body workout celebrated for its cardiovascular benefits and low-impact nature. Yet even the most dedicated swimmers can plateau in performance or struggle with technique inefficiencies rooted in muscular imbalances or limited flexibility. Physical therapy offers targeted stretches and strengthening exercises to enhance range of motion, power, and stroke efficiency—key ingredients for swimming success.

A swimmer’s shoulders, core, hips, and ankles all play pivotal roles in propulsion and body alignment. Addressing these areas with intentional movement can reduce injury risk and improve endurance.

6 Essential Exercises to Improve Swim Technique:

Add these into your workout routine to target muscle groups that can improve swimming technique.

1. Begin with Improving Breathwork

• To practice proper core engagement and breathing for swimming, sit upright, roll your shoulders back, and place one hand just below the sternum and the other on the pelvic floor.
• Breathe normally for 20–30 seconds, observing whether your rib cage or abdomen moves. Then take a few deep breaths; if the upper hand moves more, your breath is staying in the thoracic region, indicating a lack of lumbar stability. To correct this, gently press into your lower abdomen with your bottom hand and use your intra-abdominal muscles to push the hand slightly outward without moving the rib cage. This activates a stable pressure system in the lumbar area, grounding you and relieving lower back tension.
• To test this, place your hand on your “six-pack” muscles, relax your intra-abdominal muscles, and activate the six-pack instead. If you lose the abdominal breath and hunch forward, it shows the pressure system has collapsed, reinforcing the importance of using deep core muscles for proper support.

Why is Breathwork Important in Swimming?

To improve body position and reduce drag in the water, swimmers can pull the rib cage downward and tilt the pelvis slightly forward, which flattens the lower back and minimizes sway, enhancing glide and potentially easing lower back pain. During exercise, although increased breathing causes the thoracic cavity to expand, this posture can still be maintained by engaging the intra-abdominal muscles along the pelvic floor—rather than the superficial “six-pack” muscles—which helps stabilize the core and maintain an efficient, streamlined position in the water.

2. Plank with Shoulder Taps

• Begin in a plank position with your wrists aligned under your shoulders and your feet about hip-width apart.
• Lift your right hand to tap your left shoulder, then return it to the floor.
• Lift your left hand to tap your right shoulder, then return it to the floor.
• Continue alternating shoulder taps until you complete the set.

3. Inclined Superman

The inclined Superman exercise targets your glutes and hamstrings by keeping your knees straight, forcing the hamstrings to engage at the hip and enhancing hip extension strength for a more powerful kick.

• To perform the exercise, lie face down over a stability ball with your toes on the floor and your heels pressed against a wall to anchor your feet.
• Keep your legs straight and position the ball so it sits at your waist, with your head lower than your hips.
• Extend your arms overhead, hands touching the floor. Inhale deeply, then exhale as you lift your upper body off the ball as high as possible, keeping your hips and upper legs in contact with the ball.
• Focus on squeezing your glutes throughout the movement. Feeling tension in your lower back is normal—it means those muscles are supporting your lift. Lower back down with control and repeat.
• For added resistance, hold a medicine ball in your hands.

4. Wall Sits

Wall sits can be done anywhere you have access to a flat surface. Wall sits help develop muscular endurance, reducing fatigue and enabling athletes to maintain peak performance for longer durations.

• Begin by standing with your back against the wall, feet shoulder-width apart and about two feet away from the base.
• Engage your core and slowly slide down the wall until your thighs are parallel to the floor, forming a 90-degree angle at your knees.
• Make sure your knees are aligned directly over your ankles, not extending past your toes, and keep your back flat against the wall. Hold this position for 20 to 60 seconds.
• Then, slowly slide back up to standing pushing through the heels. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat for a total of three rounds.
• As you get stronger, increase your hold time in five-second increments.

5. Standing Calf Raises

The standing calf raise targets both the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, with the gastrocnemius contributing power to your kick and supporting the soleus.

• To perform the exercise, stand with your feet together. While you can do this on a flat surface, standing on the edge of a step, curb, or bench allows for a greater range of motion and better results.
• Position yourself so only the balls of your feet are on the edge, with your heels hanging off.
• Hold onto a sturdy surface for balance.
• Lower your heels as far down as possible, then press up onto the balls of your feet, lifting as high as you can.
• Ensure both legs are working equally.
• Slowly lower back down and repeat for the desired number of reps.

6. Jump Squats

This advanced dynamic exercise builds explosive power and should only be performed after a thorough warm-up.

• Start with your feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent.
• Lower into a full squat position, then drive through your quads, glutes, and hamstrings to explode upward, fully extending your legs so your feet lift several inches off the ground.
• As you land, absorb the impact by rolling through your feet (toes, ball, arch, heel) and immediately drop into another squat to begin the next jump.
• Maintain a fluid, continuous motion between reps.

The number of squat jumps per set will vary based on your goals. For power and vertical jump improvement, focus on height and explosiveness—aim for 3 to 4 sets of about 5 reps. For general conditioning, perform more reps at a quicker pace to build endurance.

Check out our social media posts this week for stretches to compliment these exercises. Flexibility is paramount in swimming as the full range of the joint is often used. Strength throughout the range is important for better propulsion through the water.

Incorporating these exercises into your training regimen fosters balanced strength and flexibility. Over time, swimmers can expect smoother strokes, improved speed, and fewer injuries—proof that technique is as much about preparation as it is about time in the water.