Introduction 

• I have created a separate piece on my preferred ‘overall gym’ exercises. That piece focused on individuals looking to maximize lean muscle development and looking for the ‘cover page’ body. So if you are interested, check it out here: http://jablifestyle.net/2016/04/24/optimal-gym-exercises/.
• However, that isn’t what everyone is looking for in a gym routine, many people look to use the gym to supplement there training for the sports they love and/or compete in. This post will focus on the best gym exercises for swimmers, but I aim to create similar pieces for other sports in the future as well, so please let me know your requests.
• One important thing to highlight before I get into the detail; swimming is the best way to get better at swimming, and the same is true for any other sport. That seems obvious but can easily be forgotten. Always remember to use the gym or ‘dry land training’ as a supplement not replacement for hours in the pool focusing on stroke and swimming specific fitness.
• When thinking about using the gym to supplement your training you want to be focusing on those exercises you can perform that will  transfer over to increased performance in the pool. However, don’t try to replicate movement too much. What you don’t want to do is negatively alter your stroke style through exercises in the gym.
• The exercises I detail below are focused on swimmers looking to improve explosive power – help you get of the blocks faster and maximise your turn – help power production in your stroke, as well as injury prevention.
• The aim of this piece is threefold; (1) explain why the Holy Trinity is so important in swimming (2) detail additional exercises which are best for swimming (3) provide additional information if you want to specialise further, including differences you should apply if competing in short distance rather than long distance swimming.

Use of Holy Trinity 

• With swimming the key power areas are; gluts & quads (legs & hips), your chest, your latissimus dorsi (lats), your shoulders and finally your core which allows the power to transfer from lower to upper body.
• The sentence above justifies the importance of the Holy Trinity more than any other. No other 3 exercises will develop those power areas than the Holy Trinity (squat, bench press, dead lift.)
• Squat – Whenever you push off the wall after a turn, you’re essentially doing a squat, and in a swimming pool, the wall is your best friend. The best swimmers in the world are the ones who maximise their turns and doing squats helps this. I would suggest doing both front squats & back squats – not necessarily in the same session – to ensure you get full coverage.  Front squats puts more emphasis on the quads and increases the knee flexion. The back squats – as you might guess – place more emphasis on the glutes & hamstrings.  A secondary exercise to the squat is the seated leg press, I would do this after your squat sets. It is still good at working the leg muscles, but it doesn’t work your core anywhere near as hard.
• Conventional Deadlift – An exercise which can cover both legs & back, so both upper & lower body coverage. Ensure you are controlled both in lifting the bar but importantly also in returning the bar after each rep.
• Bench Press –  If the squat focuses on lower body, and the deadlift crosses that boundary, then the bench press is the king of the upper body workout. For swimmers I suggest both the flat & incline bench press. I strongly advocate the incline bench press because in many strokes – especially freestyle – the upper chest and shoulders are extremely important, which this exercise focuses on.

Other Core Components 

• Whilst the Holy Trinity is fundamentally important, it isn’t the only exercise regime in a swimmer’s locker. I often tell swimmers to use the Holy Trinity as the base, those are the fundamental components to your weeks work out sessions. Everything else (explained below) is a supplement to that which can more easily be swapped around to keep things fresh.
• Many of the standard exercises you do in the gym can be used for swimming specific training, when deciding what makes the list and what doesn’t, I suggest using the following checklist:
  • Is exercise building explosive power? – The times when swimmers need power is in the blocks and in turns, and both of these are explosive movements. Your endurance strength comes from your hours in the pool, use the gym to focus on maximizing your explosive power.
  • Is exercise developing strength? – Once you’ve got your list of exercises which focus on explosive power the next test is around strength. Look for exercises where you can apply high intensity & low volume reps. Doing 5 sets of 40 reps of non-weighted calf raisers is the opposite of what you are looking for here.
  • Is exercise maximizing muscle groups? – Swimming is one of the great all body sports around, therefore there is no need to isolate muscles in the gym. You don’t want to spend your whole time in the gym, you want to be in the pool, so ensure you are maximizing your time. Hitting multiple muscles with a single exercise will minimize the hours you need to spend in the gym and maximize the benefits.
• Hopefully that brief checklist will help you sort the best from the average/harmful exercises to do. Don’t throw everything in the bin, not every exercise will hit all of the above perfectly but you should prioritise those which tick the most boxes.
• Here is the list of exercises I think do a good job at ticking the above boxes and you should seriously consider implementing:
  • Stiff-leg Deadlift –Be careful, this is an advanced deadlift and requires great hip flexibility along with an ability to maintain a natural curve to the spine. The stiff-leg deadlift really focuses on muscles surrounding your hips, which will help you improve the transfer of energy between lower & upper body.
  • Jump Rope –  This is a very easy exercise, and you don’t need expensive equipment and lots of space. This focuses on your calves, reflexes, and core.
  • Overhead Presses  – These are especially good for freestyle & butterfly swimmers. I think doing this exercise with kettle bells is particularly effective.
  • Wide Grip Lat Pulldown – If you narrow your grip, you focus more on your biceps that your lats, hence why wide grip is important. This is an exercise where you can relatively easily maximise the high intensity & low reps requirement.
  • Narrow Grip Seated Row – This focuses primarily on your middle & lower trapezius muscles. The key with this exercise is to keep your back as straight as possible, don’t use your momentum to complete the exercise, focus on your back doing the work.
  • Standing Pull Downs – This is an exercise that probably matches the stroke most closely, but definitely not closely enough to cause any unintended stroke amendments. Make sure you keep your arms straight on the pulldown otherwise the focus shifts onto your triceps.
• In swimming you really can’t underestimate the importance of big back muscles, hence why I’ve added 3 exercises which are predominately back focused.
• The above a just a few examples of good exercises swimmers can do to supplement the Holy Trinity. It definitely isn’t an exhaustive list so add any in addition which fit the above criteria.

More Information 

• So far in this piece I have focused on the best exercises to do, what I want to do now is provide some key information and things to consider when using the gym to supplement and improve your swimming.
  • Keep Things Fresh – To get the most out of training, you need to change what you do every so often because your body gets used to the same thing over and over again. I suggest picking the Holy Trinity as your base, but rotating between a few different back, shoulder and arms exercises. It’s good for your muscles but also your brain and stops you getting bored!
  • Sprint Vs Long Distance Swimmers  – The exercises above have been pretty generic, without much differentiation between different strokes and different distances. I would suggest that distance swimmers should look to do higher reps and lower weight in the gym to focus on muscles endurance and consistency. Short distance swimmers should focus on lower reps and higher weights, as they want to be as explosive as possible and endurance is of much less importance.
  • No Need To Isolate – You don’t want to spend your whole week in the gym, I suggest doing 2 high intensity sessions each week made up of 5-8 exercises per session. Look for every exercise you do to be targeting multiple muscle groups, isolation is for bodybuilders not swimmers!
  • Importance of Diet – It doesn’t matter how many hours you put in the pool and the gym, if you don’t have your diet correct you won’t see the improvement you want. I often find that swimmers have a high metabolism, which is not surprising considering how many calories they burn in the pool, but this makes supplements important. Do your research into supplements. At a minimum I would suggest protein shakes pre and post session. Diets and supplements are very personal and I don’t want to play doctor, therefore ensure you are doing your own research and consulting based on your body.

Conclusion 

• The aim of this piece was to help show the types of exercises and considerations swimmers looking to use the gym to supplement their training and performance should consider. I’ve covered different exercises, based around the Hoy Trinity, as well as additional information and tweaks for people looking for different outcomes. Do remember that the best way to become a better swimmer is to swim, so please keep doing the hours in the pool, and enjoy what you are doing!

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