Step Up Your Swim

Lap up even more from your swim with tips from Donna Aston, a health and fitness expert who specialises in performance nutrition and emotional intelligence

Love swimming but not keen on the gym? You can create a purpose for your weight training and, at the same time, improve your swimming technique.

Train to swim

By setting yourself a goal at the gym to improve your core and shoulder strength for the pool, you will see great benefits in your swimming speed, technique and endurance. This adds substance and purpose to training out of the water and helps you to work out more effectively in the pool. The number-one exercise for you is the ab plank.

To do the ab plank: Lie facedown on the floor with your upper body propped on your forearms and your elbows directly beneath your shoulders. Your torso should be up off the floor so your body is in a straight line, supported by your forearms and toes. Your back should not arch or droop. Work your way up to holding this prone position for 60 seconds and you’ll be well on your way.

Pace your workouts

While it's not wise to push yourself in every swim, you do need to acknowledge when it's time to be thrown in at the deep end! Alternate a steady combination of three hard pool workouts each week, with a few leisurely swims in-between for maximum efficiency and recovery. Your muscles need time to restore and rebuild after strenuous activity. Swimming hard every day could actually be detrimental to your recovery. Give your body at least 48 hours between hard workouts to ensure optimum results.

Mix it up

By adding various elements to your swimming routine you'll not only make it more interesting, you'll create a highly efficient body-conditioning workout. Include some interval training elements and you can also double your kilojoules burned!

For example, rather than swimming 4 x 50 metre laps at a moderate pace, you could mix it up as follows:

First 50 metres: moderate pace, followed by 20 tricep presses on the edge of the pool
Second 50 metres: fast sprint, then 20 ab curls holding the edge of the pool
Third 50 metres: leg kicks with a board
Fourth 50 metres: sprint backstroke for the home run!
Rest period: 5 minutes, then repeat the cycle!

Set yourself goals

Gradually increase the intensity of your workouts so you can become a stronger and better swimmer. While everyone has their limits, aim for quality rather than quantity.

Want more? Why not start a walking program or practice daily Tai Chi? See more from Fitness

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