Dryland Mania: Out-of-the-Pool Drills to Help You Succeed in the Water
“Coming to practice is only part of being a great swimmer.” Those were the words my coach always used to tell me. Sure, swim Practice represents the best opportunity for a swimmer to get better. Through building strength and speed in the water, this time is obviously essential to performance in the pool. However, swimmers often find a dilemma as they grow older: a certain level of strength is needed to be a great swimmer, strength that pool training exclusively can’t provide. Enter Dryland Training.
Dryland Training is often a program of exercises on land, utilized to replicate the movements made in the pool. The strength and stability created through these movements has been found in research to increase pool speed, through an increase in “explosiveness” in the athletes. However, to get the most out of dryland, swimmers should use helpful, specific movements, rather than simply building all-around strength. To help with this, I assembled a group of exercises that have helped me grow as a swimmer over the years. These exercises can largely be done without weights or equipment, in the safety of your own home. With these tools, you can reach your maximum potential out of the pool!
Building Core Strength
Flutter Kicks
We’ll start with an obvious one. Flutter kicks replicate the freestyle kick movements we see every day in swimming during the majority of our practices. However, doing flutter kicks provides a different benefit. It allows us to simulate keeping our core tight while kicking. A swimmer’s ability to use their core while swimming aids the body line in all strokes. Focus on heavily contracting and keeping your legs straight, in order to maximize the impact.
Two-Point Plank
Flutter Kicks do a great job of engaging the core, preparing you for your work in the pool. But the move is done sitting in a stationary position, not allowing for the rotation that comes with freestyle and backstroke, especially. The two-point plank solves this issue. As you can see, swimmers take turns lifting one arm and the opposite leg while in the plank, creating a level of instability. It takes a strong core to be able to balance while in this position. Swimmers can feel extension to each side in freestyle and backstroke, as they reach with each arm and leg.
Shoulder Stability
I’s, Y’s and T’s
As a swimmer, your shoulders find themselves constantly stressed. Long, aerobic sets can lead to serious strain and eventually possibly tears. This makes strengthening these muscles extra important, and “I’s, Y’s and T’s” do exactly that. This exercise focuses on the scapular region, as you extend overhead in the shape of the letters I, Y, and T. You should feel your upper back muscles working as you extend overhead. Add weight if it feels necessary.
“No Moneys”
The exercise band is often a swimmer’s best friend. The device can aid swimmers in all sorts of shoulder mobility exercises, making it a key tool. No Moneys work the scapular group, similar to “I’s, U’s and T’s.” The exercise stimulates the muscles by pinching the shoulder blades together with each rep. Internal/External rotation moves focus on the rotator cuff within the shoulder, a common injury point for swimmers of all ages. By exercising these muscles, we can ensure better mobility of our shoulder as well, allowing us to reach further with every stroke. These exercises and many others using the exercise band can lead to improvement and injury avoidance, making it a must-buy.
Strength
Pullups (Assisted if Needed)
A swimmer’s pull in all four strokes creates a surge of power, sparking their success. For this reason, coaches often employ “pull sets” to work on this strength. But a little work out of the pool can go a long way in improving this area as well. Pullups involve swimmers “pulling” themselves up rather than through the water, but involve a similar motion. If needed, bands can be purchased to assist with the pullup motion.
Wall Sits
Wall sits have always been one of the most popular “dryland” exercises, torturing swimmers for generations. I can still recall my age-group days, my legs burning through the torturous exercise. However, wall sits are used commonly for good reason. The exercise works the swimmer’s quads heavily, this muscle being the biggest propellant of both freestyle and breaststroke kick. Steadily increase your time holding the sit as you improve, in order to get the most out of the exercise.
Explosive Movements
Squat Jumps (With Streamline)
So far, we’ve talked a lot about moves to help with the various strokes. But starts and turns can be just as essential, winning races through explosive bursts of athleticism. Just ask Caeleb Dressel, whose explosive start and turn have been hallmarks of his career. Squat jumps are a good simulation of this explosiveness. The move asks you to load up in a similar position to how you would during a turn, sitting in a chair-like position. You then explode from this position, replicating the motion from a turn. Try forming a tight streamline when “exploding” on each jump, for an even more realistic simulation.
Broad Jumps
When completing a start, the worst thing you can do is dive downward. A lack of lower body power during the start can often lead swimmers to dive straight down rather than out, sagging behind the competition. Broad Jumps provide a solution to this, while helping all swimmers strengthen their lower body as well. The move calls for swimmers to jump as far as they can outwards and land lightly, briefly calling for as much lower body power as possible. Through a very simple movement, you can work toward a head start over the competition.
This list will surely improve your swimming, but it isn’t the end all, be all. Talk to your coach about exercises to improve your swimming out of the pool. They’ll be able to provide workouts specific to you, exploiting specific weaknesses in your strokes. Through specific dryland work out of the water, you’ll see massive strides made in pool performance.