Dry land workouts for sprinters

As my workout room is at home, I do: 30 crunches 30 push ups (till failure) 8 pull ups 6 squad jumps 5 minutes rest between them and this complete set 3 times. Takes about 30 minutes. I do it 2 to 3 times a week. I know there are better ways but I think it is better then doing nothing.

I created my own alternative weight program that is more a compliment to the pool workout than a supplement. Its very targeted and only addresses a few of my needs. I felt the main reason i needed the weight room was just to work on some extra power in my pull. Nearly everything else about my swim is well balanced and doesn't need extra work in the weight room. My weight program is 3 days a week for about 25-30 min and goes like this: Each day Lat pulldowns, close-grip. Seated rows , close grip swim bench (incline bench, lay on stomach facing adjustable cable machine with two handles. Pull backwards similar to a "swim bench" Alot like a standing front pulldown, but laying down) triceps, dumbell overhead. The above are done one of four approaches, use each once on a seperate excercise above, alternate them day to day. 4-5 sets. Increasing weight per set. Reps 20, 15, 12, 10, 8. Last set last rep should get pretty hard to finish. 4-5 sets. Decreasing weight per set. Reps 10, 15, 20, 25-30. 4 sets. Light weight high speed power reps. I try to match my estimated 50 free pace and stroke count over the expected finish time with as high of weight as possible to still accomplish the reps per time. (ex: 22 reps in 22 seconds). Fight through the lactate burn. 4 sets explosive power. Start with medium-light weight. Sets of 10-15 working on explosion of the contraction, then slowly back down. Move weight up each set, but not past the point where you can still explode on the muscle contract. Alternating days pick two of these: Incline dumbell press Dumbell Shoulder press seated bicep curl pullups, close grip (though I have problems doing more than 5-6 reps on the bar). Pick two of the approaches above for these. Core.. the only core ex I do are hanging leg raises, start training(kills the abs for me), and underwater sprint SDK. Legs.. mostly done in kick sets, but occasionally I also do jumps in the shallow end (40 seconds jumping, 20 seconds rest. chest deep water, hands over head, knees come out of the water each jump) So like today I did: 5 sets seated row, increasing weight 4 sets lat pulldown, explosive power 4 sets swim bench decreasing weight 5 sets triceps, speed/power 4 sets shoulder press increasing weight 4 sets pullups, explosive Make sense? As I said, this is very short and targeted, and I ALWAYS swim a warmup, a couple sprints, and some SDK work on "weight days". Very interesting. I did pretty much the opposite last year! Due to small tears in my shoulder and elbow in 2012, I had to lay off most upper body work in the gym. Instead, I concentrated on legs, core and plyometrics. I was, somewhat to my surprise, faster without the upper body work. I postulate that I was able to punch my pool workouts more because the upper body work/soreness was killing my pool workouts. I also postulate, again without any evidence, that upper body work may be more important for long course where SDKs are minimized. I'm currently trying to figure out how much upper body work to add back when my elbow is better. I might just add back explosive pulldowns and med ball slams.

I created my own alternative weight program that is more a compliment to the pool workout than a supplement. Its very targeted and only addresses a few of my needs. I felt the main reason i needed the weight room was just to work on some extra power in my pull. Nearly everything else about my swim is well balanced and doesn't need extra work in the weight room. My weight program is 3 days a week for about 25-30 min and goes like this: Each day Lat pulldowns, close-grip. Seated rows , close grip swim bench (incline bench, lay on stomach facing adjustable cable machine with two handles. Pull backwards similar to a "swim bench" Alot like a standing front pulldown, but laying down) triceps, dumbell overhead. The above are done one of four approaches, use each once on a seperate excercise above, alternate them day to day. 4-5 sets. Increasing weight per set. Reps 20, 15, 12, 10, 8. Last set last rep should get pretty hard to finish. 4-5 sets. Decreasing weight per set. Reps 10, 15, 20, 25-30. 4 sets. Light weight high speed power reps. I try to match my estimated 50 free pace and stroke count over the expected finish time with as high of weight as possible to still accomplish the reps per time. (ex: 22 reps in 22 seconds). Fight through the lactate burn. 4 sets explosive power. Start with medium-light weight. Sets of 10-15 working on explosion of the contraction, then slowly back down. Move weight up each set, but not past the point where you can still explode on the muscle contract. Alternating days pick two of these: Incline dumbell press Dumbell Shoulder press seated bicep curl pullups, close grip (though I have problems doing more than 5-6 reps on the bar). Pick two of the approaches above for these. Core.. the only core ex I do are hanging leg raises, start training(kills the abs for me), and underwater sprint SDK. Legs.. mostly done in kick sets, but occasionally I also do jumps in the shallow end (40 seconds jumping, 20 seconds rest. chest deep water, hands over head, knees come out of the water each jump) So like today I did: 5 sets seated row, increasing weight 4 sets lat pulldown, explosive power 4 sets swim bench decreasing weight 5 sets triceps, speed/power 4 sets shoulder press increasing weight 4 sets pullups, explosive Make sense? As I said, this is very short and targeted, and I ALWAYS swim a warmup, a couple sprints, and some SDK work on "weight days".

I'm currently trying to figure out how much upper body work to add back when my elbow is better. I might just add back explosive pulldowns and med ball slams. If I could only do one thing to help... It'd be my "swim bench" thing described above with explosive approach for sprint free. Nothing quite like that in all the other stuff I do.

I just started doing a dryland routine (last time I did one was about 8 years ago) last night--while I'm not a true sprinter, I do focus on the shorter events (200 on down), so I think the exercises I do would probably be comparable to what you'd want to do as a sprinter. Here's part of the routine I did last night. I don't have the whole workout on hand, but this is a good portion of it. Abs/core Crunches with feet on the ground Crunches with feet in the air Right obliques Left obliques Flutter kicks Donkey kicks Bridge Plank Legs Squats Calf raises Lunges Stair steps Streamline squat jumps Broad jumps Side lunges Wall sits Upper body Regular pushups Wide grip pushups Diamond pushups Dive bombers Arm circles with arms held out to the side Facedown tricep raises Rows Dips For each exercise, I did one set of 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off, just getting in as many reps as I could without hammering it so hard I crashed and burned. This was all bodyweight exercises with no weights, stretch cords, or medicine balls. I'm getting that stuff this coming weekend, so I'll be incorporating it into my workouts, but this group of exercises would serve as a great base for dryland training. In addition, I'm considering dropping some of the exercises from each section and dropping down to 6 or so per section, then doing three rounds of 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off for each exercise. Three rounds of abs, three of legs, and three of upper body.

If I could only do one thing to help... It'd be my "swim bench" thing described above with explosive approach for sprint free. Nothing quite like that in all the other stuff I do. I do something similar in the pool with paddles and a parachute. I would think forearm strength would be very important.

Lift beverage to mouth Drink return beverage to coaster Repeat Be sure to alternate arms every once in a while. You don't want to risk an elbow injury.

I do something similar in the pool with paddles and a parachute. I would think forearm strength would be very important. Certainly important but I don't know if i'd say very important. I'm getting enough forearm work in that area with the excercises above and swimming. I can't see any major power being gained in forearms but rather stability of the wrist. There are some excercise I list above that work stability and forearm strength to some factor (and some I don't list above that I do regularly to treat other problems like rotator cuff and strengthen stabilizers that normally don't see any activity)

Lift beverage to mouth Drink return beverage to coaster Repeat :anim_coffee: Hey, Coconut Pete! I just noticed you're from Lakewood, California. That's where I grew up! And, my mom still lives there. Is Lynn Cox your teammate?

Lift beverage to mouth Drink return beverage to coaster Repeat :anim_coffee: