Hi All, Ive been getting back into swimming after a long time off. My right shoulder feels a bit weak right now. I'm wondering what I can do to strengthen it? Cheers, AJ
Everyone says squats are great but I'm not keen to try because I don't want to go hard on my knees.
Try doing squats with just body weight...little easier on the knees.
I've heard that lat pull-downs and seated rows are good for swimmers. Of course if you have shoulder problems maybe not. I'm approaching it gradually with a reasonable amount of weight and reps and doing rotator cuff exercises with stretch cords, etc. as well, because I don't want to get an injury.
Everyone says squats are great but I'm not keen to try because I don't want to go hard on my knees. Maybe later if I build enough strength. My main focus is avoiding injuries and building strength, in that order.
Here's some swimming specific dry-land exercises that you could add to your strength training regime to improve your swimming.
swimming.about.com/.../evfdrylandtrain.htm
Wow, great replies! I've added some kind of squat to my routine. I think they work really well, already I feel better as I swim. I didn't want to do a lot of weight because of the knees issue. I find that just an 8lb weight in each hand is sufficient. I hold the weight in front of me, and feel the exercise through the core and into the shoulders. Feels and works great!
Yesterday afternoon during practice I was practicing an early catch and high elbow position while doing 50m free sprints and it struck me that my forearms were starting to ache. Firstly is my technique good that this is happening, and secondly, if it is good then surely I should be doing exercises to build up my forearms for strong sprinting. Apologies if this is an extremely elementary question!
Syd
i sometimes workout with a retired gentleman. He says the best exercise in the weight room is watching the young women.
Sooo THAT'S why those men follow me around....
just kidding.
Yesterday afternoon during practice I was practicing an early catch and high elbow position while doing 50m free sprints and it struck me that my forearms were starting to ache. Firstly is my technique good that this is happening, and secondly, if it is good then surely I should be doing exercises to build up my forearms for strong sprinting. Apologies if this is an extremely elementary question!
Syd
My forearms burn when I sprint breaststroke, so I'm curious also whether this is a sign of solid technique or something that might need to be adjusted.
Originally Posted by craiglll@yahoo.com forums.usms.org/.../viewpost.gif
i sometimes workout with a retired gentleman. He says the best exercise in the weight room is watching the young women.
Sooo THAT'S why those men follow me around.....
Question is:
a) are they fast enough to follow you and catch-up (or even keep up)?
or
b) are they smart enough (if not fast enough) to wait for you at every other turn?
Where I swim, it's both a) -because I can- and b) -to make them think that I'm not even breathing hard (from whatever cause.)
Yesterday afternoon during practice I was practicing an early catch and high elbow position while doing 50m free sprints and it struck me that my forearms were starting to ache. Firstly is my technique good that this is happening, and secondly, if it is good then surely I should be doing exercises to build up my forearms for strong sprinting. Apologies if this is an extremely elementary question!
Syd
Probably need your forearms for EVF on free and for breaststroke as Inklaire notes.
If you want to strengthen your forearms, do some reverse curls, palms up/palms down wrist curls with handweights, preacher curl on the machine or hammers. I don't do a lot of these myself, although I will do alternating hammers on a bosu. In fact, I do many handweight exercises on the bosu because then you are simultaneously working the core and legs. Doing superman streamlines on the bosu is a great exercise too. Anyone who can do superman streamlines on stability balls is a real animal!
