Yesterday I thought I would do some squat-jumps for starting block practice. Is this a good exercise? I only did 3 x 10 but today my legs feel like jelly. What other land exercises can anyone reccommend to better that reaction time and lengthen that distance off the blocks?
Syd
Yesterday I thought I would do some squat-jumps for starting block practice. Is this a good exercise? I only did 3 x 10 but today my legs feel like jelly. What other land exercises can anyone reccommend to better that reaction time and lengthen that distance off the blocks?
Syd
This is a good exercise. You probably want to add weights over time. It will also really help you explode off of the wall on your turns.
You might also try standing long jumps to increase distance.
As for reaction time, there's nothing like having someone give you a "take your mark... go!" We used to play a game for this where the starter would have us take our marks and then say "go!" or "stand up..." randomly.
I just need to watch out for the dogs!
greg
Quite, or falling up the stairs...my friend broke her arm that way! :confused:
I thought about this soime more yesterday and realised that the start is the only part of the race that has nothing to do with swimming at all.
Perhaps we would benefit from doing the same exercises that track athletes do to practice starts.
No box squats/ squat jumps of any kind for me. My chiropractor is totally against them. My neck and spinal cord also did not agree when I attempted them.
A few of the USA-S swimmers seriously injured themselves doing these specific exercises. One landed on his patella and it shifted around to the back of his knee. Another broke his leg. :toohurt::toohurt::toohurt: You'll see plenty of people doing them. They can give great results provided you don't hurt yourself in the process. Just a heads up.
Yesterday I thought I would do some squat-jumps for starting block practice. Is this a good exercise? I only did 3 x 10 but today my legs feel like jelly. What other land exercises can anyone reccommend to better that reaction time and lengthen that distance off the blocks?
Syd
Those are great to do. Make sure you do not stop in the set at all. 10 explosive jumps. Treat the ground like it is 1000 degrees. For more work do somehting that isolates your calfs. But if your legs are jelly, ease into it.
My family think Im weird for doing this but at our house when I go up the steps I hop them jumping up with 2 feet to next step rather than just walk up the steps. With the amount of times I go up during steps at home it turns into a pretty good workout. I just need to watch out for the dogs!
greg
