Usually on EliteFTS, you hear about training those in the “power” sports, but rarely do you read about training a potential champion swimmer. I was lucky enough to train two sisters who were excellent swimmers. One was 13 years old and one was 16 years old. Their father spent a lot of money taking them to swim coaches and events and paying for their training, but he always neglected the obvious training—strength and conditioning.
These girls will most likely be major players in the swim world one day—the 13 year old more so than the 16 year old. They have solid times and have success in that sport, and with the proper training in addition to their coaching, they will make a name for themselves.
When I had these girls, one thing I noticed right away was their lack of muscularity and power. I set out to change that the best way I knew how. This was a daunting task because I’ve never swam competitively, worked with a swimmer, or looked into training one. I wasn’t about to let that deter me from this though, so I did my homework, combined that with my experience, and developed a comprehensive strength program that would assist them in becoming more powerful athletes. I wasn’t so focused on general conditioning because both girls log a ton of hours weekly in the pool. I didn’t feel the immediate need to get them in shape, but I did feel the immediate need to get them stronger.
What I know about swimming is that coming off the wall is the difference between a good swimmer and a great swimmer. Being explosive is the key, so I had them work on lower body strength doing front squats, trap bar deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, and jumps of various types and exercises to strengthen the hip flexors for kicking through the water. At first these girls had pathetic vertical leaps, but after several sessions, there was a marked improvement and their lower body strength went up rather quickly.
The second area of concern was their upper body, namely the shoulders and back. As we may know, swimming requires a powerful stroke through the water, which is facilitated by having a strong back and shoulders and mobile rotation through the shoulders. Many swimming injuries are rotator cuff related—often tendonitis. Knowing this, I set out to train their upper bodies as I would a baseball pitcher. This meant using neutral grip presses and hand walking exercises (in the plank position); using the Free Motion cable machine to strengthen the “rotational muscles;” doing “hands supinated” chin-ups or inverted rows (TRX, blast straps, or laying down), pull-downs to the chest (never behind the head), and push-ups; and doing various overhead medicine ball throws from a stationary position or moving/jumping.
Another area of concern was the core. Swimmers need to have a strong, stable core to be able to stay stable throughout the race, hold that position without tiring, and be powerful through those strokes. If their core is weak at all, it will greatly hinder their success. Using various leg raises (which not only work the abs but also the hip flexors) and plank holds for time (to build static core strength), I felt maintaining a strong core would complement the rest of their body.
I double checked my regimen with an old friend who was an excellent swim coach, and he said it was solid. So I went about my business for my sessions with them. During this time, I noticed a marked improvement in strength, power, and mobility. I was sure to warm them up using a dynamic and static warm up and cool them down with stretches that kept them loose to avoid any tightness as a result of the strength training.
In the twelve sessions I had with them, they improved their gym performance a great deal. Their dad was always watching over the sessions, and I had to take a lot of time to explain to him what I was doing and why. Several times he told me that other swim coaches recommended the same exercises for them, but they never did it. This reinforced my belief that an athlete’s parent is never the best choice to be a “strength coach” for their children.
I also noticed that the father was the kind of parent who seemed to live vicariously through his children. He pushed them hard, and a few times I wanted to tell him, “They are kids. Relax.” But overstepping my bounds in regards to my thoughts on his parenting isn’t in my job description.
All in all, he was very pleased with the training and so were they. I wish I had a happy ending to this, but there isn’t. I didn’t see them through to a state championship. Every time they were in the gym without me, he had them doing behind the neck pull-downs, heavy barbell curls, and other exercises that I felt were counterproductive to their end goal. I actually had a talk with him about that once when I witnessed it. He agreed to stop with the exercises that would actually hurt them instead of help them.
When it came time for them to renew their training contract after the twelve sessions, he felt that spending the money on technique coaching would serve them better than working with me. Even though the girls loved working with me, he had his own ideas about getting them more pool time and less gym time. Therefore, I lost them as clients. No matter what I said to him about proper training or getting stronger, he was hell bent on having it his way. I never saw them again in the gym.
Even though I did my homework, improved their fitness and strength, and—by his own admission—improved their times in the short period I had them, they were no longer mine to work with. We can’t win them all, can we?
Regardless of how this ended up, I took on athletes in a sport I had no real knowledge of and analyzed the situation to develop the best program I could, one that I felt would help them with their swimming careers. I only hope that one day the father realizes these girls will need a lot more than pool time if they are to compete at a higher level. I hope he takes the proper action to make that happen.
Don’t pigeonhole yourself into always wanting to work with football, baseball, basketball, soccer, or lacrosse players. Educate yourself about all sports and know the methods of training for all of them. One day a parent may show up at your door with a swimmer as well, and being prepared to train them could mean a new revenue flow and a chance to help mold a champion from a good athlete.
PDF 
good article… So far, ive only trained people who have approached me in the gym and have wanted to get bigger and stronger. I’m still a college student in my senior year, so training people hasn’t become my first priority yet, but when I do graduate and start training full time, I definitely want to take on athletes of all calibers. I think a lot of us in the power sports forget and dismiss other athletes because their sport might not be “hardcore”, but I like how you took this on and got results. It’s inspiring.
Thanks Jay,
Article made my day!
I have been training 2 female masters swimmers, one for around 18 months and the other for 5 months ,just nice to hear that i am pretty much using the same exercises that you used. Not coming from a swim background made me really think hard as to how to increase strength and power especially as both were over 50 years of age. Results have been very encouraging with both swimmers.One thing that does baffle me however is although both are predominately sprint swimmers is the amount of endurance work swim coaches have them do. Any thoughts?
Zach, thank you. It was fun with those girls while it lasted.
Martin, I still hear of FB coaches, baseball coaches and some basketball coaches who still tell their athletes to go jog a couple miles for conditioning… the only thing you can do is focus on what you well and suggest to the coach to specialize their pool time into shorter swims rather than endurance. Even that, swim coaches are notoriously hard-headed, so good luck.
While being stronger and in better condition than all of my competition garnered me moderate success as a high school swimmer, when I got to the college level I was always getting my ass handed to me by swimmers who were much weaker than me and didn’t have exceptional cardiovascular conditioning past my own but simply had much better technique. None of the swimmers on the best relays for my college could bench 205 or full squat 225.
But everyone I could convince to do face pulls for shoulder health benefited greatly. An imbalance that a decade of swimming could be greatly improved in as little as 2 weeks of doing face pulls twice a week.
I don’t know how much core work Jay had his kids do, but swimmers tend to go completely bat-shit overkill on the amount of ab work they do. Most swimmers would benefit more from doing some full squats and deadlifts, even with very light weight, just so they could build some flexibility. Swimmers are bad to have terrible hamstring flexibility since a kick in freestyle or butterfly basically takes the hamstring from being about 90% flexed to 100% flexed – not much of a ROM.
Personally, the greatest things I ever did out of the water for swimming was increasing the amount of chin-ups and dips I could do with just my bodyweight and keeping my cardio high in the off season with long distance road biking.
Penn, you are right for sure. I didn’t have the girls doing heavy weights at all, and since I wasn’t in charge of technique coaching I can’t tell you what they did in the water.
I don’t see a need for a swimmer to be throwing up some serious poundages, their sport isn’t reliant on max strength as much as it is muscular endurance and power.
But judging by their times, they were damn good at it. IMO what they needed was not only more swim work, but work out of the pool and they got it. Technique is key as well in swimming since the sport is so dependent on an efficient stroke, but I can’t change that, the only thing I can change is how physically prepared they were to do it.
excellent reply and thank you for the feedback.
They also got a full stretching regimen as well for the lower body, core and upper body. I didn’t overdo the ab work but we did do it at the end of every session.
Well done, Zach. Swim parents are the WORST. I swam on the national level growing up and I feel for you. My lifting approach was to lift with the football team and go to swim practice.
Fantastic article! I never thought I would ever see an article on swimming on elitefts.
Would you be able to recommend any dynamic warm up movements for swimmers?
I would say the best ones are to keep the lower body mobile and limber, as well as the shoulders.
Don’t overthink the warmup, as long as they are loose, mobile and ready to go… who cares what exercises and what order you do them in.
Good article,
I will have the opportunity to train a swim team in August. I knew some of the general weaknesses of most swimmers when I interned at a great facility in Las Vegas. My program will be very similar to yours. I was wondering if Olympic lifts would be necessary with young swimmers? I see the efficacy in the lifts, but would it be worth spending time coaching these lifts.
aqua kinetics work really well for swimmers. I like to really train them on the glute ham raise.
I focus training their elastic energy.
Benching isn’t a good idea for swimmers. squats don’t really do much for them either.
I use bands in the pool to train them for their push off the wall.
And swimmers swim so much because there is so much technique involved.
Look at Phelps, Phelps trains for six hours a day, six days a week, he gets 2 massages a day.
Interview with Phelps:
IGN Sports: You’re 6′ 4″, about 200 pounds. Is your physique all from swimming, or do you hit the weights?
Michael Phelps: I’ve never lifted a single weight in my life. It’s all from training in the water, period. That’s not to say I wouldn’t lift in the future, but now, no.
( source http://sports.ign.com/articles/627/627665p1.html )
It’s a very interesting topic.
And the father probably didn’t resign up for sessions because their swimming didn’t improve. Not because he wanted it his way. I’ve seen crazy parents as well, and one thing is for sure, if you make their kids better at their sport, THEY WILL resign with you.
I made the mistake of improving kids lifting without caring about how it’s going to effect their sports performance. I made all my guys stronger, but I found that stronger doesn’t always mean better. Everyone is so different.
Carlos, I think you can get more out of the training by keeping it simple rather than teach young swimmers Olympic Lifts. Takes too much time and its not necessary for swim success.
Jare, the problem is their times DID improve.
He admitted that to me. His problem is that he wanted total control and he wanted to use the sessions that he got a deep discount for because of his bargaining with the salesman and playing games to learn what I did and then do it himself. Not just that, at first he questioned why they were even doing jumps, he had no idea of basic strength training, and that is ok… I went out of my way to explain why I was doing everything, but you gotta understand how much of a meddling parent this guy was.
For example when I talked to him about his girls performance one meet he said “my wife is mad because she only improved her time by 2 seconds and she is pissed off at that”… I was really pissed at hearing that… parents forget that sports are FUN and I feel these girls were pushed and pushed and pushed so hard that they really don’t have fun with their childhood. They don’t smile often, they are VERY quiet, I know they are shuttled all over the NE USA to coaching clinics, private coaches and tournaments… so I can imagine how these parents are to them.
At the end of our sessions he never came back to the gym again, I haven’t seen him since, even though he admitted the girls times were improving and their own coach said they were looking better off the wall… its puzzling to me… but that’s his choice.
While everyone is different, and I am 100% sure that technique is incredibly vital in the pool, these girls weren’t explosive at all, nor did I have access to a pool to work with them in.
As a swim coach/personal trainer I really like the article. Unfortunately thats how a lot of swim parents are,. I have started training some of my teams swimmers (aged 15-18) and several have made huge improvements in their times, strength and coordination. Like you said I wasn’t to worried about their conditioning, but their lack of coordination does concern me, but is usually fixed by doing sequences of jumps or throws, as well as the regular lifts. Kettle bell exercises are also great for swimmers.
Many parents just don’t understand what their kids need to be successful because just like Strength Coaches and Trainers swim coaches all have different styles and methods of doing things.
BTW I’m currently training a 15 year old girl to go to Jr. Nationals, and another girl that has just gotten a scholarship to BYU and won 2 events at Texas state high school championship.
Definitely enjoyed the article and would love to see more water sports related posts.
Jay,
I see your point. Congrats on improving their times! In the end that’s all I’m interested in. helping the athletes out.
Parents can be our great ally or our worst enemy.
One of the things i’ve been interested in over the last few years is how some athletes never lift weights and dominate.
Why some people improve from weights and others seem to get worse. It’s so weird to me.
I had a hockey player who could squat a house, but when he did he got slower. When I stopped squatting and doing deads, he was faster. So thats how i train him.
Thanks for writing the article and replying to comments.
Jare, different people have different proportions of each fiber type in their muscles, and different people have different capacity to use kinetic energy and the elastic reflex in their muscles. People who are genetically extremely explosive, like Mike Tyson and (presumably) Michael Phelps, can do a bunch of endurance work and even lose some of their type II fibers (in favor of non-explosive, weak type I) while still maintaining a large level of explosive power and lb for lb strength. By the way, if you had your hockey player do some dynamic effort workouts and keep his heavy squatting in the 1-5 rep range, he would likely be able to improve his squat, overall strength, and maintain his speed and explosiveness. Weights don’t make you slow, bodybuilding does. 9 times out of 10, if a guy is getting slow from weight training it’s probably because his weight training is too much like bodybuilding.
The problem with strength coaches who train swimmers is two fold.
1. they fall into training “athleticism” or 2. they cause a large gain in muscle mass
The last thing most swimmers need is more mass. the program i work under uses dead lifts, some squats, dips and pullups. there is a base level of carryover with the leg strength of a squat but it doesnt matter on much of anything except the turns. the volume on these is also very low.
overhead pressing is strictly verboten, because any additional mass in the shoulders increases the cross section of the body moving through the water. medicine ball drills are used alot and pullups are the most important.
where we train we have a coremax jump machine, basically weighted jump squats that removes the eccentric load attached to a tendo, that works very well for improving power output. it also doesnt make them that sore (good thing if you know how much swimmers train) or cause much gain in mass. when world record holders say it “keeps you sharp” you know its doing something right.
if your s&c for swimmer, realize what you do has the least carryover to the water of anything they do, other than thirsty thursday, and as such, you have the greatest ability to make them worst if they train in ways that are not appropriate,
cool info wyatt