4 Great Dryland Swimming Exercises To Practice During the Offseason

As swimmers, it's important to keep our bodies in shape for the water. Swimming is one of the few sports that require almost all of our muscles to work hard and that’s when 'drylands' come in. Dryland consists of exercising out of the water in order to strengthen the important muscles for swimming. Here are 4 great drylands exercises for swimmers!

Forearm Planks

Planks are an awesome dryland exercise that is wildly popular among swimmers because they work the most important part of the body for swimming: the core. Swimming requires constant work from your core so it’s important to keep our cores strong. A lot of people think that we just need to work or ab muscles, but the core consists of your ab muscles all the way around to your back muscles. The forearm plank is a go-to exercise for swimmers because it works your entire core.

How to do a forearm plank:

1. Place the forearms on the ground with the elbows aligned below the shoulders, and arms parallel to the body at about shoulder-width distance.
2. Ground the toes into the floor and squeeze the glutes to stabilize the body. Your legs should be working in the move too; careful not to lock or hyperextend your knees.
3. Neutralize the neck and spine by looking at a spot on the floor about a foot beyond the hands. Your head should be in line with your back.
4. Hold the position for 20 seconds. As you get more comfortable with the move, hold your plank for as long as possible without compromising form or breath.

You should to work in 3 rounds into your dryland routine.

Jump Squats

Jump squats are a great exercise for swimmers because not only do we need to work our core, we need to work our legs. Swimmers use their legs all the time, obviously for kicking. But, it is also important to have powerful muscles for pushing off the blocks and the wall. Swimmers spend a lot of time pushing off the walls at practice, and during races having powerful pushes off the walls are crucial. Jump squats make for a great Dryland exercise because they simulate jumping off of the wall and strengthen your leg muscles.

How to do a jump squat:

1. Place your feet shoulder-width apart
2. Start by doing a regular squat, then engage your core and jump up explosively.
3. When you land, lower your body back into the squat position to complete one rep. Land as quietly as possible, which requires control.

Internal and External Rotations

Swimmers use their shoulders a lot. They use them so much that shoulder injuries are very common, so it is important to strengthen your shoulder in order to prevent injury. Internal and external rotations are great exercises for shoulder injury prevention and just require a small towel and an elastic band. Here is a link to a great video on how to do them:

Flutter Kicks

Flutter kicking is something that swimmers do every time they swim, but there is also a dryland version of flutter kicks. These are great to do as a swimmer because flutter kicking is used every time you jump into the water, but also because it works your ab muscles and hip flexors.

How to do flutter kicks

1. Lay down on your back
2. put your hands underneath your butt
3. outstretch your legs as straight as possible
4. Keep your legs straight, toes pointed, and kick your legs just like you do in the water.

Do this for 30 seconds - 1 minute without letting your feet touch the ground. Here is a link to a video that demonstrates this exercise:

Staying Swim-fit

There are a lot of muscles that get worked every time you swim and as you can see, there are many different exercises that you can do to strengthen those muscles. The stronger you can make those muscles, the more it will help you in the water. It is very important to do dryland exercises because it will strengthen your muscles, aide your body in the water, and help you overall to be a better swimmer.

About the Author: Brooke Miller
Hi, my name is Brooke and I've been teaching swim lessons for 2 years with ages 4 to 10. I'm a senior at Azusa Pacific University studying music. I have been a competitive swimmer since the age of 9 and I'm currently on the swim team at Azusa Pacific. I love teaching swimming because with years of experience as a swimmer, I can help people learn to swim and help them improve.