Imagine gliding through the crystal-clear water, each stroke a dance of grace and freedom. The sunlight sparkles on the surface, and as you breathe in the cool, refreshing air, you feel a sense of rejuvenation wash over you.
Swimming isn’t just exercise; it’s a meditative escape, a way to connect with your body and spirit. Each lap brings a sense of flow, allowing the stresses of the day to dissolve with each powerful kick and rhythmic breath.
Amidst this blissful experience, the last thing you need is an injury! That’s where prehab (short for prehabilitation) exercises for swimmers comes into play.
In this blog we explore common swimming injuries and how effective, tailored, prehab exercises for swimmerscan help you maintain your passion for the sport while safeguarding your health.
Overuse Injuries In Swimming
* The information is provided in good will for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional or medical advice. See our full disclaimer here.*
Most swimming injuries fall into the category of overuse injuries. They usually have a gradual, insidious onset/worsening of symptoms over time, starting as a niggle and turning into a naggle!
Some examples of overuse swimming injuries are swimmers shoulder (where the rotator cuff and bicep tendons become inflamed and irritate the nerves and other structures beneath), swimmer’s knee (causing pain on the inside of the knee, particularly common for breaststroke swimmers, and swimmer’s back (also more common in breaststroke swimmers).
Overuse injuries in swimming are usually related to one or more of these factors:
- A sudden increase in a particular movement (e.g. swimming a long distance when you’re not used to swimming)
- Excessive and repetitive loading of the muscles/joints (e.g. swimming much further or harder than you’re used to)
- Not resting enough and/or poor recovery
- Decreased strength and/or mobility at key joints – shoulders, hips, spine
- Insufficient core strength and/or joint stability
- Stroke mechanics and breathing technique
Basically, Tension > tolerance = injury!
Cultivating a prehab routine can help to negate these factors. These essential exercises for swimmers are designed to strengthen, mobilise, and stabilise your body, ensuring that your time in the water remains joyful and unencumbered.
Thread The Needle
This exercise increases mobility in your spine and shoulder, as well as strengthening your triceps and supraspinatus (a rotator cuff muscle).
Pro tip: Roll your shoulders open as far as you can as if opening against a wall behind you.
Plank to Downdog
Plank to Downdog strengthens your shoulders throughout the full range of flexion. This exercise improves shoulder stability, core strength, and spine & shoulder mobility.
Pro tip: from the downdog position keep your hips high while pushing your chest forward between your arms and looking to your hands to create extension in your spine.
Dumb Waiters
This is a shoulder stability exercise that strengthens the rotator cuff muscles and rhomboids which sit between your shoulder blades.
Pro tip: keep your upper arms and elbows tucked in tight to your sides, as if you’re squeezing oranges under your armpits.
IYTs
IYTs improve shoulder flexibility and scapular tracking (how your shoulder blades move). You can do these with or without a resistance band.
Pro tip: Keep your shoulders down away from your ears throughout and avoid leaning backwards as your arms raise.
B*stards Variation
This exercise teaches your shoulder blade and shoulder to coordinate their movements and strengthens your rotator cuff muscles. It provides important stability for the catch and pull aspects of your stroke.
Pro tip: Use a light weight first and build to a moderate weight. Aim for high reps and/or continue until you can’t do a single one more.
Side Plank
Use side plank to build strength in your oblique (waist) muscles, shoulders, and outer hips.
Pro tip: Imagine a rectangle from right shoulder to right hip, across to left hip, and up to left shoulder. Keep each corner of the rectangle facing the front and don’t allow your shoulders to droop to the floor.
Prone Swimming
This exercise may feel gentle, but you get a big bang for your buck! It strengthens the back line – hamstrings, glutes, erector spinae, lats, traps, and rhomboids. It also teaches your core and limbs to coordinate swimming specific movements in a controlled setting.
Pro tip: Keep the headlights of your pelvis stuck down to the floor as you lift your leg to ensure you’re moving from the hip and glutes.
Back Extension
Strengthen your back and improve your flexibility with back extension.
Pro tip: Look down to the ground as you lift your upper body to keep your neck in a strong neutral position.
Lats Stretch
The lats are huge muscles on your back and in fact they are the only muscles that connect your shoulder and pelvis. This means there’s a big demand on them in swimming. Show your lats some love with this – the greatest stretch in the world!
Pec Stretch
We could all do with stretching our pecs. These muscles of the chest can cause shoulder and neck pain when they’re tight and unhappy. Keep them sweet with this gorgeous pec stretch.
Build A Routine
These exercises for swimmers are most effective when they become part of your weekly routine. Aim to do at least 10-20 minutes of prehab twice a week to reduce your risk of overuse injury. You can even use prehab exercise as a warmup (though save static stretches like the pec and lat stretches for after your swim).
Get Strong For Swimming With Pilates at Cove
Making and sticking to a plan can be the greatest barrier to those who mean well by starting a prehab habit. Take the thought out of it and let us do the work!
In just 1-2 Pilates classes a week you’ll hit all the major muscle groups involved in swimming whilst building full body strength, stability, and mobility for real life impact.
See you on the mat soon!
Jennie
Hello@covecornwall.co.uk
Cove Mind & Body
Fore Street
East Looe
Cornwall
PL13 1AD
