Flexibility for Swimmers
The best swimmers incorporate flexibility training into their regimen for two main reasons. First, as muscles are stretched, the individual fibers lengthen. A longer muscle fiber can create more force when it contracts. So flexibility training helps to increase the muscle's ability to pull you through the water. One of the causes of poor performance in swimming is often due to lack of flexibility, the limitation of range of movement in the joints, in particular the shoulder and ankle joints. It restricts the extent to which a limb can be placed in the water to give maximum effect for efficient stroke technique, hence the speed and endurance of a swimmer will suffer. Where there is stiffness in a joint the muscles have to work harder to overcome this stiffness and the body is using up valuable energy which could otherwise be used to swim faster. By increasing the range of movement in the shoulder, spine and ankle joints, vital energy is saved, technique improves and the swimmer is able to swim faster, harder and longer. It also prevents injury like torn muscles and aching shoulder joints, which is very common amongst swimmers with poor flexibility.
Second, the less
turbulence you create as you move through the water, the faster you will go.
One of the biggest causes of turbulence is moving your body from side to side
as you swim. Flexibility training will increase the range of motion of your
joints, which allows you to move the joint instead of your whole body. This
creates a more fluid motion in the water and less turbulence. Allysa Lutz, a collegiate swimmer and multiple triathlon winner, believes that, flexibility can make the difference
between someone swimming smoothly and efficiently, and someone splashing and
making more waves than progress.
As one gets older,
flexibility becomes less, even with regular training in the water. It is
therefore important that swimmers do flexing and stretching exercises
regularly. For young swimmers, especially those who are just starting to train,
it is even more important to exercise because a marked loss of flexibility
occurs between the ages of 11 and 13 years, to maintain their natural
flexibility throughout their swimming life.
Every swimmer can find
time to exercise once or twice every day for 15 minutes. The exercises are
simple, require no equipment, no special rooms and can be done anywhere, whilst
watching T.V., for example. Some exercises can even be done in the back of a
car on the way to the pool, whilst waiting for the bus or when walking home
from school.
All swimmers should also
do some flexing and stretching before getting in the water to prepare the
muscles to do work and after training to prevent stiffening up. Those who do
weight training, flexing and stretching is important
before and after the weight work.
In general, simple
mobility exercises, stretching the spine, shoulder, hip and ankle joints are
all that is basically required. However, a swimmer who has a particular
weakness should consult the coach who may then design a special program to
overcome this problem.
Any flexing exercise
which involves bouncing and jerking movements should not be used as this could
cause painful damage to the muscle and the joint. Forced stretch where another
person is attempting to force the joint that little bit further, should be
avoided unless that person is experienced and qualified. Remember, the other
person cannot feel what the swimmer feels. By the time the swimmer tells him
‘it hurts”, it may be too late; the damage is done and that could mean the
swimmer is a long time out of the water waiting for the damage to heal up.
A complete stretching program will include
the following components:
- Proper warm-up: Muscles and tendons stretch
easier and stretch farther when they are warmed up. Think of your muscles
and tendons as pieces of gum; when gum is cold and you try to bend it, it
breaks in half, but if it is warm, it just bends and stretches. So before
you start stretching, play around in the water, moving all your muscles, get your heart rate up a little by swimming a few easy
laps at an easy pace.
- Stretch all the muscles you will use: We tend to think that we will
only be using our shoulders and glutes/quads
during swimming because those are the muscles that usually get sore after
a good swim workout. In truth, you use almost every muscle in your body!
Depending on which stroke you swim (freestyle, breast-stroke, back-stroke,
or butterfly), you will use some muscles more than others, but they should
all be stretched.
- Length of stretch: It's real easy to rush through our stretching
program to get to the fun part of the workout; but then we wonder why we
don't get more flexible. Each stretch should be held for 20 - 30 seconds
to increase flexibility. A shorter stretch may feel like plenty, but it's not.
This is one case where more is better. Research has shown that 20 - 30
seconds of stretching will increase flexibility, and holding stretches up
to 2 minutes is even better. So take a few extra minutes, and hold those
stretches a little longer.
- Stretching repetitions: When you strength train, you do more than
one repetition of an exercise, so why not do more than one repetition of a
stretch? After holding a stretch for at least 20 - 30 seconds, release it,
relax a moment, and stretch it again. You will find that the second and
third stretches go a lot farther and really make the muscle feel relaxed.
- Intensity of stretch: Stretching should not hurt. If it does, you
are stretching too far. You should be able to feel a stretch as a slight
pull on the muscle and tendon. Hold that position until you no longer feel
the stretch, then pull a little more until you feel the tension again. If
you feel any pain at all, STOP, you are stretching too far.
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