October 26, 2021
How To Warm Up Before You Swim
A proper warm-up is essential before you swim. Warm-ups help prime you for your session while reducing your injury risk. Here’s how to do it.
I don’t swim all that often these days, but I used to swim 15k to 40k a week during my pro days.
Before every swim, before I even entered the water, I would do a short dynamic warm-up on the side of the pool – or on the beach beside the ocean.
This warm-up did two things for me.
- It loosened me up, got the blood flowing, and improved my range of motion.
- It mentally prepared me to jump into cold water.
Anyone who has ever swum somewhere cold will know the horrible feeling of jumping into a cold pool in the middle of winter. Anything you can do to improve that experience is a wonderful thing.
What is a Dynamic Warm-Up?
A dynamic warm-up is a series of movement drills used to warm up your body before exercise.
An effective dynamic warm-up increases your range of movement and blood and oxygen flow to your muscles, tendons, and ligaments before they’re called upon to do a serious training session.
These movement drills reduce your risk of injury from increased elasticity in the muscle.
Cut Race Times, Not Corners.
Racing at your potential and enjoying training is easy when you’re following the right programme.
How To Do A Dynamic Warm-up
- Find an area with plenty of space to move within.
- Make sure you target and activate the same muscle groups you are about to use in training.
- Simulate a similar movement pattern you will do during training to warm up your tendons and ligaments that support your joints.
- Ease into each movement and gradually increase your range of motion.
- Each warm-up that you do should last between 3-10 minutes.
Ready to Warm-Up? Here’s How …
I demonstrated some of my favourite warm-up exercises for swimming in the video above. So watch that and give the exercises a go. They will help you warm up various muscle groups and prep you for your swim.
Enjoy!
Ben Pulham