Dry Land Training

By Dick Hannula

Supplement your swimmers’ strength and power training with dry land training. Schedule a designated time for your dry land training when the equipment and facilities are available. Your time training out of the pool will also change during the course of the swim season according to the phase of your in-pool training. During the peak preparation period, your dry land training will decrease considerably, and it will be at its highest point during transition training.

My dry land program changed every season according to my team’s training phases and the availability of equipment and facilities. My dry land program includes the following: surgical tubing units, swim benches and swim sleds, medicine ball training, basic exercises, flexibility exercises, and weight training. However, I couldn’t possibly use all of these on any one day because of time constraints and equipment availability. I suggest rotating specific groups of swimmers through your planned dry land training on alternate days. Such an arrangement will result in maximum use of the equipment you have available.

Surgical Tubing Units

Surgical tubing units are inexpensive and can be safely anchored to diving board railings and to wall eyebolts. I like to have them anchored at a position above shoulder height. Your swimmers, at minimal risk of injury to themselves, can duplicate swimming movements closely, resulting in an increased power and endurance that will transfer effectively to their swimming.

I use these units every season, and each swimmer owns his or her own. I prefer a paddle at each end of the tubing to simulate the hand position while swimming.

Here is a sample training session using a surgical tubing unit:

Perform each exercise for 30 repeats or one minute. Do the repeats of each exercise with fast movement but perfect technique. Perform three sets of each exercise in numerical order:

1. Butterfly full stroke
2. Elbow forward extension presses
3. Lateral forward arm swings
4. Butterfly recovery
5. Butterfly finish
6. Butterfly full stroke (a second set)
7. Backstroke pull-downs
8. Breaststroke pull

One round of this particular set would take 24 minutes. The number of repeats and the rest interval would depend on the stage of the season. This particular set would probably be used in midseason. Emphasize that each set must be done with perfect technique and fast execution.

Swim Benches or Swim Sleds

Swim benches and swim sleds are both units on which the swimmers lie in a prone position and simulate a swimming stroke, usually butterfly. On the swim bench the body remains stationary, and the machine setting determines the amount of resistance that the arm stroke will have to overcome. Swim benches can usually give you a power rating that is scored electronically.

On the swim sled, swimmers lie on a movable platform and pull their body past their arms, as they do in actual swimming. The swim bench helps the athlete attain the feeling of swimming while providing additional resistance. The body doesn’t move past the arms on the bench, but your swimmers can duplicate fast swimming strokes with variable resistance.

Pair up your swimmers, with one doing the bench or sled exercises and the partner performing sit-ups, push-ups, or some other exercise while waiting. A typical sled set would be 5 3 20 repeats with good technique and a power pull on the sled. Partners would alternate on the sled after each set of 20. The swim bench set would vary the resistance and the number of repeats according to the stroke and distance swum.

Medicine Balls

Medicine ball training increases core strength as well as strength of the extremities. Review a list of recommended medicine ball exercises to determine which best serve your needs.

In using medicine balls, I like twist and turn drills, passing drills, and stomach exercises. You can create many interesting and motivational drills with medicine balls.

Basic Exercises

Our basic daily exercises include a minimum of 300 sit-ups and 100 push-ups. When I have suitable equipment, I add pull-ups and dips to our program. The sit-ups and push-ups take very little time and can be done anywhere that is convenient to the swimmer.

Provide your swimmers with some time for flexibility exercises before they go into the water. At the Australian Institute of Sport, where a specialist teaches flexibility exercises at the start of each session, the swimmers report to practice 15 minutes early to do their exercises.

You must sell your swimmers on the benefits of being flexible. Teach them the necessary exercises at the start of the season. There are a number of excellent sources for flexibility exercises, including a booklet published by USA Swimming. (One Olympic Plaza, Colorado Springs, CO 80909-5770)

Weight training has been an area of controversy for swimmers, because it is a form of dry land training that can increase the risk of injury and can bulk up a streamlined body. However, it can also help to prevent injuries when supervised and done properly. You need to research and understand the effects of weight training before introducing it into a program. The American Swim Coaches Association has an excellent study course on dry land training.

I believe in weight training for some swimmers, because most swimmers will develop more strength and speed as a result of it. On the other hand, many great distance coaches do not believe in any weight training because they want to avoid any additional bulk and other possible negative results from the use of weights. I suggest that distance swimmers be more cautious in their approach to weight training. You should approach weight training based on individual needs and abilities.

Age-group swimmers who have not gone through puberty should use gymnastics and any other dry land opportunities that meet the requirements of their physical maturity. I didn’t use weight training for my age-group swimmers, but if you decide to do so, base your decision on the best research available on the subject.

When I had a weight-training room available in my high school, I used it for my boys’ team three times a week for about 45 minutes each session. Because I don’t have a weight-training room available as a club coach, I use the other forms of dry land training.

Source : Human Kinetics