OK, so here are the next set of things for you to try in the pool…
For your legs:
So how about doing some silly walks / drunken dancing in water?
For this one, give yourself a minute or two minutes on the clock. Then do each exerise as hard as you can for 15 seconds and have 5 secs rest before going into the next one. For all of these you can hold on to the side if it helps keep you steady. (Do them at about hip to waist height water)
- Start with knee highs (running on the spot lifting your knees one at a time as high as you can)
- Then do fast feet (Small steps, but really fast!)
- Bum kicks (Running on the spot, kicking your bum as you go)
You can do this at various points during your swim session as it doesn’t take too long for each set… then you can build it up, either with speed or length of time.
For your upper body:
For experienced swimmers, swimming front crawl with a leg float will really help (leg floats are pieces of foam that you put between your legs to stop you using them to swim… it can really help you with your crawl technique too)
An alternative is to stand in fairly deep water, probably up to your lower chest… bascially to allow you to get a steady stance by standing with your legs astride, but also so that you can get your arms under the water (your shoulders don’t need to go under).
Then twist right round behind you with one arm and drag the water right back infront of you round to your other arm… then swap arms and go the other way. To get the most out of this, you need to really cup the water in your hand to get the most drag.
To up the intensity I use a special float, it’s a kind of dumbell that I drag through the water, but hand paddles or fitness gloves are the best.
For your spine:
Ok, so this is a bit of weird one… and only for those who are OK being underwater. Basically you’re gonna do a mermaid impression! I found that after a hard weekend of Roller Derby that my back gets quite tense… I love the stretch you do where you lie on your back and turn your knees the opposite way to your arms, as it clicks the air bubbles out of your back, but it’s not always enough. This exersise helps to loosen you up in a different way, a bit like shaking all the tension out of your body.
So what I do is to do a duck dive and move my body like you would imagine a mermaid doing (it’s similar to doing the butterfly stroke, but without flailing your arms about!). You can have your arms out in front of you, but I prefer to put my arms at my sides (unless I am in shallow water, in which case I would rest my hands on the floor infront of me to stop me headbutting the floor!). You’re basically bending your spine back and forth, loosening it up as you go… plus it’s a bit of fun to get your session with!
x Slam x
