How Individuals Find Training Approaches That Work for Them

I started swimming on my first club swim team at the prime age of five years old. From that age until my senior year of high school, I swam for three different club teams, as well as a summer swim team and my high school team. While I adored every coach I had and believe they did their best to train me, I often felt that I was training in a way not specific for me and, therefore, was not growing as I could have been as an athlete.

Growing up in the pool, we often all do the exact same practice as every swimmer next to us. While this method of training is easier for a coach who does not then have to develop practices for each individual athlete, it often leads to a swimmer not being trained as they should be for their specific stroke or technique.

So what are the different ways to train? Training can easily be divided into the three categories: pool training, dryland and weights. While pool training is the primary way a swimmer can better themselves as an athlete, dryland and weight training are equally as important to make a swimmer gain muscle and stay stretched.

Not all swimmers consider how they need to train out of the pool as well as in the pool. A few things to consider, whether you are a coach making a practice regimen for your team or you are a swimmer looking to put in extra work outside of practice, are the amount of strain you are putting on your body and the amount of energy you need to save for in the pool training.

1. Time Management

Planning out my day of training can be one of the most stressful parts of my days. Between classes, work, and other obligations, finding a time to train on my own can be hard, but the key to success is not piling workouts on top of each other and putting excess strain on your muscles.

2. Body Management

Our bodies are not used to having an extreme amount of stress placed on them, so while exercise is good for the body and good for your overall health, over-exertion can cause tired muscles to be more prone to temporary or permanent injury.

3. Mental Strain

Being constantly in a pool or a gym can cause cloudiness of the mind. It can also cause a loss of focus in other parts of your life, such as in your education, your job, or your social life. It’s important to keep a good mental headspace while training in order to be at prime performance level.

So how do professional swimmers do it all? It takes a lot of work, and a lot of learning their own bodies in order to better their performance. No one athlete needs to train the same way as another to compete at peak performance. While one athlete spends hours in the weight room building muscle, another may spend more time in the pool, improving technique.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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