Swimming is unique from almost every other sport. Why? Because your upper body provides most of your propulsion (or power) through the water. Simply put, your upper body provides most of your swimming speed. If your upper body strength is lackluster, you are missing out on an easy way to drop time, reach your goals, or win your next big race. Antedotally, for myself, my clients, and a couple of my former teammates, improving upper body strength can lead to MASSIVE performance gains. The easiest way to improve your upper body strength is having a routine of upper body exercises that are specifically designed for swimmers.
The biggest mistake swimmers make when doing upper body exercises is not having a well balanced program. A common mistake I see are doing too many exercises that work the front of your body. Another mistake is not including shoulder stability exercises or even doing too many of them! Designing a program to improve upper body strength can be tricky, but this blog is here to help.
What Exercises Should You Do?
There are thousands of exercises out there, how can you possibly know which ones are best for you? In reality, there is no perfect exercise. Instead, you want pick a couple of exercises from each type of movement pattern. The four main movements patterns are…
- Squat
- Hinge
- Upper Body Push
- Upper Body Pull
Depending on who you are talking to, other movement categories can include lunge, loaded carries, and/or torso exercises.
By selecting 1-2 exercises from each category, you are almost guranteeing that you will work every muscle in your body. This makes selecting exercises much easier, since you do not have to worry about not working a specific muscle group.
Let’s Dive Deep Into Upper Body
The two main categories for upper body exercises (push and pull) can be broken down even further.
Upper body push can be broken down into…
- Horizontal Push
- Vertical Push
Similarly, upper body pull can broken down into…
- Horizontal pull
- Vertical Pull
The main difference between is vertical and horizontal movements is how your shoulder blade moves and where your hand goes in relation to your body. For vertical movements, your shoulder blade must upwardly rotate as you move your hands move up and down. For horizontal movements, your shoulder blade has to protract and retract as your hands move toward and away from your body.
Many torso/core exercises also work your upper body. So in some scenario’s, they can be taken into consideration when picking upper body exercises as a swimmer. Many core exercises are also great for shoulder stability!
Horizontal Push Examples
Push Up
Dumbbell Press
Bench Press
Vertical Push Examples
Military Press
One Arm Shoulder Press
Horizontal Pull Examples
Dumbbell Rows
TRX Rows
Vertical Pull Examples
Pull Ups
Lat Pull Down
Bonus: Loaded Carries Examples
One Arm Farmers March
Overhead Carry
Bonus: Torso/Core Examples
Renegade Rows
Plank Shoulder Taps
Body Saws
How to Put This Into a Workout
If you picked one exercise from each of these categories of movements, then it would be an awesome upper body workout. However, many swimmers have limited time for dryland/strength training and need to do whole body workouts. In this case, try to do 1-2 exercises from each category over the course of each week. For many swimmers, it will be better to do 1-2 more pull exercises than push exercises per dryland workout.
Here is an example of how you can split these exercises. This example is for a swimmer for who does a dryland/strength training program twice a week.
Monday:
- Front Squat
- TRX Row
- Single leg deadlift
- Single Arm Shoulder Press
- Renegade Rows
- Prone T’s
Thursday:
- Hexbar deadlift
- Pull ups
- Skater Squat
- Weighted push ups
- Plank Shoulder Taps
- Single Leg Bridge
How Many Reps Should You Do?
For an in-depth answer, check out a recent blog post- What is the Difference Between Crossfit and Dryland for Swimmers.
For a short answer…
- Use heavy resistance and low reps (<6) for strength and power
- Use moderate resistance, moderate amount of reps (6-12) for muscle growth
- Use light resistance, high reps (>15) for muscular endurance
The Wrap Up:
Picking an exercise from the categories, horizontal push, horizontal pull, vertical push, and vertical pull will help guide upper body exercise selection for swimmers. Doing this will ensure you work all of the key muscles for swimming. Doing the right upper body exercises can make a big difference in your swimming.