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3 Dryland Workouts for a Faster Freestyle Kick

3 Dryland Workouts for a Faster Freestyle Kick

29/01/2025, USA, Swimming, Your Swim Log, Article # 32173668

Looking to level up your freestyle kick? Here are three dryland workouts designed to build a stronger freestyle kick.

A fast, strong and technically awesome freestyle kick is crucial for fast freestyle swimming.

Not just because it can add a bit of propulsion and velocity to your swimming speed, but because a strong kick helps you keep your technique together under fatigue, maintain optimal body position, and finish your races strong.

Improving your freestyle kick typically means logging lots of time on your kickboard and mastering the coordination between the arm stroke and kick, but it can also be strengthened with dryland.

Incorporating dryland training that is specific to a faster freestyle kick will give swimmers more stability and strength in the water.

Below are three sample dryland workouts that primarily target a better freestyle kick.

This means building general lower body strength, improving contralateral leg stability and strength, and developing some power.

Let’s jump in.


1. The Conditioning Circuit

The first workout is a broad lower body workout that targets improved ankle strength (which is a leading indicator of freestyle kicking speed), fast twitch fiber development (for “fast” feet), and power.

Perform it as a circuit, taking 30s or so rest between exercises to maintain a high level of output.

5x

  • 2mins jumping rope
  • 10 kettlebell swings
  • 10 split squat lunges
  • 10 single arm kettlebell swings
  • 10 calf extensions
  • 5 squat jumps

2. The Strength and Stability Combo

This dryland workout is all about developing maximal strength and core stability to develop a truly strong and powerful freestyle kick.

It covers the big compound lifts (barbell back squats) and unilateral lower body lifts like single leg RDLs and hip thrusts to challenge you to move under load while stabilizing the trunk.

Similar to how we use the trunk to generate stability in the water to exert power and force through the legs.

This is a full dryland workout and should ideally be done separately (>30mins) from swim training to ensure a high degree of work and adaptation.

Warm-Up and Activation

  • 5mins dynamic stretches (leg swings, trunk rotations)
  • 10mins of 30s work, 30s rest jumping rope
  • 20s front plank
  • 20s Superman hold

Main Set

  • 5×5 squats
  • 5×5 single leg hip thrusts
  • 5×5 single leg squats
  • 5×5 single leg RDLs
  • 3×10 calf extensions

Core Circuit

3x

  • 30s front plank
  • 20 dead bugs
  • 20 pot stirrers
  • 20 bird dogs

Warm-Down

  • 10 minutes light walking + static stretches

3. Planks and Bridges

This dryland workout is more core focused, incorporating variations of standard core exercises for swimmers like planks and bridges.

These basic movements and holds are excellent for working the deep core stabilizers that stabilize the spine and pelvis, pivotal for being able to exert more power when kicking.

Because it is low impact and won’t crush your CNS system, it can be done multiple times per week or before your swim workouts. Feel free to add a hip loop band (above the knees) to further activate the glutes and hip abductors during these exercises.

2-3 rounds:

  • 30s front plank hold
  • 30s glute bridge hold
  • 20 reps planks with shoulder extension
  • 20 reps single leg glute bridge
  • 20 reps planks with flutter kicks
  • 20 reps glute bridges with flutter kicks

Wrapping Things Up

Dryland training is one of the tools swimmers have at their disposal to improve specific aspects of their swimming performances.

Whether it’s increasing peak power and force to get off the starting block faster, improving functional movement scores to reduce injury risk, or powering up their turboprop kick, the right dryland workouts can make a biggie difference.

Use the dryland workouts above as inspiration to crank up your freestyle kick and happy swimming!


More Dryland Guides and Resources

5 Dryland Exercises for Faster Underwater Dolphin Kicking. Want a more explosive underwater dolphin kick? Here’s a look at the best exercises for faster walls and underwaters.

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How to Prepare for a Successful Swim Meet

How to Prepare for a Successful Swim Meet

28/01/2025, USA, Swimming, Your Swim Log, Article # 32171252

Ready to uncork some best times at your next swim meet? Here’s what you need to know to prepare for a swim meet.

Swimming fast at swim meets is why swimmers go to all of those training sessions over the course of the year. It’s what drives us during long aerobic sets, lactate-swirling sprint sets, training camps, and soggy, cold mornings at the pool.

While most swimmers have no problem putting in the physical work in training, often it’s done to get better at training and not to prepare for competition. They go through the motions, working hard but never really working towards executing a specific performance on race day.

You see this often with swimmers who struggle to switch between a practice mindset and competition mindset. Or swimmers who have unrealistic expectations for a swim meet when measured against the work done in training.

Ultimately, the swimmers who excel at swim meets are building those performances in training, day in and day out.

In this article, we will look at how you can prepare for success in competition from the first day of training all the way until the moment you step up on the block.

Let’s dive in.

How to Prepare for a Successful Swim Meet

To prepare like a champion for your next swim meet, you should get ready by:

  • Set the big goal for the swim meet
  • Use short term goals to stay on track
  • Build a process for success
  • Train to race
  • Prepare for pressure
  • Use mental skills for competition
  • Sleep like a boss
  • Eat clean and hydrate
  • Pre-race routine
  • Have fun and compete
  • Warm down properly
  • Reflect and review

Beginning of the Season

Alrighty, it’s the beginning of the season, you’ve enjoyed some time off from the pool, and it’s time to get back to work in the pool. This is the perfect time to do some quick goal setting and planning in regards to your target swim meet.

  • Set the big goal. What is your goal for the swim meet? Write out goal times, splits, and other relevant goal data. The more analytical swimmer will include things like key things to improve, stroke rate information, and so on.
  • Work backwards from the big goal. With the big goal in mind, work backwards and set short term goals for each training cycle, other swim meets, or even for each month. Short term goals, which service the Big Goal at the end of the season, help keep you focused and motivated over the season.
  • Build a process for success. Elite swimmers understand the power of routine and process. By creating a simple process for themselves, they help automate the productive actions, behaviors and thoughts that lead to success in swim meets. This means tracking your swim workouts and having a schedule for your training to stay accountable.

Preparation

Over the course of the season, swimmers should be focused on executing on a daily basis in training, which means eating well, training at a high level, and continually pushing themselves to improve.

Preparing for a swim meet means that you are building the performance you want and preparing you physically and mentally for the specific rigors of competition.

  • Race training. Fast swim meet performances are built in practice, and this means preparing yourself for the same pace, stroke count, stroke rate, and skill velocities of competition. Train at target race paces, do flip turns at race speed, perform starts and relay takeovers at maximum speed to build race-specific skills.
  • Prepare for pressure. Increase the pressure and stress regularly in training with get out swims, challenging new intervals, racing teammates, etcetera. The pressure of competition is vastly different from the relatively comfortable environment of training. By introducing increased pressure in practice, you’ll better be ready for the flood of nerves and stress at swim meets.

“It’s weird because I didn’t really get that nervous during the Olympics. I’d swum that race a thousand times in my head. I’m a big fan of visualization so I’ll always visualize my race before hand.” – Adam Peaty

Race Day

Once all the training is locked and loaded, and swimmers have completed the taper phase, it’s race day. Time to unleash all of your hard work and have fun competing!

  • Eat and hydrate. Eat clean and stay hydrated on race day. Avoid the urge to get adventurous with your diet when at swim meets, sticking to easy to digest and familiar foods and diets. Nobody likes the combination of the butterflies with swirling guts right before competing, so keep the diet clean and familiar at swim meets.
  • Pre-race routine. Pre-race routines are an invaluable tool to help install some certainty to your meet preparation. Every swimmer’s pre-race routine is different and unique to their goals and needs, but it should include everything you need to physically and mentally prepare for success. Things like a swim meet warm-up, setting aside time to visualize, and your racing schedule.
  • Have fun and compete! Swim meets can often be wildly stressful, but remember: the sport and competing is supposed to be fun! Remember to smile and get after it and enjoy the moment. You’ve worked hard to be here, so soak it up.

After the Race

Alrighty, the race is over. Win or lose, adding or dropping time, medal and dead-last finish, you pull yourself out of the water.

  • Reflect and Review. No matter how the race or swim meet went, take some time to review and reflect on how you performed. Swim meets are a reflection of our preparation and training, for better or worse. If things went well, leverage the things you are doing right and keep charging. If things went poorly, use the meet as a lesson and motivational fuel moving forward.

Wrapping Things Up

Swimmers invest heaps of time in practice, during those countless sets, long threshold sets, kick sets, to perform at a high level at swim meets.

Match your hard work in the pool with the tips for how to prepare for race day success above, and you will see yourself swimming faster when it matters most.


Ready to take your mental game to the next level?

Swimmers frustrated with underwhelming performances on race day and want to conquer their mindset will love Conquer the Pool: The Swimmer’s Ultimate Guide to a High-Performance Mindset.

Written with the feedback of 200+ Olympians, NCAA champions, and head coaches, the book is the complete blueprint for an unbeatable mindset in practice and training.

From learning how to build a killer pre-race routine to everything you’ll ever need to master pre-race nerves, Conquer the Pool gives swimmers the tools to swim with total confidence on race day.

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7 Tips for Swimming a Faster 50 Freestyle

7 Tips for Swimming a Faster 50 Freestyle

24/01/2025, USA, Swimming, Your Swim Log, Article # 32162745

Looking to swim the 50 freestyle faster? Here are six proven strategies for uncorking more speed in the splash and dash.

The 50 freestyle is a race of pure power and white water, where every tenth of a second counts.

The race calls for explosive starts, thunderous underwaters, and blinding, maximal effort from start to finish.

And despite the short length and relative simplicity of the race—it’s over in 20-30 seconds and tasks swimmers with swimming just one or two lengths of the pool—it can be tough to master.

The short length is a bit of a mirage when it comes to improvement; because it is so short, it’s actually painstakingly difficult to drop time once you get to a certain level of performance.

Swimmers can improve 50 freestyle by training with resistance, increasing stroke tempo, building a more powerful and explosive start, taking fewer breaths, and developing a stronger kick.

In this guide to swimming a faster 50 freestyle, we’ll discuss some battle-tested ways to improve sprint freestyle performance. Some obvious, some not so obvious.

But combined, they will help you drop those precious tenths or even seconds in the fastest event on the swimming program.

Let’s begin.

How to Swim a Faster 50 Freestyle

Tips to improve 50 freestyle performance include:

  • Resisted swimming
  • Increase stroke rate
  • Build an explosive start
  • Use the right technique
  • Breathe less
  • Kick like a monster
  • Improve core strength

Next, we will look at each tip in more detail, offering some training advice for implementation, and more.

Resisted swimming

Resisted swimming, using different types of gear and equipment like drag chutes, DragSox, resistance tubing, and power racks, is a way to improve your ability to generate power in the water.

Power (force x velocity) demonstrates how much force you can quickly create in the water, and to swim a fast 50 freestyle, you need to be able to create a lot of force and make it last for the duration of the race.

Resisted swimming is the perfect tool for this job.

The key is to go full power with this type of training, which means lots of rest (90-120s between repetitions), low repetitions (5-10 reps), and short bursts of effort (6-15s).

Sample maximum power set: 8×10 seconds all out freestyle swimming against maximum resistance tubing on 2:00

Increase stroke rate

Sprinters use a faster stroke rate compared to other distances. For example, at the Paris Olympics, the average stroke rate of the finalists in the men’s 50m freestyle was 62.21. Compare that to the finalists in the 100m freestyle (51.4) and the 200m freestyle (42.3).

It’s almost a 40% difference between the 50 and 200!

A faster stroke rate is an obvious way to increase speed; the more often you complete a stroke cycle, the more distance you are going to cover, the faster you are going to swim.

The challenge is building the power and endurance to maintain that elevated stroke rate for the full 50m, which means hitting your target 50 freestyle tempo much more often in training.

Ways to do this include resisted swimming (e.g. sprints with a drag chute), freestyle with an ankle band, and drills like Tarzan drill and freestyle with butterfly kick.  

Build an explosive start

An explosive start is essential for a fast 50 freestyle. The start doesn’t just include the block phase, but the flight phase, entry, glide, and underwaters, until the moment you explode to the surface of the water and begin surface swimming.

If you surface at 10m, that means 20% of your race is just the start. If you surface at 15m, that’s a whopping 30% of the race.

That’s a huge opportunity to improve!

A more explosive start begins with proper technique and positioning on the block (front load the block, place your feet narrower than shoulder-width) and generating lots of horizontal power for maximum velocity and distance off the block.

To build the kind of explosive power for a booming start, the best strength training exercise you can do is broad jumps. One study with competitive swimmers found that a 9-week horizontal jump training program increased horizontal dive velocity by 16%.

The start sets the stage for everything that comes next, so give it the attention it deserves!

Use the right freestyle technique

Freestyle technique may look the same across the board, whether you are sprinting or banging out a distance workout in the Animal Lane. But the technique sprinters use compared sub-maximal freestyle swimming differs in some significant ways.

In particular, the stroke timing coordination is much different.

  • When sprinting, there is much more symmetry, with the arms in a constant state of propulsion, with the arms even overlapping propulsive phases. This type of technique is really fast and powerful but also very taxing.
  • When cruising, swimmers switch to a gallop or hitch freestyle that has gaps in propulsion between the strokes. This type of stroke is more uneven in terms of propulsion, but wildly more efficient and can be done for longer sets and workouts.

To use a stroke timing coordination that is more relevant to sprint freestyle technique, once again lean on adding resistance tools like a drag chute.

The added resistance behind you promotes a more balanced superimposed stroke cycle that mirrors the technique and stroke timing used when sprinting.

Breathe less

Elite sprint freestylers take as few breaths as possible when swimming the 50m freestyle.

By keeping the head stationary and breathing less, swimmers maintain a more streamlined body position, keep stroke rhythm bee-boppin’, and prevents the avalanche of technique errors that happens when swimmers have to surface the head over a huge bow wave to suck down a breath.

More importantly, fewer breaths mean increased swim velocity. For example, McCable et al., 2015, had experienced competitive swimmers do a series of sprint 25s without breathing and breathing to their preferred side. Speed decreased by 3% in the trials when they took a breath (over a 30s race, this loosely translates to 0.9s).

Breath training is something swimmers already do whether they realize it or not (timing breaths into turns, breathing patterns, holding the breath for breakouts, etcetera).

Take it to another level by building stronger pulmonary muscles with breathing exercises like longer breakouts, breathing patterns, and resisted respiratory training.

Kick like a monster

A fast 50 freestyle requires a white-water freestyle kick. Although the pull gets a lot of the attention, the kick is fundamental for fast sprinting, as it generates a significant amount of propulsion (representing ~30% of total tethered force with experienced competitive sprinters).

The kick keeps the hips stable, providing a base for the trunk to twist powerfully and the upper body to exert even more power. An unconditioned kick can also cause you technique issues like increased hip roll when the legs turn to jelly towards the end of your sprint events.

Building a stronger freestyle kick is fairly straightforward: do more kick!

Add resistance (DragSox are an excellent tool for this), tack on 25s of kick after sprints in training to promote a stronger, more conditioned kick, and increase ankle flexibility so that you can kick in a tight window and decrease drag from the legs.

Improve core strength

A strong and stable core is crucial for every aspect of a fast 50 freestyle, from maintaining balance on the block to positioning the arms and body while diving into the water to positioning the pelvis properly so that you can drop some massive dolphin kicks into the breakout.

Core strength minimizes drag by helping you maintain a more efficient body position and perhaps most importantly, provides a strong and stable foundation to exert power through limbs, generating a stronger kick and pull from start to finish.

Core training interventions with swimmers have frequently found significant improvement in sprint swimming speed (Karpinski et al., 2020; Khiyami et al., 2022) with relatively little time investment required (~1-2hrs per week).

The good news is that core strength and stability won’t just help you swim like a demon when it comes to the 50 but will also reduce injury risk and improve general movement patterns.

Win-win!

Wrapping Things Up

The 50 freestyle is one of the most exciting events on the program, and for good reason!

It’s the purest expression of speed and power in the pool. Mastering the event looks easy for the novice or uninitiated to the demands and challenges of sprint training, but it offers a long list of ways to improve.

Choose one or two of the tips above and incorporate them into your sprint preparation this week and propel yourself to a faster 50 freestyle on race day!

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5 Dryland Core Workouts for Faster Swimming

5 Dryland Core Workouts for Faster Swimming

23/01/2025, USA, Swimming, Your Swim Log, Article # 32160034

Looking for some ready-made core workouts for improved swim performance? Here are five dryland core workouts for every kind of swimmer.

When it comes to swimming faster, improving core strength is one of the best pound-for-pound ways to power up performance.

Core strength does a long list of awesome things for swimmers, including increased swim speed, reduced injury risk, tightened streamlines, and even improved stability for more explosive starts.

A study (Karpinski et al., 2020) with elite national-level swimmers found that a six-week core training intervention improved 50m freestyle performance. Swimmers increased dive velocity, turn speed, and swim speed.

I like that!

The dryland core workouts below are a mix of core stability and strength. This blend will help swimmers improve their ability to maintain a stiff trunk and spine when swimming and exert more power through the limbs.

Let’s dive in.

Dryland Core Workouts for Swimmers

The core workouts for swimmers include:

  • A Core Workout for Building a Stable Core
  • Sprinter’s Delight
  • Plank Progress
  • Dolphin Kick Core Training
  • Distance Swimming Stability

Next, we will look at each mini dryland workout, including reps, intervals, and points for getting the most from each core dryland session. The workouts can be done as part of a broader dryland program or as standalone sessions that take around 20-25 minutes.


1. Building a Stable Core

The first core workout is about developing a focus on stability, targeting those deep stabilizer muscles that promote stability of the spine and pelvis.

While this workout won’t leave your core muscles aching, it will activate a lot of these lesser worked stabilizer muscles that help you swim with more precision and set the stage for more challenging core exercises later.

This workout is excellent for beginner swimmers and those looking for a foundational workout for more aggressive training later in the training cycle.

Warm-Up

  • 5 minutes of dynamic stretches (arm swings, leg swings, trunk rotations)

Main Set

  • 2x20s front plank holds
  • 2x20s side plank holds
  • 2×20 repetitions Bird Dog
  • 2x20s bridge holds
  • 2×20 repetitions Dead Bug

2. Sprinter’s Delight

Let’s crank up the speed and power with a core workout that is designed for the sprint-obsessed swimmer. The workout is a blend of stability and power.

While having lots of strength and power (as reflected in the gym or with resisted swimming) is great for swim speed, the core is essential to lend stability to these movements. This is important for the sprint swimmer and going Mach 5 in the pool, where we only have the water to plant ourselves to generate power.

Rotational and anti-rotational power is crucial for the sprint swimmer, and that’s where we will focus a lot of attention with this workout.

Warm-Up

  • 5 minutes of dynamic stretches (arm swings, leg swings, trunk rotations)

Main Set

  • 2x20s front plank holds
  • 2x20s side plank holds
  • 3x20s Pallof press hold
  • 5×5 medicine ball rotational throw*
  • 5×5 medicine ball overhead throw downs*

* These sets are maximal power and speed. Choose a medicine ball weight that allows for lots of force development. Use lots of rest between rounds to maximize power output.


3. Plank Progression

The plank is the foundation of any serious core training program and is an essential core exercise for swimmers.

It looks exceedingly basic from the outside, but when cued properly can activate the external obliques and rectus abdominis as well as any more of the difficult-looking core exercises in the weight room.

This dryland core workout is designed to test swimmers’ plank stability and strength, moving from the standard plank to more challenging variations of the exercise.

Warm-Up

  • 5 minutes of dynamic stretches (arm swings, leg swings, trunk rotations)

Main Set

  • 3x30s front plank holds
  • 3×20 reps front plank with shoulder extension
  • 3x20s long lever plank holds
  • 3×20 reps front plank with hip extension
  • 3×20 Pot Stirrers with stability ball

4. Dolphin Kick Core Training

The underwater dolphin kick is crucial for swimmers of all strokes, specialities, and competition pool size.

Whether you compete predominantly in a long course pool or especially if race in short course yards pools, a crisp and explosive dolphin kick is essential for race day success.

The core workout below is designed to help improve pelvic stability (which swimmers need in spades to efficiently generate kick power), the erector spinae (which power much of the downbeat of the kick), and general hip stability.

Warm-Up

  • 5 minutes of dynamic stretches (arm swings, leg swings, trunk rotations)

Main Set

  • 3x30s front plank holds
  • 3x30s side plank holds
  • 2x20s Superman holds
  • 3×20 repetitions unilateral glute bridges
  • 5×5 back extensions (loading optional)

5. Distance Swimming Stability

Distance swimmers need a strong and stable core musculature as well.

Endurance swimmers perform countless overhead movements, and working the stabilizer muscles in the scaps, hips, and deep core will improve functional movement scores, reducing injury risk in the shoulder.

The distance swimmer also wants a core that will help them streamline efficiently and maintain technique quality during long races and training. The core workout below places an emphasis on muscle endurance and stability.

Warm-Up

  • 5 minutes of dynamic stretches (arm swings, leg swings, trunk rotations)

Main Set

  • 2×10 repetitions Bird Dog
  • 2×10 repetitions Dead Bug
  • 2x front plank max duration hold with 90s rest between rounds (start by aiming for 60-90s; introduce more challenging variations like stability ball planks.)
  • 3x30s hollow body holds
  • 3×20 repetition Two Point Planks (raising left leg and right arm, and then vice versa)

How often should swimmers do core training workouts?

Core training can be done daily for swimmers. Most core training interventions with competitive swimmers and improved swim performance were modest in time invested compared to the results in the pool. Dedicated core training sessions were performed 3-5 times per week, with workouts lasting typically less than 20-30 minutes.

Core activation routines (a short set of core exercises lasting no longer than 5 minutes) should absolutely be added to your dryland activation routine before swimming to activate the core musculature before swimming.


More Core Training Resources for Swimmers

Coreintine: Check Out Caeleb Dressel’s Core Workouts. Dressel shared some of his core training workouts from the lead-up to his record-breaking and gold medal winning performance at the Tokyo Olympics.  

3 Dryland Workouts for Swimmers of Every Level. No pool? No problem! Here are three dryland workouts for swimmers from beginner to advanced that you can do at home or at the pool.

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