Dryland Exercises

Important Note to the Viewer

LESSONS: 2 VIDEOS

Dryland - Medball Chest Pass

Working on the power necessary to increase your quickness in the recovery of breaststroke, as well as increasing your overall strength, can be accomplished through a fun dryland exercise. Remember: Whenever using medicine balls, use extreme care and focus to make sure nobody gets hurt. Establish how many throws you will do before you start. Or, during a competition, make sure all eyes remain on the ball until a winner is established. These exercises should also be done under the supervision of a coach. Why Do It: Throwing a weighted ball helps to incease the explosive power that sometimes gets overlooked or under developed in swimming. How to Do It: 1. Grab a medball of a weight that's correct for the athletes you'll be working with. Six to eight pounds was good for these two athletes. 2. The athletes will be seated, with feet raised off the floor. Initially, position the feet about 12-18 inches apart whlie raised. Practice tossing the ball back and forth. 3. Move the athletes closer so that their feet are nearly touching. This is to make sure the passes can be more accurate. 4. Aim the all at the other athlete's chest, trying to hit them squarely centered. Make sure the throw comes from both hands equally, and not shifting to one side. 5. Do sets of 10 throws various times, increasing the intensity of the throws. How to Do It Really Well (the Fine Points): To make this a great exercise, incorporate a competition. Who can stay balanced the longest while trying to knock your competitor off balance. Throwing the ball back with greater force, throwing it back quickly before the competition can regain their balance, or sheer endurance will determine the winner. You'll find that when done correctly, this exercise increases arm power as well as power in the abs and hip flexors. Enjoy, and be safe.

Ankle Flexibility

The greatest swimmers have something very important in common... ankle flexibility. Here are a couple quick exercises you can do to help with your ankles. Why Do It: Increasing your ankle flexibility will allow you to grab as much water as possible with all of your kicks. This makes your kick more effective, and the potential to swim faster becomes a reality. How to Do It: 1. First, as with all stretches, go very slowly, and if you feel any knee pain with these, stop, or don't press down as far. 2. Start with your feet as flat on the floor as possible in a hands and knees position. 3. Slowly lower down to your feet, with your ankles directly under you. Sit on to your feet. 4. Put the feet a bit wider than you, and try to sit flat on the floor with your feet to the side. 5. Hold each position for a little while to allow the stretch to really take effect. How to Do It Really Well (the Fine Points): This is a bit more advanced drill, and should be done with much care. This position is specifically for grabbing water at the top of the breaststroke kick. Start in the same kneeling position, only point your toes to the outside. Slowly lower yourself until you're able to sit flat on the floor. When you become more and more comfortable with this, you can lean back. If the model was younger, you may even see him lay flat on the floor with the feet in this position, but since there was nobody else around, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to get back up. :) Above all, take this slowly, and be consistent. The more often you practice this, the better your ankle flexibility till become.