Up Your Fitness Game With Your Swimming Muscles

Have you started adding swim workouts into your fitness routine? Swim workouts are a great full body workout and great for your health. If you have been doing these swim workouts for a while you may be wondering what you can do to improve your results. What if I told you that there is a way that you can up your fitness game with your swimming muscles with just a couple of key exercises?

Even if you have been doing swim workouts for a while, once you up your fitness game with your swimming muscles, your workout program results will go from good to great.  

Swim Workouts to Up your fitness game

Swimming has long been considered one of the best full body workouts as it uses all of the body’s major muscle groups. Our arms, legs, chest, core and back are all put to work during swimming. 

Swimming workouts and traditional gym workouts compliment each other nicely.

Workouts that Will Help Strengthen Your Swimming Muscles

The following workouts will help you strengthen the main muscle groups that are used during swim workouts. 

Chest

Here are some exercises that are great for strengthening chest muscles:

Bench Press

For bench press, lay down on a weight bench or on the floor with your feet on the floor and lift a bar of weights (or 2 dumbbells) upwards and back down. Repeat movement 10 times. 

Pushups

Lay on your stomach on the floor or exercise mat. Push yourself up with your arms and hold yourself steady.  Inhale while slowly bending your elbows and lowering yourself down, stopping once your arms are at a 90 degree angle at the elbow. Raise yourself back up and repeat as many times as you can. 

Bent Over Rows

Grab a dumbbell in each hand and bend at the waist, arching your back. With your hands just wider than your shoulders, pull your elbows to your hips and then slowly lower them back down. (You can also do this one dumbbell at a time) Do 10 reps.

Arms

Your arms are one of the main muscle groups that are used in swim workouts, so strengthening them is vital to make the most of your swim workouts. 

Tricep Extensions

Stand with your feet the width of your shoulders apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Bring your arms above your head slowly with your palms to the ceiling, extending your arms fully. Flex the elbows and lower your forearms behind your head. Repeat. 

Core 

Core exercises are important for swimming and so much more. These core exercises will help you to strengthen your core.

Planks

Place your hands on the floor, slightly more than shoulder width apart (think push up position). Ground your toes into the floor and push yourself up. Keep your neck and spine straight and look at the floor below you. Hold on to this pose for 30 seconds. 

Crunches

Lay on your back with your knees bent. With hands behind your head, activate your core muscles and exhale as you lift your head and shoulders a few inches off the floor. Release your muscles and return to your starting position. Repeat. 

Legs

Leg muscles are the strongest muscle group we have and burn the most calories.

Lunges

Lunges are a fantastic way to strengthen legs while also toning your glutes. So many varieties of lunges to keep a workout from getting boring. Front, back, and side lunges all can be beneficial. Front lunge will step forward with one leg, bending both into a 90 degree bend, then step back to straight legs. Back lunges are similar, just step back instead of forward. Side lunges keep your stationary leg straight while bending one leg slightly. Make sure to always keep your chest lifted during all lunges. Do each type 10 reps each.

Hip Bridges

Lying flat on your back, bend your knees and start with your arms in a low V by your hips. With your feet hip distance apart, push your heels to raise your hips up while squeezing and activating your glutes. Pause for 2 seconds and lower back down. Repeat 10 times.

Bicycling or Spinning

Another great exercise for your legs is cycling. You can grab your bike and hit the road to strengthen your leg muscles or you can hop onto a stationary or spinning bike! This is an easy one that you can adjust to make it work for you and your schedule. 

All of these exercises will help you to up your fitness game with your swimming muscles and improve your overall health and strength in general.