Swimming is considered as one of the healthiest exercise. Imagine, floating through the water like a fish. Plus, swimming as an activity involves work from a lot of muscles. Your hip, back, chest, calf and arms are the main muscles used in swimming. Various researches have proven that swimming helps in the complete development of a human body. There is a harmonious development of the body muscles.
Here, in this article, you will be acquainted with the muscle movement that is involved in swimming and some of the tips and tricks and some exercises that will help you strengthen the muscles.
What Should You Wear During The Swimming Workouts
If you just begin to swim, improve the swimming by investing your money in the following swimsuits and accessories.
- Swimsuits
- Extra layer of swimsuits
- Swim shorts both women and men’s swim shorts
- Nose Plug(optional)
- Goggles
- Swim Cap
Swimming Workout To Strengthen Your Muscles
Middle Back Muscles: Middle back muscles are used to push the water, to your back so that you can swim through the current of the water. When both your hands are joined together, near the chest, the middle back muscles are affected. They are also known as latissimus dorsi.
The best way to strengthen middle back muscles is by following some pull up and push up exercises. The arms will be strengthened from the arm joint. Simply, attach a bar at a height at your home and try lifting yourself up. The easiest way, to build some muscle power at home.
Working On The Triceps: Tricep muscles are used in pushing the water back so that you can freely pull an entire stroke, by giving in the strength from your hips as well. The triceps muscles help you out in different swimming styles such as backstroke, freestyle etc.
Triceps muscles are built and strengthened by performing a particular exercise done by holding weights in your arms. Just hold the bar weights and then pull them upwards, till your elbow. Complete the rounds according to your exercise routine and strengthen the triceps.
Chest Muscles: Chest muscles are also known as pectoral muscles. If your chest is strong, you can bring instability in your movement. After a lot of practice, you will be able to swim without putting in much effort and strength in your strokes.
In order to strengthen your chest muscles, you can inject in breach press exercise in your exercise regime. All you need to do is lay down on the bench, with your feet touching the floor. Hold a bar of weights, and push it upwards, then back. Repeat this exercise according to the exercise routine and you will be able to notice remarkable changes.
Building Those Abs: Out of all the muscles used in training, this strengthening this abs is more important. Abs help in strengthening the core of your body. The core is basically the belly area. With a strong core, you will be able to float easily in the water, against the current of the water. Your strokes will be neat and a lot of propulsion won’t be created.
To bring in some stability in your core muscles, you can try out home exercises without a gym in equipment and weights. The most common ones are push-ups, Russian twist, sit-ups, and planks. While doing exercises like Russian twist and push-ups, make sure that your chest is above the ground. Just elevate a little bit. Plus, when you are carrying out these exercises, notice any stress on the core of the body. When there is stress on the core, that means that the exercises are effectively working out for you.
Thigh Muscles: The thigh muscles help you push water so that your strokes are strong and can efficiently work through the water. Thigh muscles give you the strength to use your legs efficiently so that you can start off in a better way. They are also known as quadriceps. They are not majorly involved in the building of muscles, but they play a minor yet important role.
In order to bring in some control in your quadriceps, you can do some exercises such as glute bridges, leg raise etc. These exercises will add in weight on your thigh muscles. You can try leg raises in a plank position or you can lie down on your back and try leg raises, whatever feels comfortable to you.
Building Your Back: Your back muscles are involved in the swimming activity majorly. When you are swimming, you do strokes and your arm goes to and fro. This way you are using your shoulder blades continuously. By strengthening the back, the arm rotation stabilizes and the free strokes and back strokes can be performed in an efficient way.
For this purpose, try the back strengthening exercises. In this exercise, you will have two bars to be held by both the hands. They need to be pushed back and then you need to come back to the forward position.
Hip And Calf Muscles: While stroking through the water, the push from the hips, gives you the forward momentum. The calf muscles also play an important role as they help in strengthening the legs so that the forward momentum can be created easily.
If you want to work on your hip and calf muscles, it is best to get involved in some kicking activity or try out bicycling. The reason behind this is that the force falls on the legs and you work on them to strengthen your calf muscles and hip muscles.
When you are working out in order to become a pro in the swimming world, you need to curate a regime wherein you can calculate and build an entire regime focusing the parts that require the utmost focus and parts that need minor exercises. There is is a need to focus on your diet and keep on trying different exercises. Swimming involves a complete development of the entire body from head to toe. You need to keep a check on your calorie intake and protein intake.
In a nutshell, swimming will help you out in building those muscles and will make you fit and healthy. So fitting all the muscles used in swimming is necessary. From back muscles to chest, to hips and leg muscles, there is a balance between the entire body. Dwell in other activities as well such as playing sports like badminton, squash or trying out running etc.
