Q&A with Megan Jendrick - I'm a Swimmer, what can I do off land to train?
Written by Shoshana Pritzker Tuesday, 18 May 2010 20:10
Q
Megan,
I’m getting into some Masters swimming lately and have a lot of catching up to do. I was never an age group swimmer and only took up the sport in my 40’s. It seems logical to me that there are some things other than swimming that I could be doing to help me in the pool. What do you think? I like to compete and my age group isn’t really crowded, but the old gymnast in me still wants to win!
Thanks and good luck to you,
Laura
A
Laura,
You’re absolutely right—there are a lot of things swimmers can do on dry land that will make them faster and more efficient in the pool. In addition to proper nutrition and recovery, the most common “get ahead” tip would be to get in the weight room.
When training with weights, keep in mind that you’re not trying to just put on muscle for the sake of putting on muscle. What most people don’t think about when in the pool is that you need functional strength, which is a much different way of looking at things as compared to just moving a big stack of iron from point ‘a’ to point ‘b’.
You have specific muscles that are activated much more in the pool than they are on land, and those are going to bring about certain exercises you want to focus on. Your rear deltoids, triceps and hamstrings are three such muscle groups the average trainer tends to skip out on. After all, the backs of your shoulders, arms and legs aren’t the first thing people see, so they tend to get forgotten. But because swimming emphasizes them so much they’re extremely valuable muscles groups to work on.
When I train with weights, I base it around my season and I think it’s an extremely effective method for swimmers. Build into your season with some moderate weight, moderate rep workouts. Then as your body becomes used to being in the weight room again, move into a strength building, or heavier, phase of your training. Higher weights, lower rep ranges. From there as the season progresses into the last couple of months before your championship meet, work on building endurance in those muscles by increasing volume and rep ranges, but lowering the amount of weight you’re using. And, of course, follow your coach’s instruction when it comes to backing off for your long-awaited taper. Good luck!
Swim Fast,
Megan
Megan Jendrick is a two-time United States Olympian with three Olympic medals. She is also the co-author of the swimming for fitness book, Get Wet, Get Fit.
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