Swimming Anatomy

From a side-lying position, with your elbow bent to 90 degrees, rotate your arm so that the dumbbell moves away from your abdomen in an arcing motion toward the ceiling. Avoid twisting your upper body because doing so will take the isolation away from the shoulder joint. Dumbbells provide a more consistent form of resistance than the exercise tubing.

Double-Arm External Rotation

Perform this variation by holding both arms in the starting position for the external rotation with tubing exercise. Hold one end of an exercise tube in each hand. In this starting position, there should be a small amount of tension on the tubing. Next, rotate both arms outward 45 degrees while simultaneously pinching your shoulder blades together. Hold this position for three to four seconds and then return to the starting position.

Crabwalk

Execution

1. Position your hands and feet so that they are flat on the ground and you are face up.

2. Lift your butt up off the ground by tightening your gluteal muscles.

3. Begin “walking” by first moving your hands and then your feet.

4. Avoid excessive shoulder strain by moving your hands no more than 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) at a time.

Muscles Involved

Primary:Anterior deltoid, middle deltoid, posterior deltoid, rotator cuff (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, subscapularis), triceps brachii

Secondary:Latissimus dorsi, teres major

Swimming Focus

This excellent all-around exercise targets the deltoids, rotator cuff, and triceps brachii, all of which contribute to each of the four competitive strokes. Recruitment of the deltoid will transfer to gains in the recovery phase of each stroke. Strengthening the rotator cuff will help develop shoulder stability, and the triceps brachii is a varying contributor to the propulsive phase of each stroke. Additionally, the reaching-back movement performed during the exercise will help develop better awareness of where the hand is in relation to the body, which will improve swimming mechanics.

Another benefit is that the exercise places the shoulder in a closed-chain position. Exercises that do this enhance the recruitment of stabilizing muscles surrounding the shoulder joint. The term closed chain means that the anchor point of the exercise, in this case the hand, is in contact with the ground.

Overhead Single-Arm Bounce

Execution

1. Position yourself so that you are standing 12 inches (30 cm) from a wall. Begin by holding an air-filled ball (for example, a soccer ball) in the palm of your hand, as a waiter would hold a serving tray overhead.

2. Initiate the bouncing motion by moving your entire arm. The target on the wall is either the 11 o’clock (left arm) position or 1 o’clock (right arm) position.

3. Emphasize small, rapid bounces.

Muscles Involved

Primary:Anterior deltoid, middle deltoid, posterior deltoid

Secondary:Trapezius, rotator cuff (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, subscapularis)

Swimming Focus

This exercise is useful for developing strength when the hand is in an overhead position, which will increase your confidence when you are trying to elongate your stroke. The hand positioning with this exercise closely mimics that seen with freestyle and butterfly. As a result this exercise can be beneficial in developing a quick transition from the catch portion of both strokes to the pulling portion.

When performing the bouncing motion, emphasize small, rapid movements to focus on the deltoid and rotator cuff. This exercise builds endurance in the scapular stabilizing and rotator cuff muscles, which aids in the prevention of injuries. If you use larger movements, you recruit the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi, which is not the goal of this exercise.

CHAPTER 4

CHEST

The primary muscle of the chest, the pectoralis major, is one of two humeral propeller muscles involved in generating most of the forces that propel a swimmer through the water. With the aid of the shoulder girdle muscles described in chapter 3 and the muscles of the arm described in chapter 2, the forces generated by the pectoralis major are transmitted to the hand and forearm, which serve as the primary force conduits through which a swimmer guides the body through the water. Other muscles in the chest region are the pectoralis minor and the serratus anterior.