Elevating buoyancy with five core swimming drills
What's the story
Swimming is a full-body workout that strengthens your heart and lungs, and builds muscle strength and endurance. To improve buoyancy and efficiency in the water, it's important to include specific drills in your routine. These drills target core strength, balance, and technique - all key areas for swimmers of any level. Here are five swimming drills to increase your buoyancy and make you a more efficient swimmer.
Streamline
Enhance your glide with streamline push-offs
Start the streamline push-off by pushing off the wall in a streamlined position, arms extended straight above your head, hands overlapping, with biceps pressed against your ears. Your body should be as straight and tight as possible, engaging core muscles to maintain alignment. This drill focuses on reducing resistance, teaching the importance of minimizing drag for efficiency in swimming.
Balance
Mastering balance with kickboard floats
Using a kickboard drastically helps in enhancing your balance in the water. Simply hold the kickboard in front of you with both hands, ensuring your body is flat and horizontal on the water's surface. Kick gently from your hips to move forward without splashing too much. This exercise builds core strength and stability, essential for an efficient swimming posture.
Core power
Boosting core strength with vertical kicking
Vertical kicking is a great drill for developing core strength and leg power. In deep water where you can't touch the bottom, stay upright using only flutter kicks to stay afloat. Keep your arms crossed over your chest or extend them out for balance. Try for sets of 30 seconds to a minute, focusing on maintaining a steady rhythm without sinking.
Propulsion
Improving propulsion with single-arm drills
Single-arm drills isolate each side of your stroke, revealing weaknesses and improving propulsion through concentrated repetition. Swim with one arm, leaving the other either extended in front or resting at your side. Focus on length and power, rotating your body to reach further and engaging your core for stability. Switch arms after each lap or a set time to maintain balance.
Technique
Refining technique with catch-up stroke
The catch-up stroke drill focuses on improving timing and coordination in freestyle swimming. It involves pausing one arm's stroke until the other hand touches or nearly catches up to it at the front of the glide phase. This promotes longer strokes, increased propulsion efficiency, and enhanced breathing technique by providing additional time for air intake during each cycle.