Developing Your Swimming Core

Last Updated on March 25, 2024 by admin

**Developing a swimming core is an often-neglected key competitive swimming attribute.**

In this article, we’ll provide advice, exercises, hacks and tips on developing your swimming core.

What is your swimming core?

A swimmer’s major core muscles are those in their abdomen, obliques (side muscles), lower back and glutes (buttocks).

Why is your swimming core so important?

Developing a swimming core is an often-neglected key competitive swimming attribute.

A developed swimming core provides the swimmer with a number of distinct advantages

Aligning the body position

A developed swimming core ensures the swimmer’s body is supported, stabilised and balanced.

This enables the swimmer’s body position to be correctly aligned, helping them to reduce drag and perform many swimming drills and skills more effectively.

Streamlining

Having a developed swimming core, supporting, stabilising and balancing their body position.

This is especially useful when performing some key swimming skills, such as streamlining.

Injury prevention

A supported, stabilised and balanced body, reduces the stress and strain on a swimmer’s muscles and joints.

This can significantly reduce the risk of injury

Range of movement

A developed swimming core provides the swimmer with a greater range of movement.

This can be especially useful when they are rotating the shoulders, trunk and hips during the freestyle and backstroke strokes.

Power

A developed swimming core helps to generate the explosive power a swimmer needs for starts, turns and underwater dolphin kicking.

Endurance

A developed swimming core enables greater propulsion to be generated by the swimmer’s arms and legs.

This combined with an improved body position can enable the swimmer to increase their swimming endurance.

Developing your swimming core in the pool

There are a number of ways in which a swimmer can develop their swimming core in the pool, such as.

Flutter kicking

The freestyle and backstroke flutter kick is an easy and effective way of developing a swimmer’s core.

Dolphin kicking

Both the dolphin kicking as used in butterfly and underwater dolphin kicking used during the underwater phase-in starts and turns are also easy and effective ways of developing a swimming core.

Vertical kicking

Performing either a flutter or a dolphin vertical kicking in deeper water, are also effective ways of developing a swimming core.

Younger or less experienced swimmers may wish to start vertical kicking with the use of swim fins.

Treading water

Treading water is an often overlooked but effective way of developing a swimming core in the pool.

How to engage your swimming core

Engaging your swimming core muscles ensures they are correctly aligned, to help support and perform certain swimming drills and skills effectively.

To engage their core, swimmers should continue to breathe normally.
They should then tighten/contract their stomach muscles while drawing their navel towards their spine.

How to develop your swimming core at home

Many of the world’s top swimmers regularly spend time developing their swimming core as a part of their land/dryland training programme.

Listed below are five basic, but effective swimming core development exercises, that any swimmer can perform at home.

Sit-ups

**The swimmer should then slowly raise their trunk until their elbows touch their knees.**

Sit-ups are the classic swimming core development exercise. They are easy to perform and help strengthen most of the important core muscles.

How to perform a sit-up:

The swimmer should lie on the floor on their back (supine).
They raise their knees while keeping the soles of their feet on the floor.
They then place the tips of the three middle fingers, of both their hands, on their temples.
This will ensure the swimmer doesn’t raise their trunk with the help of their arms.
They should ensure that their arms and elbows are parallel with their body.
The swimmer should then slowly raise their trunk until their elbows touch their knees.
They then should slowly lower their trunk, until their back has returned to the floor.

Crunches

Crunches are another great swimming core development exercise. They too are easy to perform and help strengthen the most important core muscles.

How to perform a crunch:

Crunches are similar to sit-ups.

The swimmer should lie on the floor on their back (supine).
They should raise their knees while keeping the soles of their feet on the floor.
They then place the tips of the three middle fingers, of both their hands, on their temples.
This will ensure the swimmer doesn’t raise their trunk with the help of their arms.

The difference with a crunch is.

They should ensure that their arms and elbows are out wide.
The swimmer should then slowly raise their trunk until their shoulders are some six to twelve inches off the floor (fifteen to thirty centimetres).
They then should hold this position for two to three seconds.
They then should slowly lower their trunk and shoulders, until they have returned to the floor.

The Plank.

**Beginners should aim to hold this position for twenty to thirty seconds.**

This is the classic core strength exercise. It helps strengthen most of the important swimming core muscles.

How to perform the plank:

The swimmer should lie on the floor on their front (prone).
They should support themselves on their forearms and raise their head, so their face is facing forwards.
Swimmers should ensure they keep their elbows directly below their shoulders.
They should then slowly raise their trunk and legs parallel to the floor, supported by their forearms and toes.
Swimmers should ensure that they lower their heads into a neutral position, tighten their abdominals, straighten their backs and tighten their glutes to achieve a body position that is parallel to the floor.
Beginners should aim to hold this position for twenty to thirty seconds.
Swimmers should ensure they maintain a regular breathing pattern.

Superman

Superman is a great swimming core exercise for developing the shoulder muscles, the back muscles and the glutes

How to perform the Superman exercise

The swimmer should lay on the floor on their front (prone) with their, arms straight above their head.
They should then engage their core.
The swimmer should then raise their left arm, while at the same time raising their right leg.
They should hold this position for approximately three seconds, before slowly returning to the starting position.
The swimmer should now repeat this exercise but this time by raising their left arm and right leg.

The Hip/Glute Bridge

This is an excellent core exercise for developing the hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes and lower abdominals.

How to perform the hip/glute bridge:

The swimmer should lie on the floor on their back (supine).
They should raise their knees while keeping the soles of their feet on the floor.
They should keep their arms on the floor, by their sides, parallel to their body.
The swimmer then should raise their hips off the floor, until their thighs, abdomen and chest are in a straight line.
They should hold this position for ten to fifteen seconds.
They should then slowly lower their hips back to the floor.

Straight leg flutter kicks

The swimmer's legs should remain straight, with their toes pointed throughout this exercise. — **The swimmer’s legs should remain straight, with their toes pointed throughout this exercise.**

Straight leg flutter kicks are a great core development exercise for the core and glutes

How to perform straight leg flutter kicks

The swimmer should lay on the floor on their back (supine) with their, arms straight by their sides and their hands under their butt.
They should raise their legs approximately 6 inches (15 cm) off the ground.
They should then engage their core.
Their legs should remain straight, with their toes pointed throughout this exercise.
The swimmer performs small flutter kicks.
Beginners should aim to continually kick for twenty to thirty seconds.

Developing Your Swimming Core: Takeaways

Developing your swimming core is an often-neglected key competitive swimming attribute.
A swimmer’s core is the muscles in their abdomen, hips and lower back.
A developed swimming core provides the swimmer with a number of distinct advantages.

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