SwimPath Blog

Good Core Strength is very beneficial for swimmers and their performance. Core training should be included in all swimming programmes to help swimmers get the best out of their training and become more efficient in the pool.

The Core Muscles are used in all four strokes, as well as holding streamline position off the turns and the start. Here are some reasons swimmers will benefit from having good Core Strength:

- A good Core stability allows swimmers to be able to hold the correct body positions while travelling through the water. Holding streamline after pushing off the wall or blocks is essential for travelling faster with less energy.

- Swimmers will create less drag through the water by being able to hold a good body position and swim faster with less energy. Without the Core muscles being able to control an efficient body position the arms and legs use up high amounts of energy trying to pull and kick through the water resistance.

- The connection between the Core and the other muscle groups used in swimming such as Arms, Back, Chest and Legs allows swimmers to generate more power while swimming, if the Core muscles are activated.

- Strong Core muscles help massively with injury prevention and over all body strength. A good Core stability helps support hip, back and shoulder strength especially while training and allows athletes to train at higher intensities and see improvements without injuries.

The Core can be trained at home and almost anywhere with simple exercises such as the plank, side plank, leg lowers and more! Even for just 10 minutes a day, any swimmer can fit in a bit of core training to help improve their performances in the pool. 

Check out my demonstration of how you can use an Ab Roller effectively in a core strength exercise routine:

Check out the Spokey Twin B Ab Roller here

SwimPath and Jowe swimwear are excited to be the sponsors of the GB Deaf Swimming team! The Great Britain Deaf Swimming Club team are competing at the Deaf European Swimming Championships this July in Lublin, Poland and SwimPath and Jowe are supporting the team with their GB kit and swimsuits. We are really looking forward to following the teams progress.

You can read more about GBDSC by visiting their website here

Open to all British hearing-impaired swimmers, GBDSC is a team of fantastic volunteers and are always looking for help and support in their work to create equal opportunity for deaf swimmers across the country!

SwimPath have introduced a new gym range from Spokey, that can help swimmer's and individual's work on their strength, stability and more in the comfort of their own home. 

Land training can have a big impact on swimmer's performance in the pool. Fitness components such as Flexibility, Strength, Core stability and Speed can be trained on land in ways they can't in the pool. 

With the Spokey Gym range there's no excuse to be missing out on land training. For those Club's that find it difficult to access facilities or find time for land conditioning, these gym products can be used at home or anywhere in your own free time. The range includes equipment such as Gym balls, Thera Bands, Push up bars, Skipping ropes and more that swimmer's and individuals can use to improve:

- Strength

- Stability

- Flexibility

- Endurance

- Core strength + stability

- Recovery

- Injury Prevention

All of these components can help improve Body Position in the water, Speed and Power, and technique efficiency, as well as general fitness.

Stay ahead of the competition with Spokey's Gym range and give yourself the best chance of reaching your personal goals.

After racing in the 200m Butterfly over 100 times, I still had some doubt that I may not finish the race. Seems crazy!?

Any swimmer that swims a 200m Butterfly knows how difficult this event can be and especially if you get the pacing wrong. Pacing the 200m Butterfly can be very tricky to get right, which sometimes I still struggled with after years of experience. Even at major events, such as the World Championships, I messed up my pacing and ended up missing medals, finals and hurting a lot! It happens to even some of the most experienced swimmers. 

However, those times you do manage to get that pacing right, there's no better feeling than smashing your best time, qualifying for an event or even winning a medal! Those are the feelings that keep us swimmers going. 

Here are some of my tips to increase your chance of having a great 200m Butterfly swim:

• Have a plan and stick to it. It can be very easy to get excited, go out too fast and then die off at the end. Believe in your plan and don't let emotions get in the way.
• 1st 50m- Long, Strong and Relaxed. Saving energy in that first 25m is crucial in preventing that 'dying' at the end. In a race no swimming should ever be slow, there's no time for that, you want to have that 'easy speed'.
• 2nd 50m- Build, keep those arms relaxed and start to increase your speed slightly into that second turn.
• 3rd 50m- Increase the legs, start to kick harder and increase that stroke rate slightly.
• 4th 50m- The Last turn wants to be the fastest as well as fast fly kick off the wall, building again to a MAX finish, keeping hold of the water every stroke.
• Nail every turn by spotting the wall 10m out. Hitting the wall too close or too far away can mess up the whole swim and cause you to use up more energy, spot those walls and finish on a full stroke.
• Save the legs for the second half of the race.
• Never expect a 200m Butterfly to be easy, it's always going to hurt, slow or fast!
• Believe in yourself and try to look forward to it, dreading the race will only make it harder.
• Probably the most important.... do the right amount of training for a 200m Butterly, aim to do main sets on Fly and get the hours in the pool!
• Butterfly can be down to mental strength, it will feel harder then Front Crawl, but how good can you be and want to be?

Chloe Golding qualified for her first Commonwealth Games after posting a lifetime best in the 200m Backstroke at the Swim England National Championships in December. Chloe, only 19 years of age, swam a sub 2.10 for the first time and got herself a place on the England team for the Games in the Gold Coast this April. 

Chloe who trains at Manchester, has been part of the Jowe sponsored team for almost a year and has recently been improving her best times, getting closer to being one the best the Britain. Chloe is really looking forward to the Games and is excited for her first Senior team.

"I'm so excited to be going and competing at a high level. It's my first senior team so I'm not feeling loads of pressure, which I think is a good position to be in. But I don't want to be content with just going, I'm aiming to go and swim fast, to do a PB and make a final. Hopefully I can use the experience to help start my senior career really well."

Chloe will be heading out to Australia at the end of March with the England team in preparation for the Games that starts April 4th. She will be competing in the 200m Backstroke and hoping to get the Final! Watch out for Chloe's results! 

Chloe is wearing the New Jowe swimsuit- Northern Lights. Available on SwimPath soon!