Creating a dryland training system for yourself or your team has never been more important. You’re seeing it on display every time you tune into the swimming races in Tokyo.
The fastest swimmers are the best athletes. The swimmers winning the races are slowing down the least because they are stronger and have more endurance.
The most successful swimmers have the durability needed so their bodies can withstand the years of training its taken them to reach this point.
While it may feel overwhelming at first there are some critical elements that if put in place first, will greatly help you create a successful dryland training program.
Dryland Training System Element #1: Movement Assessments
It doesn’t matter that you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re starting. Even though movement assessments are actually a pretty quick and easy process, many swimmers and coaches skip this step. This can be attributed to them not knowing what to do or thinking it’ll be too complicated or time consuming.
This isn’t the case! What we teach in the SURGE Strength Dryland Certification Curriculum allows even a single coach to take a large group of swimmers through the necessary movement assessments in just a single session.
Having this data is crucial in identifying athletes for possible future injuries or compensations. Both coach and athlete will quickly discover what function solutions will allow them to improve these specific areas.
And not all swimmers will have the same maladaptations or compensations. Which is why it’s so important to take the time and actually perform movement assessments on at least a seasonal basis.
- Learn More: DRYLAND ASSESSMENT FOR SWIMMERS
Dryland Training System Element #2: Performance Tests
There’s a slightly higher chance that more swimmers and coaches implement some type of performance test in their dryland program than those that perform movement assessments. This makes sense because it’s a similar situation to in water training.
Every so often you want to see how many pull-ups a swimmer can do. Or how long they can hold a plank.
The disconnect however comes when there’s not a clear “next step” to move forward once you have this testing data.
Within the SURGE Strength Dryland Certification Curriculum we’ve created clear instructions on what and how to move forward in your dryland programming. This is all based on the results of these performance tests. So you and your athletes can have a road map for how to approach training with a swimmer that can’t do any pull-ups. And at the same time have a different approach for the swimmer that can do 20+ pull-ups.
Effective dryland comes down to meeting the athlete at their current level and appropriately and progressively increasing intensity along with complexity.
- Learn More: TOP 3 DRYLAND PERFORMANCE TESTS FOR SWIMMERS
Dryland Training System Element #3: Exercise Levels
In order to effectively see what the appropriate exercise levels are for each athlete you will need to have already completed the first two elements. This is even more reason why you need to prioritize seasonal movement assessments and performance tests.
Having a program that is an inappropriate intensity and/or complexity is what leads to injury or lack of adaptations. Either one of those outcomes is obviously not ideal and so you should avoid those outcomes.
Once you have all the data you can easily slot athletes to their appropriate exercise levels for every movement category. And it’s not surprising to see athletes that are at a higher level for some movement categories than they are for others.
And don’t be quick to discount how much an athlete can gain from dryland training even if they are slotted for Level 1 exercises across the board. A higher level doesn’t mean “better” necessarily. It just indicates that athlete is able to do more intense/complex exercises.
Learn How to Create Your Dryland Training System at SURGE Strength’s Next Webinar
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Courtesy of SwimSwam’s exclusive dryland training partner, SURGE Strength.
SURGE Strength, a strength training brand created by Chris Ritter, CEO of RITTER Sports Performance, aims to build better athletes and faster swimmers through dryland programs, and coaching education.
