This Holiday Season Give Them a Competitive Edge

This is a HOLIDAY SEASON special offer from BridgeAthletic , a SwimSwam partner.

For years many people have asked about swim specific strength / dryland training. For the last year, one of SwimSwam’s partners, BridgeAthletic has been building swim specific strength programs for teams and athletes at the highest level. Founded by Nick Folker, widely regarded as the top swimming strength coach in the world – BridgeAthletic builds and delivers custom optimized, stroke/distance specific dryland programs to each of the athletes they work with.

BridgeAthletic Promotional Offer:

BridgeAthletic is offering SwimSwam readers the ability to give the gift of an elite level strength program at a discount. The folks at Bridge realize it’s hard to wrap a training program so each gift package comes delivered in a box with a training handbook, and a Bridge T-Shirt.

To give your loved one a Bridge training program this coming season/year, visit their site here and use the promo code “BLACKFRIDAY“. If you’re looking to treat yourself to one of Folker’s training programs, simply go through the normal onboarding website here, and use the same discount code “BLACKFRIDAY“.

***These discount codes will expire on Sunday, November 30th.

Bridge Swim: an unfair advantage for dryland training

Mash up big data, smart phone mobility, and a personalized training program designed for elite athletes and you get Bridge Swim, a subscription program of sport-specific edryland workouts delivered to smartphones and tablets. With workouts created by Nick Folker, the renowned strength and conditioning coach at UC Berkeley, and the team at Bridge Athletic, Bridge Swim is designed to take swimmers to the next level of their competitive ability. With individual swimmers Anthony Ervin, Tom Shields, Natalie Coughlin and Nathan Adrian and teams such as Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics training with Bridge Swim, the company is making a splash. As Adrian notes, the workouts designed and delivered by Bridge Swim are instrumental in his improved performance. “Bridge Athletic delivers the swim-specific coaching and training I need to perform at my peak. I love the fact that BridgeAthletic takes into account my goals as a sprinter and includes periodization to help me prepare for my key meets. Thanks to the BridgeAthletic workouts, my performance has continued to improve.”

Bridge Swim: individual workouts personalized for individual swimmers

Bridge Swim leverages the built-in intelligence of a smart phone to capture essential data from each athlete. Bridge profiles each user, asking for their event, stroke, and the date of their next big meet. Bridge Swim then combines that information with a personal assessment that measures flexibility, mobility, stability and strength. Based on the information the user submits, Nick Folker and the team at Bridge draw on a database of over 1000 individual exercises to craft a unique training program fine tuned for each athlete and deliver it to their smart phone or tablet.

How Bridge Swim Works

The result is a unique workout program customized to build on an athlete’s strengths, and eliminate their weaknesses. Videos explain how to perform each exercise for maximum benefit while showing the correct form designed to prevent injury. Bridge Swim workouts increase performance, build endurance, and develop speed in the pool. Athletes start with a general preparation phase and progress through strength, power and taper phases calendared around each athlete’s competition schedule. This periodized approach to training ensures Bridge Swim athletes can push toward their goals instead of hitting a plateau.

According to Natalie Coughlin, 3-time Olympian and 12-time Olympic Medalist:

“BridgeAthletic has not only become a part of my daily routine, it stays with me wherever I go. The BridgeAthletic app allows me to stay connected with my regimen no matter where and when I need to train. Not only do I perform the workouts as if Nick is there himself, but my results and feedback are delivered to him in real time. BridgeAthletic adapts to my situation, so I always have the right workout to do at the right time. Overall, I feel more prepared for competition with greater insight into my recovery & progress.”

What Makes Bridge Different

• Bridge Swim is stroke/distance specific. Bridge delivers swimming workouts for swimmers.
• Bridge Swim is customized. Bridge workouts are based on each athlete’s unique strengths, weaknesses, and goals.
• Bridge adapts to each athlete’s performance in real-time, then responds with the right workout to do at the right time.
• Bridge is mobile. Delivered to your smart phone or tablet, Bridge goes with you.
• Bridge knows your competition schedule. You’ll be trained, tapered, and ready on race day.

Who’s behind Bridge?

Bridge Athletic is co-founded by Olympic swimmer Nick Folker, the renowned strength and conditioning coach for the UC Berkeley Cal Bear Swim team. Folker paired up with former professional water polo player Michael Sharf to create Bridge Athletic. Folker, who has trained over 50 Olympic athletes with 22 medals to their credit, created the workouts in Bridge Swim to provide swimmers everywhere with the same successful swim-specific strength & conditioning system he developed at Cal. “With BridgeAthletic,” Folker said, “I am working to empower a much larger group of athletes by giving them access to world class, sport specific training programs.”