Warm-up for Your Swim Workout

Most swim warm-ups probably include some swimming, possibly some stretching, kicking, technique drills, and pulling, and then more swimming. As I get older (and possibly lazier) I find myself doing less stretching as an isolated part of a warm-up, but I still think it is a good idea.

Like I said above, there are many, many ways to do a workout and a warm-up. What you do in the warm-up might be based on the workout. For example, if you are going to swim butterfly during some part of the workout, it might be a great idea to do some butterfly drills during the warm-up for that workout.

You might do a shorter warm-up if you are squeezed for time, or if the main part of the workout is a lot longer than your usual workout. Maybe you don't want to increase your total time or distance swimming too much, so you shrink the size of the warm-up a little bit.

I am going swim you through two example warm-ups for a freestyle workout. The first warm-up has multiple parts: swim, stretch, swim, drill, kick, pull, swim, drill, swim. There won't be any other strokes in the example, but you could do any or all strokes at any point in the warm-up. The second warm-up is shorter with less parts.

Sample Swim Warm-up #1

1. Swim for 5-10 minutes at and easy effort.
2. Climb out of the pool and do 5-minutes of dynamic stretching. Do stretches like arm swings and leg swings, jumping jacks, etc.
3. Back into the pool and swim another 5-minutes.
4. Do 6-10 lengths of stroke technique drills, with 10-20 seconds rest in between each.
5. Grab a kickboard, or go without one, and kick for 5-10 minutes. You could do a non-stop kick, or you could do short repeats with rest between each.
6. Get rid of the kickboard and grab a pull-buoy (or go without and aim to limit your kicking) and pull (swim without using your legs) for 5-10 minutes. You could do a non-stop kick, or you could do short repeats with rest between each.
7. Swim for 5-10 minutes, alternate lengths at an easy and a moderate effort.
8. Swim 4, one-length efforts at your best possible speed. Take 45-60 seconds rest between each swim.
9. Do more technique practice, 6-10 lengths of drills, with 10-20 seconds rest in between each.
10. Swim for a minute or two, then get to the workout. For some swimmers, the warm-up may be the workout - nothing wrong with that!

Sample Swim Warm-up #2

1. Swim for 5-10 minutes at and easy effort. Include a length of technique drills every 2nd, 3rd or 4th length.
2. Swim for 5-minutes, start with an easy effort and build that effort from easy to moderate by the end of the swim.
3. Swim 4, one-length efforts at your best possible speed. Take 45-60 seconds rest between each swim.
4. Swim for 5-minutes at an easy effort, then move into the main part of the workout.

Sample Swim Warm-up #3 (warm-up and get it going)

1. Swim for about 5 minutes at and easy effort. Include a length of technique drills every 2nd, 3rd or 4th length.
2. Swim for about 5-minutes, start with an easy effort and build that effort from easy to moderate by the end of the swim.
3. Swim 2 to 4 x one-length efforts at your best possible speed. Take 45-60 seconds rest between each swim.
4. Move into the main part of the workout.

Swim on!

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