Swimming and Athletics

Swimming and Athletics

Swimming and Athletics

Swimming, being a water sport, leads to the general perception that swimmers have weak athletic skills and benefit little from athletics. However, upon examination, the situation is quite different. Like other sports, certain 'fundamentals' are very important in swimming, and all of them are based on athletics. Coordination, balance, agility, and cardiovascular development; swimming benefits from athletics in all these aspects and they play significant roles in injury prevention. The reaction of world-renowned athletic performance coach Keenan Robinson in the video below, where he sees an athlete jump onto a stone in the pool, is actually a good response to this general misconception, ‘’But swimmers aren’t athletes?’’ https://twitter.com/kkrirsh/status/1259155405105623040

In most sports, during the pre-season phase, great importance is given to creating a strong cardiovascular baseline using generalized fitness training. This is a great time to include running exercises in a swimmer's training regimen when specific exercise to the sport is less prioritized and is about to transform into excellent shape. Swimming requires incredible cardiovascular endurance. Other cardio-based sports like running and cycling focus more on high-impact lower body work. Since swimmers are accustomed to cardio training in the pool, introducing new stimuli to the cardiovascular system will challenge the body in different ways.

True athleticism is more than just brute strength; every part of your body works together in perfect coordination to achieve a desired goal. Swimming requires every part of your body to work together to propel you through the water, so you should train your muscles not only in the pool but also on the field, track, or elsewhere for perfect coordination that will translate into better performance. Hence, one can benefit from all athletics disciplines with the lowest risk of injury. Simply being able to perform will itself foster improvement.

Where swimming and athletics almost exactly overlap is in the starts. Swimming starts have evolved over time and have increasingly resembled those in athletics. In the photos below, you can see swimming starts from the past to the present and compare them with athletics starts.