Functional training for swimmers

Functional strength training involves performing work against resistance in such a manner that the improvements in strength directly enhance the performance of movements so that an individual's activities of daily living are easier to perform. Simply stated, the primary goal of functional training is to transfer the improvements in strength achieved in one movement to enhancing the performance of another movement by affecting the entire neuromuscular system.

Water adjustment for baby swimming

For the first few lessons, simply play in the pool with your child while he becomes accustomed to the water. This is a very important part of the program - if your child is comfortable with water streaming down his face, and happy in the pool, he will be able to easily move on to being submerged under the water in later lessons.

Slowly conditioning your child to feel water on his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth helps him to graduallu adapt to the sensation of the water on his face when he goes underwater. The best way to do this is through play.

Training parameters

The parameters of training refer to guidelines used to construct conditioning programs. The parameters that swimmers and coaches should be concerned with when planning a training program are:

• duration,
• frequency,
• intensity, and
• mileage.

Training duration and frequency refer to the number of hours per day and number of days per week that athletes spend in training. Training intensity relates to the speed of training, and training mileage concerns the number of meters that athletes swim per day, per week, and per season.

Principles of training (part 3)

Specificity principle

This principle refers to the fact that physiological adaptations will occur only in the tissues and organs stressed during the training process. At least four aspects of specificity must be considered when planning a training program for swimmers:

1. the activity that the swimmer is training for,
2. the stroke the swimmer will use in competition,
3. the competition speed, and
4. the portions of the metabolic system that need to be stressed.

It is clear that swimmers must do most of their training in the water. It is also recommended that they swim a large percentage of their training mileage in their main stroke or strokes because that is the only way they can be certain that they are training the muscle fibers they will use in races. A final important point about specific training concerns the various phases of the metabolic system. Endurance training and sprint training emphasize different aspects of those systems. So, athletes must swim both endurance and sprint repeats in their primary stroke or strokes to target all phases of the metabolic system for optimum improvements.