Foundational and swimming-specific strength

Strength training should be geared to developing the specific attributes a swimmer needs in order to race fast. Before listing a few of the strength exercises that can be used by swimmers I’ll help you understand two basic concepts of strength training. These are the concepts of foundational and swimming-specific strength.

Foundational strength is a term that is synonymous with developing a full-body strength base. When developing general strength, you should focus on building endurance in the major muscle groups throughout the body while also focusing on injury prevention and developing core strength. The goal of building foundational strength is not to get as strong as you can but to build a strength base on which you will build power and swimming-specific strength.

Swimming-specific strength is a term to describe the strength needed to swim the four competitive strokes. Each of the four strokes has specific demands and requires you to use different muscles in different ways. You may hear swimming-specific strength being referred as functional strength, but in essence, these two terms mean the same.

It’s often useful to think of strength training as a pyramid. The base of the pyramid is made up of the foundational strength. On top of that foundation, you develop muscular power and swimming-specific strength. Keep in mind that by developing only foundational strength will not necessarily make you faster. It swimming efficacy and the ability to transfer that strength to the water that characterizes most of the best swimmers.

A few great foundational strength exercises are:

• Squat
• Lunge
• Calf raises
• Single leg dead lift
• Pull up
• Lat pull down
• Chest press
• Upright row
• Seated row
• Triceps extension

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