Tag: competitive swimming techniques

How to Stay Relaxed and Focused During a Swim Meet

How to Stay Relaxed and Focused During a Swim Meet

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Whether you’ve been involved in competitive swimming for some time or you’re just getting started, you’ve likely felt the butterflies in your stomach before a big race or even before your first couple of practices when you don’t know what to expect. The good news is you don’t have to feel that way. While being nervous is completely normal, swim teams find ways to relax so they can perform better.

Competitive swimming doesn't have to be stressful.
There are ways to relax before your competitive swimming meets.

Focus on the Simple

It’s easy to lose sight of the competitive swimming techniques you’ve worked so hard on. It’s also easy to over complicate things when you’re facing an important race. The good news is this can often be resolved by focusing on what you know so you can tap into your power and swim your best.

Ignore Your Surroundings

Whether you feel intimidated by your competitors or you easily get distracted by their routines, ignoring your surroundings can be the perfect way to calm some of your anxiety and nervousness. A great way to do this is to use an MP3 player and ear buds to distract yourself from the sounds around you and help you focus on the task at hand. Choose music that calms your nerves and helps you concentrate.

Remember Past Performances

While no one likes to think about the races they feel they have failed in, it’s highly likely there are also past races you feel great pride in and felt you swam your absolute best. Focus on those races and what you did before and during them. When you remember the times you have performed well, you can feel more confident in your ability to do so during this race as well.

Practice Deep Breathing

Deep breathing can greatly relax the body, helping you center your mind and prepare your body for your next race. Closing your eyes and taking a few deep breaths when you’re feeling stressed out can do wonders for your anxiety level.

Feeling nervous for your next race is perfectly normal. It’s up to you to learn how to channel that anxiety into a more productive swim. With the help of these tips, you can accomplish those goals.

If you’re looking for the best competitive swimming gear, contact us. We carry everything you need to be a more effective swimmer.

How to Incorporate Weight Lifting into Your Swim Training

How to Incorporate Weight Lifting into Your Swim Training

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When you’re involved with swimming competitively, there’s more than just performance swimwear and spending time training in the pool. It’s essential to use other elements to work out and get your body stronger so you can swim more efficiently. As you work to develop your competitive swimming techniques, it’s necessary to use other methods, including weight lifting. This process can build the strength in your muscles so you can swim faster and more efficiently, giving you the competitive edge in your races.

A competitive swimmer needs more than performance swimwear.
Performance swimwear isn’t all you need to be a competitive swimmer.

Which First?

You may wonder if you should spend your time in the pool first or if you should go to the gym and then the pool. When you swim first, you raise your body temperature and get your heart rate up, which means you will burn more calories as you spend time weight lifting. However, you are more likely to already feel tired when you hit the gym, which can severely limit the amount of effort you can put into your weight lifting routine. This includes resistance training, which is important for swimmers. On the other hand, if you go to the gym for weight lifting first, you will get to the fat burning element of your exercise routine more quickly. When you expend more energy in the weight room, you develop muscle more quickly, increasing the effectiveness of your strength training. Unfortunately, you will still feel more fatigued when you hit the pool and your muscles can actually be weaker for a period of time after weight lifting.

Why Weight Lifting?

Most people recognize using weight lifting as part of their competitive swimming training because it increases strength and helps build muscle, which is essential to a good performance in the water. However, keep in mind fatiguing your muscles and continuing to work out in the pool can increase the risk of injuries so it’s important to be careful. Other benefits of using weight lifting as part of your swim training is to improve your level of endurance in the water over time and to help you lose weight.

It can be difficult to balance weight lifting with your workouts in the pool, but it’s an important part of the process if you want to swim your best. Working with your coach can help you make the smart decisions so you don’t suffer from the negative impact of muscle fatigue, but you also don’t end up neglecting necessary parts of your training.

If you’re looking for the best competitive swimwear brands in Dallas, TX, contact us. We have everything you need to enhance your performance in the water.

6 Efficacious Ways To Improve Your Swimming Performance

6 Efficacious Ways To Improve Your Swimming Performance

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Buying performance swimwear isn’t the only thing you need to worry about when it comes to learning how to swim more effectively. You also need to work hard to perfect your competitive swimming techniques so you can improve your speeds and perform even better in the water. The following tips can help you improve.

A kickboard can help hone your competitive swimming techniques.
Learn how to best work on your competitive swimming techniques.

Shorter Workouts

Many people think swimming a few longer sessions is better than spending less time in the water more frequently. Because your muscles require some down time in order to recover, it’s best to consider several smaller workouts versus one or two longer ones to yield better results.

Use Resistance

Resistance training is one of the most effective methods to increase your strength and your endurance. There are many tools you can implement into your workouts, including the best swimming kickboards, pull buoys, swim paddles, swim fins and more. Each one helps you focus on different aspects of your swim technique and parts of your body.

Eat Right

Your nutrition has a direct impact on your swimming performance. It’s important to eat a healthy diet at all times, particularly during those important time periods leading up to your next big race. Talk to your coach and your medical professional to find out which foods you should be eating to ensure a healthy body and a good performance.

Train Together

Studies have shown when you choose swim lanes next to others who are as fit as you and working toward many of the same goals as you, you are more likely to train harder. When you are more focused on doing better, you will find your performance improves much more.

Train Outside the Pool

Your training isn’t restricted solely to the pool alone. In fact, it can help you improve your overall performance by taking part in strength training outside the pool as well. This is typically referred to as dry training. However, this is just as essential to how well you swim as practicing your competitive swimming techniques in the water.

Time to Recover

It’s critical to give your muscles time to recover if you want to perform your best in the water. This is why shorter, more frequent workouts are much better than several longer session spread further apart. Creating that cycle of workout and recovery is the best way to improve your performance more quickly.

If you’re looking for the best performance swimwear and gear to improve your performance, contact us. We carry everything you need to become a stronger swimmer.

The Best Way to Warm Up Before Hitting the Pool

The Best Way to Warm Up Before Hitting the Pool

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Your warm ups can be enhanced with fitness swimwear.
Put on your fitness swimwear to help with your warm ups.

Before you hit the pool, it’s essential to make sure you are properly warmed up so you can reduce your risk of being injured. However, not all swimmers are aware of the best ways to accomplish this goal. As you put on your fitness swimwear in Dallas, TX, consider these options before you start working on your competitive swimming techniques.

Give Yourself Plenty of Time

One of the most important elements of warming up before you hit the water is making sure you have enough time to do it. Competitive swimming, whether practice or a meet, isn’t the time to show up right on time. Plan ahead and get to the pool with plenty of time to allow for the following steps so you don’t feel rushed and your body is properly prepared for the event.

Stretch Out First

First and foremost, you should perform a few stretching exercises to prepare your body for swimming. While the actual stretches don’t matter, it’s essential to do some light activity to warm your muscles up before doing any good stretches. You can do this by light swimming for about five minutes or even taking a short five-minute walk or jog. Once this is complete, dynamic stretches, which are slow, controlled stretches, are often the best choice.

Start Off Slow

Once you have finished your stretches, it’s time to move into the water. However, it’s important not to push yourself into 100 percent hardcore competitive swimming techniques right away. In fact, you should do some laps with simple swimming first. Don’t confuse this with lazy swimming. It’s important to make sure you are still focusing on the proper technique. Instead of focusing on all aspects of your swimming, consider separating out just one or two elements and focus on that, such as keeping your hips properly aligned or timing your breathing.

Build Gradually

Once you start getting into the rhythm, you can begin building up your speed and start focusing on other aspects of your swimming as well. This will get you ready for the practice or raise, while easing your body into it.

If you’re looking for the best competitive swimwear brands to wear at the pool, contact us. We carry everything you need, whether you are a seasoned professional or you’re just getting started in competitive swimming.

4 Mistakes Swimmers Make at the Start of the Season

4 Mistakes Swimmers Make at the Start of the Season

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When you first get involved with competitive swimming, you need to consider more than just choosing the right competitive swimwear brands in Dallas, TX. Whether you are a veteran swimmer or this is your first season, there are certain mistakes many swimmers often make when the new season is starting. However, when you are aware of these mistakes, you will be able to avoid them so you can start focusing on a successful season.

A new competitive swimming season can be an adjustment.
When it comes to competitive swimming, there are things you should avoid at the beginning of the season.

Not Going Back to the Basics

Many swimmers, especially those who have been in competitive swimming for years, fail to remember to focus on the basics when they get back in the pool at the start of a season. However, it’s critical to go back to the fundamentals to warm your body up and get ready for the season ahead. There’s no harm in brushing up on the basics now and again.

Not Setting Goals

It’s easy to go into a new season with no real goals in mind, but this can lead to disastrous results. It’s important to always be working toward something, whether it’s learning new competitive swimming techniques or it’s improving on your personal best times. Always spend some time at the beginning of the season to determine where you want to be by the end.

Not Properly Preparing

One of the best ways to prevent injuries is to stay in good shape throughout the year, even when the competitive season isn’t active. This means those swimmers who let themselves go in the off-season are more likely to experience injuries when they get back into swimming on a regular basis.

Not Developing Good Habits

Every season, it’s important to create good habits you can follow that will ensure you can always swim your best. This includes habits that pertain the way you train, how you eat during training or before meets and how you will manage your time both in and out of the pool. Not developing these habits will make it more difficult to achieve your goals for the upcoming season.

There are many mistakes you can make when it comes to competitive swimming. Learning what they are and avoiding them whenever possible, as well as making adjustments when you do realize you’ve made a mistake, will help you enjoy your season and help you perform even better.

If you’re looking for the best competitive swimwear brands in Dallas, TX, contact us. We can help you find just what you need to do your best this season.