Treading Water 101:

Treading Water 101:

Treading Water is basically the easiest way to stay afloat! It is a great tool to have in in your arsenal as the main goal is to keep you floating and safe in a body of water.

Here are my five tips on treading water:

1. Try to remain calm. Fear makes people sink. The more relaxed you are the easier it will be to float.

2. Stick your chest out and head back. This body position makes treading way less tiring. Body position-wise this is similar to floating so it helps in that way too.

3. Kicking wise you can either do flutter kick (freestyle kick) or breaststroke kick (frog kick). It doesn’t matter how you float so whichever way you feel is easier for you is the best kick.

4. Your hands should be cupped. That way it is easier to move through the water.

5. Please practice the position before you actually need to use it. You can practice in a shallow end and then move to the deep end where you’re actually gonna need it.

Five Land Exercises that Will Help You in the Water

I've got 5 exercises that swimmers do when they're not in the pool to enhance their swim workouts. When swimmers aren't in the pool they take advantage of these exercises called dryland. Dryland is mostly used to strengthen areas that are heavily used in the pool.

1. Flutter kick- lying on your back hold your feet straight out with your toes pointed if possible. Your feet should be approximately 6 inches off the ground. For about 30 seconds hold your feet six inches above the ground and pretend to kick. The amount of time is supposed to increase as you get stronger. This exercise engages the abs for sure; after you get the hang of it you'll definitely start seeing the benefits in the pool

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2. Squat and an added jump- Start in a squatting position with your legs at a 90 degree angle. Hold your arms straight above your head in streamline position. Once your arms are in the correct position, jump up, then return to your squatting positions. Try doing five in a row. This benefits starts off the block as well as flip turns off the wall.

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VISUAL OF SQUAT WITH AN ADDED JUMP PART ONE

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PART OF OF THE SQUAT WITH THE ACTUAL JUMP

3. Running man- For this one you will need a friend. You will need a tennis ball and a hardwood floor. Person one and person two will want to stand maybe half a basketball court apart -one person on the outside of the court, the other at the halfway mark. The person on the outer court line runs in place. The person in the middle of the court drops the ball. As soon as the ball drops the person sprints to the ball; the less the tennis ball bounces the better. The purpose of this drill is to focus on reaction speed.

4. Abs in any form are always great. There are so many varieties, that whatever you put into your workout related to ab strengthening will help. You can literally find inspiration any where check out Neila Rey's workouts. They have tons of variety and some of them have awesome themes:

CHECK OUT MORE BY SEARCHING NEILA REY'S WORKOUTS ON GOOGLE 

5. Medicine balls are so versatile but one particular exercise I remember was using a medicine ball against the wall. You can throw it against the wall if you're alone, or do it with a friend if you have one; you can throw the ball in different ways to help engage different muscles. Over the head, back and forth to each side with one hand, and the basketball shot are all ways to strengthen the arms.

Swimming is my Favorite Recovery!

Swimming is the perfect pairing for almost any sport. Especially for activities like weightlifting and running! When I finished my first half marathon, I’m not gonna lie I could barely walk. This was not due to the half marathon itself but more the crappy running shoes I wore. My legs and knees were in a lot of pain. I thought hobbling around like a penguin won’t get me far. So I choose to get in the pool and just move around.

When I got in the pool, I did low intensity stuff. That means no long distance sets and all stuff on a slower speed. What makes the pool such a great place to recover is that in some ways it gives your body a break. When we run or lift their is a lot of pressure put on your joints in swimming there is some minor pressure put on your joints but it’s so much less then when you're running or lifting. Regardless, swimming is just a great way to stretch out,relax and to change your workout plan. Whatever your training goals are swimming related or not make sure you are recovering or resting in your workout.

After I finished working out in the pool there was still a bit of minor pain but it was much more manageable. So all I’m saying is that if their is a place when your body needs a break listen to it and take a breaK. Your body will thank you later! I’m including a recovery plan for all levels in the pool. That way all you have to do is get the the pool!

Recovery workout:

Warm up: 200(8 Laps) 100-free

                                    100-Kick on your back in streamline position or with a kickboard

Main set: 4X50 25 drill 25 swim

                      Optional drills:Ketch-up, Six-kick-switch, Zipper

            Don’t know what these drills are, check out my video for clarification:

                               Three freestyle drills

        4X50’s-25 kick 25 swim

                                 Numbers 1 and 3 are stroke

                                 Numbers 2 and 4 are freestyle

                       4x50 Regular Swim

100 Choice of Stroke Warm Down

Hope you guys enjoy the workout let me know how it goes in the comments below!

Keep calm and swim on,

Coach Kelcey