Swimmers are generally lucky, you don’t tend to suffer from severe injuries due to the low impact nature of swimming. The force and strain applied to ligaments and muscles is reduced because of the water.
However, overuse and over training can lead to inflammation and pain if not dealt with.
Swimming uses large ‘global’ muscles and tends to neglect the deep stabilising postural muscles, Pilates can help swimmers lean how to use these muscles to improve their swimming. As well as learning how to engage and make the most of these deep stabilising muscles, Pilates focuses on movement patterns, enabling you to correctly activate certain muscles within a dynamic movement pattern for more efficient swimming.
Swimmers tend to suffer with issues in the shoulders, knees and back. Open water swimmers and triathletes also need to strengthen up their necks due to constantly looking for the next buoy.
Breathing also can be an issue for swimmers, who tend to hold their breath or not exhale fully. Pilates can teach relaxed, efficient, and effective diaphragmatic breathing patterns into exercise to compliment trunk and core stability, minimise energy expenditure and maximise the available oxygen to working muscle.
My five reasons swimmers should try Pilates are:
- Healthier body movement and awareness
- Good breathing habits
- Improved flexibility and posture
- Strong core/trunk
- Greater balance and body awareness in the water
Join me for a Pilates masterclass for swimmers on Wednesday 19th August at 1pm.
