Swimming Exercises For Muscles

Swimming uses all of the major muscle groups within the body. Each different stroke relies more heavily on some muscles than others and you can complete certain drills or exercises if you want to focus on one particular muscle group during your training sessions. Swimming regularly can help you to tone and strengthen your entire body.

Muscles

Swimming incorporates your abdominals, biceps, triceps, gluteals, hamstrings and quadriceps. Front crawl requires the use of your deltoids and leg muscles while back crawl works your triceps and leg muscles. Breaststroke utilizes your thighs, biceps and glutes and butterfly focuses on your abdominals, deltoids and leg muscles. Incorporating all of the four strokes into your training session will ensure that you use the full range of muscles and get a full-body workout.

Stomach

Dolphin leg kick will help to strengthen and tone your stomach muscles. If you do it correctly, you will really feel the effects after just a few lengths. If you intend to swim on your front, stretch your arms out in front of you like a spear as you complete your butterfly leg kicking action. The movement should come from your stomach, hips and legs and you can complete either a single or double butterfly arm pull when you need to breathe. You can also complete this drill on your back with your arms extended. If you need an easier option, try completing the leg action with your arms by your sides or hold onto a float.

Legs

Eliminating the arms when you swim can help you to improve your leg muscles. To complete kicking drills on your front you will need a float or kick board. Hold the float at arms length. Your chin can rest on the water or you can put your face in and turn your head when you need to breathe. In this position, you can complete front crawl and breaststroke kicking actions. To practice your back crawl legs, either hug the float to your chest or hold your arms straight out above your head as you swim on your back. Front and back crawl leg kicks use the fronts and backs of your legs while breaststroke helps to tone your bottom and inner thighs.

Arms

Using just your arms will help to tone your biceps, triceps and deltoids. Place a buoy between your legs to eliminate movement from your feet and prevent them from sinking. If your pool allows it, you could experiment with hand paddles which add resistance and make you work harder. While front crawl, back crawl and butterfly are all fairly simple, swimmers often feel awkward swimming with breaststroke arms only. If this is the case, try a small dolphin leg kick to balance out the stroke. Aim to complete all of the four strokes during your workout to ensure you target each of the main arm muscles.