Hi everyone, my name is David McNulty. I’m Head Coach of this British Swimming ITC.
My name’s Julian Nagi, I’m the British Gas Head Swimming Coach.
Hi I’m Steve Parry.
I’m Duncan Goodhew.
Julian Nagi
“I’m here today to give you some great tips to help get the most out of your British Gas swim training.
It’s very important to pace yourself when you start swim training. You can’t do too much too soon. Otherwise you’ll end up picking up shoulder injuries.
Everything a beginner or amateur swimmer should start to do should be done at a very slow, easy pace so it’s much easier for the body to cope with the demands of the exercise. This makes swimming a far more enjoyable experience and will help prevent swimming injuries in the long run.”
David McNulty
“If you’re coming three or four times a week you don’t just want to get in and do freestyle all the time. You need to add different elements. There’s some speed kicks that you can do, little 15 - 20 metre bursts of real fast kicking or there’s descending sets, so starting off slow, finishing fast or doing some best effort kick sets.
Another great way to spice your training session up is just to do what we call pull training. Quite simply you pull the buoy between your legs. It helps keep your hips up so you have a good body position. It relaxes the legs, the legs just move ever so slightly but it’s a real good way of strengthening and toning the arms.”
Julian Nagi
“Training cards are really important because it helps keep any swimmer motivated. When you get one of these swimming cards it gives you specific goals to aim for and when you come to the pool you’ve got a specific target in mind which makes it hugely motivating and much more interesting when you come to do your session.
When you finish your session it’s really important stretching for ten minutes or so afterwards because when you use muscles and pull they tend to shorten when you exercise and then when you come out of the pool it’s important to stretch them back to their original length.”
Duncan Goodhew
“The easiest way to improve is to become more flexible so you can move through the water easier. Swimmers get tight in their shoulders. It’s here pulling down behind your head and stretching the lats, the pecs.
Another exercise you can do is stretching forward there. It’s opening up the shoulder blades behind you. If you think about your legs, hamstrings, quads, stretch those but don’t forget the knee joint and perhaps you can do a little few extra exercises that are actually stretching the knee. You’ve got to be a bit flexible in life and swimming’s just the same.”
If you’re struggling with your training and you’re finding it really difficult there are a few things you can do. Focus on a technique.
Focus on how you can get through the water. Maybe count the number of strokes per length and see if you can reduce them. Give yourself little challenges and think about what you’re trying to achieve rather than, “It’s time to get out, I’m hurting a lot.”
Steve Parry
“There is a great challenge here and it’s swimming 4000m in a relay. If it’s not hard it’s not worth doing so if you’re capable of swimming one length I guarantee by the time you’ve been through the training session and also gone to some of the coaching sessions you will not have a problem competing in SwimBritain. Imagine the feeling when you’re done. There is no other swimming competition like this. You’ve signed up, let’s get it done.”