{"id":541,"date":"2018-07-12T12:41:52","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T10:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/?p=541"},"modified":"2018-07-04T12:47:02","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T10:47:02","slug":"how-to-warm-up-before-a-swimming-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/tips-tricks\/how-to-warm-up-before-a-swimming-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"How to warm-up before a swimming competition?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have previously discussed the basic rules of a good and effective warm-up<\/a> before an everyday swimming workout but we know that many of you are competing regularly as part of the Masters organization or a school team etc. That’s why we have decided to look at some warm-up techniques and rules that are applicable before a swim meet when speed is going to be the main focus. We also want to give you a few good reasons to always remember about warming up your body before a race.<\/p>\n

Why should you warm-up before swimming<\/h2>\n

1. Feel the heat<\/strong> – when your body is warmer – your muscles and joints become more flexible and your movement rage is improved<\/p>\n

2. Feel the water<\/strong> – warm-up improves our nerve system activity and helps you find what coaches call 'the feel for the water’<\/p>\n

3. Fill your lungs<\/strong> – proper warm-up lets you hold your breath in an efficient and effortless way<\/p>\n

4. Fill your body with oxygen<\/strong> – warming up will help your organism to improve oxygen delivery to your muscles – the source of your power!<\/p>\n

5. Every split second counts<\/strong> – you do not want to be at any disadvantage compared to other swimmers who took time to warm-up – it might be the difference between the winners and the rest of the pack!<\/p>\n

Physical warm-up<\/h2>\n

Swimming main warm-up<\/strong>
\n– finish it 30 minutes before the race at the latest
\n– slowly build the intensity at an average of 55-65% of your max intensity<\/p>\n

Pre-race warm-up<\/strong>
\n– do it as close to the start of the race as possible (5 minutes before is perfect)
\n– include a 50 meter higher intensity set at around 75% of your max intensity<\/p>\n

Dryland warm-up<\/strong>
\nThis is not ideal and you should always opt for the in-water warm-up but as we all know it is not always possible. This is when a dryland warm-up session has to prepare you for the race and to do it it has to consist of two parts – general and dynamic warm-ups<\/p>\n

General dryland warm-up should last for around 10 minutes and include exercises that work your big muscles groups – light jogging, stationary bicycle or a jump rope are good examples<\/p>\n

Dynamic dryland warm-up is supposed to improve flexibility while keeping your body warm. You should target specific muscle groups used in swimming and should be performed in 15-30 second sets. The whole warm-up should take 5 to 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

Mental pre-race preparation for swimmers<\/h2>\n

This process is different for every athlete but should consist of those elements:
\n– achieve a mental state that correlates with success
\n– achieve greater self-confidence
\n– control your mental energy levels – not too flat and not too amped
\n– hyper-focused on the key technical elements of the swim ahead
\n– stay comfortable thanks to a pre-race routine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We have previously discussed the basic rules of a good and effective warm-up before an everyday swimming workout but we know that many of you are competing regularly as part of the Masters organization or a school team etc. That’s why we have decided to look at some warm-up techniques and rules that are applicable…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":542,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions\/542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmo.com\/secure\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}