Shoulders and Back
Maximizing shoulder mobility is invaluable with freestyle, as it is a powerful overhead movement, so mimicking the correct positions is key. Using a light medicine ball (2 to 4 lbs.) as a basketball and dribbling it against the wall with your arm fully extended above is an excellent exercise. It encourages you to maintain shoulder blade retraction/posture while loading your arm in an extended position as you would in the water. To further improve, seek a qualified fitness coach to help create a routine of similar exercises to strengthen your shoulders.
Core
Core work is great because it is something you can easily do any time of day. Similar to doing a plank, your posture during freestyle should have an equal, active load (both front and backside) to help stabilize your body as you swim. Aside from standard planks and side planks, any other exercises in which you have to brace yourself to stabilize your core and maintain control are worthwhile moves to add to your dryland training. When you're doing these weighted exercises, focus on keeping tautness and stability throughout your core to control the movements. This functional strength and awareness translates well to the water when you add in moving parts head to toe that need to be purposefully organized to tap into your power and speed.
Hips and Ankles
Lastly, the mobility and muscular endurance of your hip flexors, as well as your plantar ankle flexion, is quite important in freestyle. Without it, swimmers resort to a bicycling motion when kicking and create an inefficient drop and drag in the back half of the body. Instead, tap into exercises that demand full range of hip and ankle motions in order to avoid this common mechanical limiter.
Yoga is a reliable option, as it is a dedicated hour in which you are stretching, strengthening and actively recovering. Swimming and yoga's two big parallels are undeniable: breath and length. Stay focused on moving through each posture or series with the intention of understanding how each will directly benefit the movements of your freestyle. This will solidify the purpose and value of yoga for a triathlete, and you'll leave feeling much more body aware.
Commit to finding this type of well-rounded balance in your training regimen. All of these things complement the ultimate goal of becoming a better, stronger and faster swimmer. The win-win is that along the way, you'll also be more likely to prevent injury and maintain a healthy body for your sport and for your life in general.
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