Physioball Prone Streamline
Execution
1. Begin with a physioball positioned under your abdomen. Brace your feet against a wall.
2. Push with your legs, rolling out over the ball until your body is in a straight line from your heels to the tip of your head.
3. As you extended your body forward, bring the arms into a streamlined position.
4. Slowly return to the starting position.
Muscles Involved
Primary:Erector spinae
Secondary:Gluteus maximus, biceps femoris, semitendinosus, semimembranosus
Swimming Focus
The goal of this exercise is to develop strength and confidence in holding a streamlined position. An advantage of this exercise is that on land, unlike in the water, a swimmer can be directly provided with feedback while holding the streamlined position.
A good place to start is the intermediate position, in which the arms are held along the sides instead of overhead as in a streamline. The transition from the intermediate to the advanced position can be progressed by reaching out with one arm at a time. The difficulty of the exercise can be varied by altering the positioning of the physioball. Positioning the ball closer to the feet increases the difficulty of the exercise, and moving it closer to the head makes the exercise easier.
Physioball Bridge
Execution
1. Lie on your back and position a physioball under your calves.
2. Tighten your core muscles and lift your hips toward the ceiling.
3. Hold your body in a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders.
4. Slowly lower back to the starting position.
Muscles Involved
Primary:Erector spinae
Secondary:Gluteus maximus, rectus femoris, biceps femoris, semitendinosus, semimembranosus
Swimming Focus
This exercise does an excellent job of tying activation of the gluteal and hamstring muscles to the core. Although you are facing upward when performing this exercise, it will strengthen the muscles that contribute to the undulating body movements that are performed during butterfly, breaststroke, and dolphin kicking.
Before raising your hips off the ground, set your core as described in chapter 5. Doing this will isolate the exercise to the primary and secondary muscle groups and prevent injury to the low back. The difficulty of the exercise can be varied by altering the position of your feet on the ball. The less contact you have with the ball, the more difficult the exercise will be. The highest level of difficulty occurs when only your heels are touching the top of the ball. This exercise also serves as the foundation for the physioball hamstring curl described in chapter 7.
SAFETY TIP
Make sure that you maintain shoulder contact with the ground. You should not feel pressure on the head or neck when performing this exercise.
VARIATION
Single-Leg Physioball Bridge
This advanced version of the exercise should be initiated after you are able to maintain good control of your hips while performing the bridge exercise. The ultimate goal is to hold the hips in the bridged position, lift one leg for 5 seconds, lower it back to the ball, lift the opposite leg for 5 seconds, and then continue this alteration for 60 seconds.
CHAPTER 7
LEGS
Strong legs are a critical component to reaching your true potential as a swimmer. They are not only the basis for having a powerful and efficient kick but also the key to driving your body off the starting blocks and turn walls. They also play an often overlooked role as a member of the kinetic chain by balancing your stroke mechanics and contributing to a tight streamline.
The lower extremity consists of three major joints—the hip, the knee, and the ankle. Five bones make up the three joints. The pelvis serves as the link between both legs and the torso. Each thigh is composed of a single long bone called the femur. The lower leg contains the tibia and fibula. The talus is the bone that serves as the connecting point between the ankle and lower leg. The hip joint is formed by the bony socket of the pelvis, called the acetabulum, and the head of the femur, which is shaped like a ball. The knee is the junction of the femur and the tibia, and the ankle is composed of the lower ends of the tibia and fibula and the upper part of the talus.
As a ball-and-socket joint, the hip is capable of a wide range of movements that can be described in three pairs. Flexion involves lifting the thigh upward toward the ceiling as if you are lifting your leg to climb a set of stairs. Extension is movement of the thigh backward. Abduction occurs when the leg is moved to the side away from the midline of the body, and adduction is the movement of bringing the leg back toward the midline of the body. Internal rotation is the process of touching the big toe of each foot together along the midline of the body. External rotation is the opposite and allows you to touch the back end of both heels together.
At the knee, a hinge joint, two primary movements occur. Flexion is the process of pulling the heel to the
