Learn how to do 4 pre-swim warn-up movements.

As with football, it is essential to warm your body efficiently up before jumping into the football pitch ready to play. Low impact exercises like the stretching of the arms and legs are not going to get them cut you know? However, here are few swimming exercises that I do before my swimming at all, this is to ensure that my body has the flexibility and water compatibility it requires to do my stroke perfectly and efficiently; however, it’s a mere succession that only takes around three to five minutes.

1. Forward lunge: This is a very simple exercise, and I know it won’t give you many problems to practice it. To start, you need to thrust forward with a leg and touch the arm beside the back leg straight above and slightly to the back to open up the frontal chain – abs and hip flexors are inclusive. Also, ensure you open the quads and lats. Now position your hips making it parallel to the floor, your glutes and abs engaged and knees/hips/ ankles in line. Try to go up to four to six on each side.

2. Standing T’s: With this exercise, the chest is opened up as you warm up and supports the cuff’s rotator. At a split standing position, elevate arms out up to their sides, aligned with the floor, rotate the thumbs to the back and exercise the shoulder blades into the spine and a little downward. Stay for about one to two second, after release and do the same for about six to ten times.

3. 90-degree stretch: Develop your turning steadiness with this movement. Stay flat on the ground with your side and ensuring your legs are on top of one another. Allow the leg below to be straight but curve the one above to make the knee and hip at about 90 degrees. Stretch out your arms; you will want them to be perpendicular to your body and at the same time making sure your palms are in contact. Exert a bit of pressure by pressing your bent knee to the floor and make it stay that way while you take the arm above and over to the other side, turning the spine as you go.

However, the secret is to get your abs and glutes busy while maintaining the bent knee on the floor for you to get reasonably far with your spine (controlled by your arm). Usually, you should finish up with arms, shoulders and back completely flat to the floor, arms forming a T, while the knee is still contacting the floor. Stay holding the stretch for a couple of seconds, afterwards go back to the beginning position and do it again four to six times on each side.

4. Any of the two:
a. Quadruped Rocking with extension: Get on the ground decisively staring you in the face and knees. Sit once more into your hips while keeping your abs locked in. Come back to beginning position, flex and develop your spine like a feline stretch. Repeat six times.
Or
b. Standing Back Extension and Lateral Extension
While standing, completely flex and expand the spine by doing a forward and in reverse twist—a few times. Take after that with parallel twists by intersecting one foot before the other and adjusting the arm of the rear leg up and over advancing towards that back foot, making a side curve. Continue for one to two seconds and repeat four times on every side.

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