Proper Land Training: Part 1, Basic Principles

Training specifically for a sport is not a new idea or concept, it’s been done for 50+ years. It’s been done exceptionally well all around the world to prepare and equip athletes with the necessary physical qualities to allow them to train, compete and win in every sport. This field is often called ‘Strength and Conditioning’, although an accepted term is very vague and altogether a pretty bad title which reflects very little to what this field can provide.

Unfortunately, it’s also been done poorly in a lot of cases, often the case within swimming where most land training is centred entirely on swimming and not the athletes with little regard, or ignorance, to the fundamental principles of training or motor learning.

There is an ever-changing number of principles that govern strength and conditioning provision, however, the most fundamental ones are, Progressive Overload, Specificity, Reversibility and Recovery. Most places will give you different answers, some more, some less. Here I have condensed the major principles even further.

Progressive Overload, it’s in the name, the athletes need to be overloaded progressively over time starting at an appropriate point to ensure athlete safety, correct motor learning and effective training. Early screening and analysis of movement quality, coordination and control may be required to assess a solid starting point. For example, if an athlete cannot perform an unloaded squat, then starting with a back squat isn’t a good idea.

Specificity, training must be specific to the needs of the athlete and the needs of their sport in that order! Athletes come first, the sport can be addressed later. This is especially important in the development of athletes in both the short and long term. If an athlete cannot perform basic movement patterns (squat, push-ups, spinal rotation), then this lack of motor coordination could mean a lack of body awareness and a reduced ability to move well in the water.

Reversibility, achieving adaptation is one thing, keeping it is another. The saying of ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it’ is spot on. If you achieve a 2x body mass squat, then never do it again then those strength levels will rapidly decrease, your body will not waste energy keeping synapses and neural pathways in the central and peripheral nervous system nor muscle and tendon size and strength it does not need.

Recovery, paramount! The human body needs time to relax, repair, refuel and re-hydrate. Without sufficient recovery, in the form of time off, reduced volume and intensity, sleep etc, the athlete will enter a downward spiral of fatigue, exhaustion, illness, injury and in extreme cases life-threatening conditions such as Rhabdomyolysis.

Application and understanding of these principles is the starting point for any good land training programme for swimming athletes.