Get fit: Take the plunge and tone up
Reported January 14, 2009
Alex Benady finds out how to get a body like an Olympic swimmer.
Bleak midwinter may not seem like the obvious time to take up regular swimming. But try to think back to last summer. It was hot. The Olympics were on. Who had the best physiques? Swimmers such as record-breaking champion Michael Phelps and Strictly Come Dancing heart-throb Mark Foster, that’s who. Their massive shoulders, honed pecs and rippled abs could make a less confident person feel just a little bit inadequate by comparison.
If anyone knows how to get a beach body like Foster and Phelps it is Kevin Renshaw, senior coach to the British Olympic swimming team. It is his job to guide nine Olympic hopefuls, including 10km open water silver medallist David Davies and 400m freestyle bronze medallist Joanne Jackson, to the winners’ podium at London 2012.
If you want to be beach-fit by summer, now is the time to start getting in shape.
“Our elite athletes have already started training for July,” he says. “Although you’ll feel the benefits of training within weeks, it takes at least four months to get properly fit.”
Vanity aside, the health benefits of swimming are unmatched by almost any other sport. It works your whole body, improving cardiovascular conditioning, endurance, posture and flexibility.
It is also a fantastic antidote to festive indulgence, Renshaw adds. “Regular sessions can provide a quick and easy workout for the body and a surprisingly effective calming time for your mind.” The good news, says Renshaw, is that you don’t need a particular body type to swim well, or to be especially young or lean.
“Top-level swimmers come in all shapes and sizes. At every Games the average age goes up and frankly a little fat helps provide buoyancy in longer distances.”
The bad news is that in order to have any chance of a medal, his trainees have to work like dogs. “They do 60 to 70 kilometres a week minimum in the pool (at 15 minutes a kilometre) over the course of 10 two-and-a-half hour sessions. And however excellent swimming is for aerobic fitness, the fact is that it’s not that good at building strength and toning your physique on
its own. So today the squad starts with 40 minutes in the gym, on the cycle, using medicine balls, doing sit ups and stretches. “This week they’ll do another couple of hour-long circuit sessions in the gym plus three weights sessions for extra strength and power.”
Then they hit the water. “OK,” says Renshaw to the seven Olympic hopefuls and medal winners. “Let’s have a nice easy kilometre to warm up.” An easy kilometre? In they dive and spend the next 15 minutes powering up and down with smooth, graceful strokes. Even at this “slow” pace you have to walk fast to keep up. But they have two hours of swimming ahead of them.
Now, obviously you and I have little hope of maintaining such a schedule. But, according to Renshaw, if you can spare three hours a week, you have every chance of significantly improving your fitness and physique by summer.
Fitness in the water starts on dry land, so he recommends starting every session with 20 minutes on a bike, pedalling fast at an easy setting. “It’ll warm you up, get the heart racing and burn calories,” he explains.
Now for the water. “Swimming is hard work, even if you are fit and strong, so start off slowly and build up over weeks.” Perhaps begin with 16 lengths (in a 25m pool) and rest for 10 seconds between lengths. After every eight, pull yourself out of the pool and do 20 press-ups, squats and sit-ups. Add four lengths a week until you can do perhaps 60 to 80 lengths and reduce the number of rests between lengths.
“Swimming can get repetitive and dull, so you need to constantly set yourself new targets,” says Renshaw. “Different strokes work different muscles, so don’t stick to one. Increase your distance, do some sprints and use flippers to improve your speed.”
This is crucial because technique is possibly more important in swimming than any other sport. You can make swimming much easier with almost imperceptible changes. “The biggest mistake people make is not keeping flat: your legs effectively operate as an anchor in the water, slowing you down. Keep your hips high, your backside about an inch below the water,” Renshaw advises.
Other common mistakes are too much head movement and weak hand technique. “Keep your head flat with your back and as still as you can.” Practising with a snorkel can help. Penetrate the water with your fingers angled down and fully extend your arm well beneath your head – lower and further than you think you should.
Stick at it and within six months not only will you be fitter and stronger, you’ll have the body of an Olympian sex god. And when all’s said and done, that’s what most of us really want.