Read this blog in Chinese (阅读本博客的中文版) >
With the world's most celebrated athletic event in full swing, now is the perfect time to focus on enhancing your movement quality, foundational flexibility, coordination and injury prevention to boost your overall performance across various sports. This month, we are excited to feature the Swimming Prep exercise from the STOTT PILATES® repertoire, demonstrated by Bianca Bolissian, a Merrithew® Lead Instructor Trainer based out of our Toronto Corporate Training Centre (CTC). With nearly 20 years of experience as an Instructor Trainer, Bianca brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to this exercise, making it accessible and beneficial for athletes and swimming enthusiasts alike.
Exercise focus: Swimming Prep
The Swimming Prep exercise is a comprehensive full-body workout designed to challenge endurance, coordination and rotational control. This exercise is particularly beneficial for athletes and swimming enthusiasts looking to improve their performance and prevent injuries.
Key benefits of the Swimming Prep exercise:
- Full body engagement: This exercise targets multiple muscle groups, including the shoulder flexors, hip extensors, back extensors and abdominals. This ensures a balanced workout that increases overall strength and stability.
- Endurance and coordination: By simulating the movements used in swimming, the Swimming Prep exercise helps improve endurance, coordination and balance. This is achieved by moving the right arm and the left leg simultaneously and then switching, which enhances coordination and balance. For endurance, perform the exercise until you reach muscle fatigue or do timed holds. This will effectively improve your endurance over time.
- Injury prevention: Strengthening the muscles involved in swimming can help prevent common swimming-related injuries, such as shoulder impingement, rotator cuff issues, lower back strain, neck problems and knee issues. By targeting the proper muscles and teaching proper mobilization of the shoulder joint, the Swimming Prep exercise enhances muscle balance and endurance, as well as optimal firing patterns in weight-bearing activities for both the shoulder and pelvic girdle, which helps reduce the risk of injuries.
Pro tip: When performing the Swimming Prep exercise, focus on utilizing the breath pattern for support in maintaining a strong core and proper integration of the entire body. This will ensure proper alignment and maximize the benefits of the exercise.
Bianca’s expertise and passion for teaching make her the perfect guide for this month’s featured exercise. Whether you’re an athlete, a swimmer or simply looking to enhance your fitness routine, the Swimming Prep exercise is a fantastic way to build strength, improve coordination and prevent injuries.
You can find this exercise and more on Merrithew Connect™, our online streaming platform.
We’d Love to Feature You!
Are you a Merrithew Instructor Trainer interested in sharing an exercise with our community? Write to us at communications@merrithew.com for your chance to be featured in our most popular blog series.